A voiced bilabial plosive or stop is a type of consonantal sound used in many spoken languages. It is familiar to English-speakers as the "b" sound in "obey". The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is ⟨b⟩.

Features

Sagittal section of a voiced bilabial plosive

Features of a voiced bilabial stop:

Occurrence

Occurrence of [b] in several languages
LanguageWordIPAMeaningNotes
Adygheбгъу / bġ°'nine'
Albanianbletë['bletə]'bee'
ArabicStandardباب / bāb[baːb]'door'See Arabic phonology
Assyrianܒܒܐ baba[baːba]'father'
ArmenianEasternբարի/bari'kind'
Basquebero[beɾo]'hot'
Bengaliলো / balo[bɔlo]'say!'Contrasts with aspirated form. See Bengali phonology
Catalanbell[ˈbeʎ]'beautiful'See Catalan phonology
Chechenборз / borz[borz]'wolf'
Czechbota[ˈbota]'boot'See Czech phonology
DanishStandardber[ˈløːbɐ]'runner'Only partially voiced; possible allophone of /b/ in the intervocalic position. More often voiceless [p]. See Danish phonology
Dutchboer[buːr]'farmer'See Dutch phonology
Englishaback'aback'See English phonology
Esperantobatalo[baˈtalo]'war'See Esperanto phonology
Filipinobuto[buto]'bone'
Frenchboue[bu]'mud'See French phonology
Georgianავშვი / bavšvi[ˈbavʃvi]'child'
Germanaber'but'See Standard German phonology
Greekμπόχα / bócha[ˈbo̞xa]'reek'See Modern Greek phonology
Gujaratiક્રી / bakri[bəkri]'goat'See Gujarati phonology
Hebrewבית / báyit[bajit]'house'See Modern Hebrew phonology
HindustaniHindiबाल / bāl[bäːl]'hair'Contrasts with aspirated version /bʱ/. See Hindi-Urdu phonology
Urduبال / bāl
Hungarianbaba[ˈbɒbɒ]'baby'See Hungarian phonology
Italianbile[ˈbile]'rage'See Italian phonology
Japanese / ban[baɴ]'(one's) turn'See Japanese phonology
Kabardianбгъуы/bg"uy'nine'
Korean지붕 / jibung[t͡ɕibuŋ]'roof'See Korean phonology
KurdishNorthernbav[bɑːv]'father'See Kurdish phonology
Centralباوک/bâwk[bɑːwk]
Southernباوگ/bâwig[bɑːwɨg]
Luxembourgishgeblosen[ɡ̊əˈbloːzən]'blown'More often voiceless [p]. See Luxembourgish phonology
Macedonianубав/ubav[ˈubav]'beautiful'See Macedonian phonology
Malaybaru[bäru]'new'
Malayalamലം/balam[bɐlɐm]'strength'See Malayalam phonology
Maltesegħatba[aːtˈba]'threshold'
Marathiटाटा / baṭāṭā[bəˈʈaːʈaː]'potato'See Marathi phonology
Nepaliबाटो / bāṭo[bäʈo]'path'See Nepali phonology
Norwegianbål[ˈbɔːl]'bonfire'See Norwegian phonology
Odiaବା/barô[bärɔ]'twelve'Contrasts with aspirated form.
Persianخوب/ xub[xub]'good'See Persian phonology
Pirahãpibaóí[ˈpìbàóí̯]'parent'
Polishbas'bass'See Polish phonology
Portuguesebato[ˈbatu]'I strike'See Portuguese phonology
Punjabiਬਿੱਲੀ/billī[bɪlːi]'cat'
Romanianbou[bow]'bull'See Romanian phonology.
Russianрыба / ryba[ˈrɨbə]'fish'Contrasts with palatalized form. See Russian phonology
Serbo-Croatianбиће / biće[bǐːt͡ɕě]'being'See Serbo-Croatian phonology
Slovakb[bi̞c]'to be'
Slovenebiti[ˈbìːt̪í]'to be'
Southern Min / ban[ban]'Fujian province'Only in colloquial speech.
Spanishinvertir[ĩmbe̞ɾˈt̪iɾ]'to invest'See Spanish phonology
Swedishbra[ˈbɾɑː]'good'May be an approximant in casual speech. See Swedish phonology
Teluguడి[badi]'school'Contrasts with aspirated form. Aspirated form is articulated as breathy consonant.
Thaiัด / bam-bàt[bam.bat̚]'therapy'See Thai phonology
Turkishbulut[ˈbuɫut̪]'cloud'See Turkish phonology
Tyapbai[bai]'to come'
Ukrainianбрат / brat[brɑt̪]'brother'See Ukrainian phonology
Welshmab[mɑːb]'son'See Welsh phonology
West Frisianbak[bak]'tray'
Wu / bi[bi]'skin'
Xiang / baw[bau]'to float'
Yi / bbo[bo˧]'mountain'
ZapotecTilquiapanbald[bald]'few'

