Labial consonant

Labial consonants are consonants in which one or both <a href="/facts/Lip/cUlpthmx">lips</a> are the <a href="/facts/Active_articulator/1xRpMYyt">active articulator</a>. The two common labial articulations are <a href="/facts/Bilabial_consonant/q2H5MUAe">bilabials</a>, articulated using both lips, and <a href="/facts/Labiodental_consonant/tbsml4ED">labiodentals</a>, articulated with the lower lip against the upper teeth, both of which are present in <a href="/facts/English_phonology/awcxPhHL">English</a>. A third labial articulation is <a href="/facts/Dentolabial_consonant/tbsml4ED">dentolabials</a>, articulated with the upper lip against the lower teeth (the reverse of labiodental), normally only found in pathological speech. Generally precluded are <a href="/facts/Linguolabial_consonant/N24pKXpB">linguolabials</a>, in which the tip of the <a href="/facts/Tongue/oW4tp3a0">tongue</a> contacts the posterior side of the upper lip, making them <a href="/facts/Coronal_consonant/nJA2jL4n">coronals</a>, though sometimes, they behave as labial consonants.
The most common distribution between bilabials and labiodentals is the <a href="/facts/English_language/tpkxGt7b">English</a> one, in which the <a href="/facts/Nasal_consonant/m6D3cVhe">nasal</a> and the <a href="/facts/Stop_consonant/okC9pztc">stops</a>, [m], [p], and [b], are bilabial and the <a href="/facts/Fricative_consonant/1FQuuhfX">fricatives</a>, [f], and [v], are labiodental. The <a href="/facts/Voiceless_bilabial_fricative/mccNzbmL">voiceless bilabial fricative</a>, <a href="/facts/Voiced_bilabial_fricative/2ljHM92m">voiced bilabial fricative</a>, and the <a href="/facts/Bilabial_approximant/2ljHM92m">bilabial approximant</a> do not exist as the primary realizations of any sounds in <a href="/facts/English_language/tpkxGt7b">English</a>, but they occur in many languages. For example, the <a href="/facts/Spanish_language/95BgYNfv">Spanish</a> consonant written b or v is pronounced, between vowels, as a <a href="/facts/Voiced_bilabial_approximant/2ljHM92m">voiced bilabial approximant</a>.
Lip rounding, or <a href="/facts/Labialisation/gxgAWAQI">labialization</a>, is a common <a href="/facts/Approximant_consonant/SXrlw7zY">approximant</a>-like <a href="/facts/Secondary_articulation/EmBEgm59">co-articulatory</a> feature. English /w/ is a <a href="/facts/Voiced_labio-velar_approximant/HLDqbrvr">voiced labialized velar approximant</a>, which is far more common than the purely <a href="/facts/Bilabial_approximant/2ljHM92m">labial approximant</a> [β̞]. In the <a href="/facts/Languages_of_the_Caucasus/GXBJ449t">languages of the Caucasus</a>, labialized <a href="/facts/Dorsal_consonant/mene9hFt">dorsals</a> like /kʷ/ and /qʷ/ are very common.
Very few languages, however, make a distinction purely between <a href="/facts/Bilabial_consonant/q2H5MUAe">bilabials</a> and <a href="/facts/Labiodental_consonant/tbsml4ED">labiodentals</a>, making "labial" usually a sufficient specification of a language's <a href="/facts/Phoneme/EXGHlJ7a">phonemes</a>. One exception is <a href="/facts/Ewe_language/HBzApnmd">Ewe</a>, which has both kinds of fricatives, but the labiodentals are produced with greater articulatory force.

Labial consonant open-in-new

Labial consonant