A voiceless bilabial plosive or stop is a type of consonantal sound used in most spoken languages. It is familiar to English-speakers as the "p" sound in "spit". The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is .
Features
Features of a voiceless bilabial plosive:
Occurrence
Research has shown that incidental learning positively impacts the acquisition of the /p/ sound for Arabic speakers and other EFL learners. This is particularly interesting given that the stop is missing from about 10% of languages that have a . (See voiced velar stop for another such gap.) This is an areal feature of the circum-Saharan zone (Africa north of the equator plus the Arabian Peninsula). It is not known how old this areal feature is, and whether it might be a recent phenomenon due to Arabic as a prestige language, or whether Arabic was itself affected by a more ancient areal pattern. It is found in other areas as well; for example, Fijian, Onge, and many Papuan languages have but no .
Nonetheless, the sound is very common cross-linguistically. Most languages have at least a plain , and some distinguish more than one variety. Many Indo-Aryan languages, such as Hindustani, have a two-way contrast between the aspirated and the plain (also transcribed as in extensions to the IPA).
Examples
Language Word IPA Meaning Notes Abkhaz Аԥсны/Aṕsny 'Abkhazia' Adyghe / / paio 'hat' Arabic Algerian /pāpīš 'beautiful girls' Hejazi//pōl'Paul'Only used in loanwords, transcribed and pronounced as by many speakers.Egyptian/Por Saʿīd'Port Said'Used in loanwords or names, commonly substituted with . ArmenianEastern /papik 'grandpa' Contrasts with aspirated form Assyrian ܦܬܐ 'face' Basque 'to catch' Bengali 'road' Contrasts with aspirated form. See Bengali phonologyBreton'head' Catalan 'fear' See Catalan phonologyChuvashпутене/putene'quail' Czech 'dog' See Czech phonology Danish Standard 'book' Usually transcribed in IPA with or . It may be partially voiced in the intervocalic position. It contrasts with aspirated form, which is usually transcribed in IPA with or . See Danish phonology Dutch 'duty' See Dutch phonology English pack 'pack' See English phonology Esperanto 'time' See Esperanto phonology Filipino 'duck' Finnish 'grandpa' See Finnish phonology French 'apple' See French phonologyGan ChineseNanchangnese'magic'Contrasts with aspirated form. See Nanchangnese phonology German 'pile' See Standard German phonology Greek / 'leg' See Modern Greek phonology Gujarati /pag 'foot' See Gujarati phonologyHakka ChineseMeizhounese / ho² ba⁴'river'Contrasts with aspirated form. See Meizhounese phonology Hebrew /pakid 'clerk' See Modern Hebrew phonology Hindustani Urdu پل/pal 'moment' Contrasts with aspirated form. See Hindustani phonology Hindi / pal Hmong White Hmong / 'to throw' Hungarian 'pope' See Hungarian phonology Italian 'dad' See Italian phonology Japanese / 'mailbox' See Japanese phonology Kabardian / / pė 'nose' Khmer / 'to explain' See Khmer phonology Korean 'light'See Korean phonologyKurdishNorthernپۆر / 'hair'See Kurdish phonologyCentral / píroze'lammergeier'Southern / pûûnga'pennyroyal' Lakota púza 'dry'Lithuanianpastatas'building'See Lithuanian phonology Luxembourgish 'cheap' Less often voiced . It is usually transcribed , and contrasts with voiceless aspirated form, which is usually transcribed . See Luxembourgish phonology Macedonian пее/pee 'sing' See Macedonian phonology Malay panas 'hot'Often unreleased in syllable codas so /p/ is read as [] instead in lembap 'damp'. See Malay phonologyMalayalamപത്ത്/pathu'ten'See Malayalam phonology Maltese 'appetite'MandarinDungan'to assist'Contrasts with aspirated form. See Dungan phonologyNanjingnese'teenager'Contrasts with aspirated form. See Nanjingnese phonologySichuanese / bu² suan⁴ si⁴'ineffective'Contrasts with aspirated form. See Sichuanese phonologyStandard / bàozhà'to explode'Contrasts with aspirated form. See Standard Chinese phonologyXi'annese'mattock'Contrasts with aspirated form. See Xi'annese phonology Marathi /paa'uus/pā'ūs 'rain' See Marathi phonologyMin ChineseHokkien / ko-pi'coffee'Contrasts with aspirated form. See Hokkien phonologyTeochew / piah4'remote'Contrasts with aspirated form. See Teochew phonologyFuzhounese / băh-dâung'trespasser'Contrasts with aspirated form. See Fuzhounese phonology Mutsun 'a sore' Nepali /pitā 'father'See Nepali phonology Norwegian 'dad' See Norwegian phonology Odia /pathara 'stone' Contrasts with aspirated form. Pashto /pa'nir 'cheese' Persianپول/pul'money' Pirahã 'otter' Polish 'belt' See Polish phonology Portuguese 'father' See Portuguese phonology Punjabi ਪੱਤਾ/ پتا / pattā 'leaf' Romanian 'step' See Romanian phonology Russian /plod 'fruit' Contrasts with palatalized form. See Russian phonologyScottish GaelicMost dialectsAlba[al̪ˠapə]'Scotland'Often transcribed as /b̥/. See Scottish Gaelic phonology Serbo-Croatian / 'drink' See Serbo-Croatian phonology Slovak 'dog' Slovene'dog'See Slovene phonology Spanish 'weight' See Spanish phonologySwahilipombe / پٗونْبٖ 'beer' Swedish 'monkey' See Swedish phonology Telugu 'work' Contrasts with aspirated form in old Telugu. However aspirated form is almost always pronounced as voiceless labiodental fricative in modern Telugu.Thai/'powder'See Thai phonologyToki Ponapilin'feeling' Tsez пу/pu 'side' Contrasts with ejective form. Turkish 'pot' See Turkish phonology Ukrainian /pavuk 'spider' See Ukrainian phonology Vietnamese 'tweezers'See Vietnamese phonologyWelshsiop'shop'See Welsh phonology West Frisian 'pan'Wu ChineseShanghainese / 'spring'Contrasts with aspirated form. See Shanghainese phonologySuzhounese / 'pretty'Contrasts with aspirated form. See Suzhounese phonologyWenzhounese / 'tear'Contrasts with aspirated form. See Wenzhounese phonology Yi / 'exchange' Contrasts aspirated and unaspirated forms.Yue ChineseCantonese / zyu¹ tau⁴ bing²'blockhead'Contrasts with aspirated form. See Cantonese phonologyTaishanese'white'Contrasts with aspirated form. See Taishanese phonology Central Alaskan Yup'ik 'daughter' Zapotec Tilquiapan pan 'bread'
See also List of phonetics topics
Notes
References
External links