Voiced bilabial trill

Voiced bilabial trill
Voiced bilabial trill
ʙ
IPA number	121
Audio sample
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Encoding
Entity (decimal)	ʙ
Unicode (hex)	U+0299
X-SAMPA	B\
Braille
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A voiced bilabial trill is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents the sound is ⟨ʙ⟩, a small capital letter b.

Features

Features of a voiced bilabial trill:

Its manner of articulation is trill, which means it is produced by directing air over an articulator so that it vibrates. In most instances, it is only found as the trilled release of a prenasalized stop.
Its place of articulation is bilabial, which means it is articulated with both lips.
Its phonation is voiced, which means the vocal cords vibrate during the articulation.
It is an oral consonant, which means that air is not allowed to escape through the nose.
Because the sound is not produced with airflow over the tongue, the median–lateral dichotomy does not apply.
Its airstream mechanism is pulmonic, which means it is articulated by pushing air only with the intercostal muscles and abdominal muscles, as in most sounds.

Occurrence

Plain

Slowed-down recording of the bilabial trill

A bilabial trill held for 3 seconds, with the recording slowed down.

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Occurrences of [ʙ] in various languages

Language		Word	IPA	Meaning	Notes
Medumba		mʙʉ	[mʙʉ́][citation needed]	'dog'
Ngwe	Lebang dialect	[àʙɨ́ ́]		'ash'
Pirahã		kaoáíbogi	[kàò̯áí̯ʙòˈɡì]	'evil spirit'	Allophone of /b/ before /o/
Pirahã		ʔíbogi	[ʔíʙoi]	'milk'	Allophone of /b/ before /o/
Damin		pr2уuu	[ʙ\ʙjuː]	'branch'	Can either be single pr [ʙ] or doubled pr2 [ʙ\ʙ] depending on the word
Komi-Permyak [1]			[ʙuɲɡaɡ]	'dung beetle'	Generally paralinguistic. Apart from interjections, [ʙuɲɡaɡ] is the only lexeme this sound is found in.
Kwomtari [2]		[example needed]
Sko [2]		[example needed]

Prenasalized

Occurrences of [ᵐʙ] in various languages

Language	Word	Meaning	Notes
Kele [3][4]	[ᵐʙulim]	'face'	And other languages of the Admiralty Islands
Titan [3][4]	[ᵐʙutukei]	'wooden plate'
Unua [5]	[ᵐʙue]	'pig'
Ahamb [6]	[nãᵐʙwas]	'pig'	Phonemic; contrasts between /ᵐʙ/ and /ʙ̥/.
Kilmeri [2]	[example needed]

Prestopped trills and stops with trill release

Language	Word	IPA	Meaning	Notes
Sangtam [7]	[kʰi˥t̪͡ʙa˧]		'hip joint'	Word-medial realization of phonemic /t̪͡ʙ̥/, contrasts with aspirated /t̪͡ʙ̥ʰ/.[7][8]
Lizu [9][10]	TU,	[tʙ̩˥˩]	'bean'	Syllabic; allophone of /u/ after initial /pʰ, p, b, tʰ, t, d/.[9]
Namuyi [11]	tbĭh	[t͡ʙ̩˨][11]	'to slaughter'	Phonemic according to Pavlík (2017) occurring before /u/ or as a syllabic consonant. [ʙ] is classified as an allophone of /u/ following a /p/, /b/, /t/ or /d/ in the phonemic analysis of Huáng (1992:673–674), and Yǐn (2016).[12] No bilabial trills are present in the phonemic analysis of Nishida (2013).
	dbù	[d͡ʙu˥˨][11]	'wild'
	pbĭh	[p͡ʙ̩][11]	'to deliver'
	[b͡ʙuda][11]		surname
Pumi [10]	biiv	[pʙ̩˥]	'to dig'	Syllabic; allophone of /ə/ after /pʰ, p, b, tʰ, t, d/.

Phonology

In many of the languages in which the bilabial trill occurs, it occurs only as part of a prenasalized bilabial stop with trilled release, [mbʙ]. That developed historically from a prenasalized stop before a relatively high back vowel like [mbu]. In such instances, the sounds are usually still limited to the environment of a following [u]. However, the trills in Mangbetu may precede any vowel[13] and are sometimes preceded by only a nasal.

Notes

^ Wichmann, Yrjö; Uotila, T. E. (1942). Syrjänischer Wortschatz nebst Hauptzügen der Formenlehre. Helsinki: Suomalais-Ugrilainen Seura.
^ a b c Foley, William A. (2018). "The Languages of the Sepik-Ramu Basin and Environs". In Palmer, Bill (ed.). The Languages and Linguistics of the New Guinea Area: A Comprehensive Guide. The World of Linguistics. Vol. 4. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton. pp. 197–432. ISBN 978-3-11-028642-7.
^ a b Ladefoged (2005:165)
^ a b Bowern, Claire (2012). Sivisa Titan. University of Hawai'i Press.
^ Dimock (2005:19)
^ Rangelov, Tihomir (2019), The bilabial trills of Ahamb (Vanuatu): acoustic and articulatory properties, University of Waikato
^ a b Coupe, Alexander (2016), "Prestopped bilabial trills in Sangtam", Proceedings of the 18th International Congress of Phonetic Sciences, Glasgow, 10-14 August 2015.
^ Coupe, Alexander (2020), "Northern Sangtam phonetics, phonology and word list" (PDF), Linguistics of the Tibeto-Burman Area, 43 (1): 148–189, doi:10.1075/ltba.19014.cou
^ a b Chirkova & Chen (2013:78)
^ a b Chirkova, Katia (2012). "The Qiangic Subgroup from an Areal Perspective: A Case Study of Languages of Muli" (Archive). In Languages and Linguistics 13(1):133-170. Taipei: Academia Sinica.
^ a b c d e Pavlík (2017)
^ Pavlík (2017:32)
^ See, e.g., among the numerous data of Robert G. McKee's "Concerning Meegye and Mangbetu’s bilabial trills," in Advances in Nilo-Saharan Linguistics: Proceedings of the 8th Nilo-Saharan Linguistics Colloquium, University of Hamburg, August 22–25, 2001, Doris L. Payne & Mechthild Reh (eds.), 181–189 (2007, Rüdiger Köppe Verlag, Cologne).