See also

Notes

  • Abrahams, Henrik (1949), Études phonétiques sur les tendances évolutives des occlusives germaniques, Aarhus University Press
  • Carbonell, Joan F.; Llisterri, Joaquim (1992), "Catalan", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 22 (1–2): 53–56, doi:, S2CID
  • Cruz-Ferreira, Madalena (1995), "European Portuguese", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 25 (2): 90–94, doi:, S2CID
  • Danyenko, Andrii; Vakulenko, Serhii (1995), , Lincom Europa, ISBN 9783929075083
  • Dum-Tragut, Jasmine (2009), Armenian: Modern Eastern Armenian, Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company
  • Fischer-Jørgensen, Eli (1952), "Om stemtheds assimilation", in Bach, H.; et al. (eds.), Festskrift til L. L. Hammerich, Copenhagen: G. E. C. Gad, pp. 116–129
  • Fougeron, Cecile; Smith, Caroline L (1993), "Illustrations of the IPA:French", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 23 (2): 73–76, doi:, S2CID
  • Gilles, Peter; Trouvain, Jürgen (2013), "Luxembourgish", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 43 (1): 67–74, doi:
  • Goblirsch, Kurt (2018), Gemination, Lenition, and Vowel Lengthening: On the History of Quantity in Germanic, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 978-1-107-03450-1
  • Gussenhoven, Carlos (1992), "Dutch", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 22 (2): 45–47, doi:, S2CID
  • Jassem, Wiktor (2003), "Polish", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 33 (1): 103–107, doi:
  • Landau, Ernestina; Lončarić, Mijo; Horga, Damir; Škarić, Ivo (1999), "Croatian", Handbook of the International Phonetic Association: A guide to the use of the International Phonetic Alphabet, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 66–69, ISBN 978-0-521-65236-0
  • Martínez-Celdrán, Eugenio; Fernández-Planas, Ana Ma.; Carrera-Sabaté, Josefina (2003), "Castilian Spanish", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 33 (2): 255–259, doi:
  • Merrill, Elizabeth (2008), "Tilquiapan Zapotec", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 38 (1): 107–114, doi:
  • Okada, Hideo (1999), , in International Phonetic Association (ed.), Handbook of the International Phonetic Association: A Guide to the Use of the International Phonetic Alphabet, Cambridge University Press, pp. 117–119, ISBN 978-0-52163751-0
  • Padgett, Jaye (2003), "Contrast and Post-Velar Fronting in Russian", Natural Language & Linguistic Theory, 21 (1): 39–87, doi:, S2CID
  • Puggaard-Rode, Rasmus; Horslund, Camilla Søballe; Jørgensen, Henrik (2022), "The rarity of intervocalic voicing of stops in Danish spontaneous speech", Laboratory Phonology, 13 (1), doi:, hdl:
  • Rogers, Derek; d'Arcangeli, Luciana (2004), "Italian", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 34 (1): 117–121, doi:
  • Shosted, Ryan K.; Chikovani, Vakhtang (2006), (PDF), Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 36 (2): 255–264, doi:
  • Thelwall, Robin (1990), "Illustrations of the IPA: Arabic", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 20 (2): 37–41, doi:, S2CID

External links