Voiceless bilabial affricate

A voiceless bilabial affricate ([p͡ɸ] in IPA) is a rare affricate consonant that is initiated as a bilabial stop [p] and released as a voiceless bilabial fricative [ɸ]. It has not been reported to occur phonemically in any language.

Voiceless bilabial affricate
pɸ
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Features

Features of the voiceless bilabial affricate:

• Its manner of articulation is affricate, which means it is produced by first stopping the airflow entirely, then allowing air flow through a constricted channel at the place of articulation, causing turbulence.

• Its place of articulation is bilabial, which means it is articulated with both lips.

• Its phonation is voiceless, which means it is produced without vibrations of the vocal cords. In some languages the vocal cords are actively separated, so it is always voiceless; in others the cords are lax, so that it may take on the voicing of adjacent sounds.

• It is an oral consonant, which means air is allowed to escape through the mouth only.

• It is a central consonant, which means it is produced by directing the airstream along the center of the tongue, rather than to the sides.

• The airstream mechanism is pulmonic, which means it is articulated by pushing air solely with the lungs and diaphragm, as in most sounds.

Occurrence

Language		Word	IPA	Meaning	Notes
Dutch	Orsmaal-Gussenhoven dialect[1]	up	[ʊp͡ɸ]	'up, onto'	Optional pre-pausal allophone of /p/.[1]
English	Broad Cockney[2]	up	[ˈɐʔp͡ɸ]	'up'	Allophone of /p/, occurs mainly word-finally.[3] See English phonology
	Received Pronunciation[4]				Rare allophone of /p/.[4] See English phonology
	North Wales[5]		[ˈəp͡ɸ]		Word-initial and word-final allophone of /p/; in free variation with a strongly aspirated stop [pʰ].[5] See English phonology
	Scouse[6]		[ˈʊp͡ɸ]		Possible syllable-initial and word-final allophone of /p/.[6] See English phonology
German	Some speakers	tropfen	[ˈtʁ̥ɔp͡ɸn̩]	'to drop'	Allophone of /p͡f/. See Standard German phonology
Kaingang[7]		fy	[ˈp͡ɸɤ]	'seed'	Possible word-initial allophone of /ɸ/.[7]
Northern Tiwa	Taos dialect	[ˌp͡ɸìˑˈwɛ̈̄ːnǣ]		'daughter'	Allophone of /pʰ/, in free variation with [ph] and [ɸ]. See Taos phonology

Notes

1. Peters (2010), p. 240.
2. Wells (1982), pp. 322-323.
3. Wells (1982), p. 323.
4. Gimson (2014), p. 172.
5. Penhallurick (2004), pp. 108-109.
6. Wells (1982), p. 372.
7. Jolkesky (2009), pp. 680-681.

References

• Gimson, Alfred Charles (2014), Cruttenden, Alan (ed.), Gimson's Pronunciation of English (8th ed.), Routledge, ISBN 9781444183092
• Jolkesky, Marcelo Pinho de Valhery (2009), "Fonologia e prosódia do Kaingáng falado em Cacique Doble", Anais do SETA, Campinas: Editora do IEL-UNICAMP, 3: 675–685
• Penhallurick, Robert (2004), "Welsh English: phonology", in Schneider, Edgar W.; Burridge, Kate; Kortmann, Bernd; Mesthrie, Rajend; Upton, Clive (eds.), A handbook of varieties of English, 1: Phonology, Mouton de Gruyter, pp. 98–112, ISBN 3-11-017532-0
• Peters, Jörg (2010), "The Flemish–Brabant dialect of Orsmaal–Gussenhoven", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 40 (2): 239–246, doi:10.1017/S0025100310000083
• Wells, John C. (1982). Accents of English. Volume 2: The British Isles (pp. i–xx, 279–466). Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-52128540-2.

External links

• List of languages with [pɸ] on PHOIBLE