References

Capell, Arthur; Layard, John (1980), "Materials in Atchin, Malekula: Grammar, Vocabulary and Texts" (PDF), Pacific Linguistics (20), Canberra, ACT: The Australian National University, doi:10.15144/PL-D20, hdl:1885/144536, ISBN 0-85883-231-3}: CS1 maint: work parameter with ISBN (link)
Chirkova, Katia; Chen, Yiya (2013), "Lizu" (PDF), Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 43 (1): 75–86, doi:10.1017/S0025100312000242[permanent dead link]
Dimock, Laura (2005). "The Bilabial Trill in Unua" (PDF). Wellington Working Papers in Linguistics. 17: 17–33. ISSN 1170-1978.
Crowley, Terry (2006). Lynch, John (ed.). Naman: a vanishing language of Malakula (Vanuatu). Canberra, ACT: Pacific Linguistics. ISBN 0-85883-565-7.
Huáng, Bùfán, ed. (1992), 藏緬語族語言詞彙 [Tibeto-Burman language vocabulary] (in Chinese), Beijing: Minzu University Press
Ladefoged, Peter (2005). Vowels and Consonants (Second ed.). Blackwell.
Nishida, Fuminobu (2013). "Phonetics and Phonology of Dzolo Dialect of Namuyi". Arutesu Riberaresu / Artes Liberales. 92: 21–54. doi:10.15113/00013130.
Pavlík, Štěpán (2017). The Description of Namuzi Language (Ph.D. thesis). Charles University. hdl:20.500.11956/95965.
Rangelov, Tihomir; Walworth, Mary; Barbour, Julie (2023). "A multifaceted approach to understanding unexpected sound change: The bilabial trills of Vanuatu's Malekula Island". Diachronica. doi:10.1075/dia.21051.ran. ISSN 0176-4225. Retrieved 2023-05-07.
Sedláček, Kamil (1967), "The Law of Phonetic Change in Initial Clusters in Common Sino-Tibetan", Monumenta Serica, 26: 6–34, doi:10.1080/02549948.1967.11744953, JSTOR 40725837
Yǐn, Wèibīn (2016), 納木茲語語法標註文本 [Grammar of Namuzi with Annotated Texts] (in Chinese), Beijing: Social Science Literature Press

External links

[1] Wichmann, Yrjö; Uotila, T. E. (1942). Syrjänischer Wortschatz nebst Hauptzügen der Formenlehre. Helsinki: Suomalais-Ugrilainen Seura.

[Foley-Sepik-2] Foley, William A. (2018). "The Languages of the Sepik-Ramu Basin and Environs". In Palmer, Bill (ed.). The Languages and Linguistics of the New Guinea Area: A Comprehensive Guide. The World of Linguistics. Vol. 4. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton. pp. 197–432. ISBN 978-3-11-028642-7.

[Ladefoged_2005_165-3] Ladefoged (2005:165)

[Bowern-titan-4] Bowern, Claire (2012). Sivisa Titan. University of Hawai'i Press.

[5] Dimock (2005:19)

[ahamb-6] Rangelov, Tihomir (2019), The bilabial trills of Ahamb (Vanuatu): acoustic and articulatory properties, University of Waikato

[Coupe-7] Coupe, Alexander (2016), "Prestopped bilabial trills in Sangtam", Proceedings of the 18th International Congress of Phonetic Sciences, Glasgow, 10-14 August 2015.

[8] Coupe, Alexander (2020), "Northern Sangtam phonetics, phonology and word list" (PDF), Linguistics of the Tibeto-Burman Area, 43 (1): 148–189, doi:10.1075/ltba.19014.cou

[chir78-9] Chirkova & Chen (2013:78)

[Chirkova2012-10] Chirkova, Katia (2012). "The Qiangic Subgroup from an Areal Perspective: A Case Study of Languages of Muli" (Archive). In Languages and Linguistics 13(1):133-170. Taipei: Academia Sinica.

[palvik-11] Pavlík (2017)

[12] Pavlík (2017:32)

[13] See, e.g., among the numerous data of Robert G. McKee's "Concerning Meegye and Mangbetu’s bilabial trills," in Advances in Nilo-Saharan Linguistics: Proceedings of the 8th Nilo-Saharan Linguistics Colloquium, University of Hamburg, August 22–25, 2001, Doris L. Payne & Mechthild Reh (eds.), 181–189 (2007, Rüdiger Köppe Verlag, Cologne).