The voiced bilabial nasal is a type of

consonant In articulatory phonetics, a consonant is a speech sound that is articulated with complete or partial closure of the vocal tract. Examples are and pronounced with the lips; and pronounced with the front of the tongue; and pronounced w ...

al sound used in almost all spoken

language Language is a structured system of communication. The structure of a language is its grammar and the free components are its vocabulary. Languages are the primary means by which humans communicate, and may be conveyed through a variety of ...

s. The symbol in the

International Phonetic Alphabet The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) is an alphabetic system of phonetic notation based primarily on the Latin script. It was devised by the International Phonetic Association in the late 19th century as a standardized representation ...

that represents this sound is , and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is m. The bilabial nasal occurs in

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ...

, and it is the sound represented by "m" in ''map'' and ''rum''. Only very few languages (e.g. Wyandot) are known to lack this sound.

Features

Features of the voiced bilabial nasal:

Varieties

Occurrence

, , 'I' , , , - , colspan="2" , Vietnamese , , , , , , 'salt', , See Vietnamese phonology , - , colspan="2" ,

Welsh Welsh may refer to: Related to Wales * Welsh, referring or related to Wales * Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales * Welsh people People * Welsh (surname) * Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peopl ...

, , , , , , 'mother', , See Welsh phonology , - , colspan="2" , West Frisian, , , , , , 'lake', , See West Frisian phonology , - , colspan="2" , Yi , , / , , , , 'bamboo', , , - , Zapotec, , Tilquiapan, , , , , , 'animal' , ,

Palatalized

Velarized

Notes

References

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

External links

* * * {{IPA navigation Bilabial consonants Pulmonic consonants Nasal consonants Labial–coronal consonants Voiced consonants