Bilabial nasal

IPA – number	114
IPA – text	m
IPA – image
Entity	m
X-SAMPA	m
Kirshenbaum	m
Sound sample (help·info)

The bilabial nasal is a type of consonantal sound used in almost all spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is m, and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is m. The bilabial nasal occurs in English, and it is the sound represented by "m" in map and rum.

It occurs nearly universally, and few languages (e.g., Mohawk) are known to lack this sound.

Features

Features of the bilabial nasal:

• Its manner of articulation is stop, which means it is produced by obstructing airflow in the vocal tract.
• Its place of articulation is bilabial which means it is articulated with both lips,
• Its phonation type is voiced, which means the vocal cords are vibrating during the articulation.
• It is a nasal consonant, which means air is allowed to escape through the nose.
• It is a central consonant, which means it is produced by allowing the airstream to flow over the middle of the tongue, rather than the sides.
• The airstream mechanism is pulmonic egressive, which means it is articulated by pushing air out of the lungs and through the vocal tract, rather than from the glottis or the mouth.

Occurrence

Language		Word	IPA	Meaning	Notes
Arabic	Standard[1]	مطابخ	[mɑˈtˤɑːbiχ]	'kitchens'	See Arabic phonology
Armenian		իմ	[im]	'my'
Catalan[2]		immens	[imˈmɛns]	'huge'	See Catalan phonology
Chinese	Mandarin	母親/mǔqīn	[mu˨˩ tɕʰin˥]	'mother'	See Standard Mandarin
Czech		muž	[mʊʃ]	'man'	See Czech phonology
Dutch[3]		mond	[mɔnt]	'mouth'	See Dutch phonology
English		him	[hɪm]	'him'	See English phonology
Filipino		manok	[maˈnok]	'rooster'	See Filipino phonology
Finnish		minä	[ˈminæ]	'I'	See Finnish phonology
French[4]		manger	[mɑ̃ʒe]	'to eat'	See French phonology
Georgian[5]		სამი	[ˈsɑmi]	'three'
German		rühmen	[ˈʁyːmən]	'to praise'	See German phonology
Greek		μάζα	[ˈmaza]	'clump'	See Modern Greek phonology
Hawaiian[6]		maka	[maka]	'eye'	See Hawaiian phonology
Hindi		मकान	[məkaːn]	'house'	See Hindi-Urdu phonology
Hungarian		ma	[mɒ]	'today'	See Hungarian phonology
Indonesian[7]		masuk	[ˈmasuʔ]	'enter'
Italian[8]		mamma	[ˈmamma]	'mamma'	See Italian phonology
Japanese[9]		乾杯/kampai	[kampai]	'a toast'	See Japanese phonology
Korean		엄마/eomma	[ʌmma]	'mommy'	See Korean phonology
Malayalam[10]		?	[kəmmi]	'shortage'
Maltese		ilma	[ilma]	'water'
Norwegian		mamma	[ˈmɑmːɑ]	'mom'	See Norwegian phonology
Pirahã		baíxi	[ˈmàí̯ʔì]	'parent'	allophone of /b/
Polish[11]		masa	[ˈmasa] (help·info)	'mass'	See Polish phonology
Portuguese[12]		mato	[ˈmatu]	'I kill'	See Portuguese phonology
Russian[13]		муж	[muʂ]	'husband'	Contrasts with palatalized version. See Russian phonology
Serbian		милина/milina	[milina]	'enjoyment'
Slovak		muž	[mʊʃ]	'man'
Spanish[14]		grumete	[ɡɾuˈme̞te̞]	'cabin boy'	See Spanish phonology
Swahili		miti	[ˈmiti]	'trees'
Swedish		mask	[mask]	'worm'	See Swedish phonology
Tsez		мец	[mɛ̝t͡s]	'language, tongue'
Turkish		benim	[benim]	'mine'	See Turkish phonology
Uyghur		men	[mɛn]	'I'
Vietnamese		me	[mɛ]	'mom; tamarind'	See Vietnamese phonology
Zapotec	Tilquiapan[15]	man	[maŋ]	'animal'

See also

• List of phonetics topics

References

Bibliography

• Carbonell, Joan F.; Llisterri, Joaquim (1992), "Catalan", Journal of the International Phonetic Association 22 (1-2): 53-56 
• Cruz-Ferreira, Madalena (1995), "European Portuguese", Journal of the International Phonetic Association 25 (2): 90-94 
• Fougeron, Cecile; Smith, Caroline L (1993), "Illustrations of the IPA:French", Journal of the International Phonetic Association 23 (2): 73-76 
• Gussenhoven, Carlos (1992), "Dutch", Journal of the International Phonetic Association 22 (2): 45-47 
• Jassem, Wiktor (2003), "Polish", Journal of the International Phonetic Association 33 (1): 103-107 
• Ladefoged, Peter (2005). Vowels and Consonants (Second ed.). Blackwell. 
• Martínez-Celdrán, Eugenio; Fernández-Planas, Ana Ma.; Carrera-Sabaté, Josefina (2003), "Castilian Spanish", Journal of the International Phonetic Association 33 (2): 255-259 
• Merrill, Elizabeth (2008), "Tilquipan Zapotec", Journal of the International Phonetic Association 38 (1): 107-114 
• Okada, Hideo (1991), "Phonetic Representation:Japanese", Journal of the International Phonetic Association 21 (2): 94-97 
• Padgett, Jaye (2003), "Contrast and Post-Velar Fronting in Russian", Natural Language & Linguistic Theory 21 (1): 39-87 
• Rogers, Derek; d'Arcangeli, Luciana (2004), "Italian", Journal of the International Phonetic Association 34 (1): 117-121 
• Shosted, Ryan K.; Vakhtang, Chikovani (2006), "Standard Georgian", Journal of the International Phonetic Association 36 (2): 255-264 
• Soderberg, Craig D.; Olson, Kenneth S. (2008), "Illustrations of the IPA:Indonesian", Journal of the International Phonetic Association 38 (2): 209-213 
• Thelwall, Robin (1990), "Illustrations of the IPA: Arabic", Journal of the International Phonetic Association 20 (2): 37-41