A word beginning with a voiced bilabial plosive is

Phonetic sound

voiced bilabial plosive
Symbol (font)	[ɶ#œɵ;]
Symbol (image)	File:Xsampa-b.png
IPA–number	102
Entity (decimal)	b
Unicode (hex)	U+0062
X-SAMPA	b
Kirshenbaum	b
Sound sample

The voiced bilabial plosive is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is [b], and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is b. The voiced bilabial plosive occurs in English, and it is the sound denoted by the letter ‹b› in boy. Many Indian languages, such as Hindi, have a two-way contrast between breathy voiced [/bʱ/] and plain [/b/].

Features[]

Features of the voiced bilabial plosive:

• Its manner of articulation is stop, or plosive, which means it is produced by obstructing airflow in the vocal tract. (The term plosive contrasts with nasal stops, where the blocked airflow is redirected through the nose.)
• Its place of articulation is bilabial, which means it is articulated with both lips.
• Its phonation is voiced, which means the vocal cords vibrate during the articulation.
• It is an oral consonant, which means air is allowed to escape through the mouth only.
• Because the sound is not produced with airflow over the tongue, the central/lateral dichotomy does not apply.
• The airstream mechanism is pulmonic, which means it is articulated by pushing air solely with the lungs and diaphragm, as in most sounds.

Varieties[]

IPA	Description
[b]	plain b
[bʷ]	labialised
[b̜ʷ]	semi-labialised
[b̹ʷ]	strongly labialised
[bʲ]	palatalised
[bʱ]	breathy voiced

Occurrence[]

Language	Word	IPA	Meaning	Notes
Arabic	Standard[1]	كتب	ˈkatabɐ	‘he wrote’	See Arabic phonology
Armenian	բարի	bɑɾi.ogg [[:Media:bɑɾi.ogg |bɑɾi]] (help·info)	‘kind’
Catalan[2]	blau	blaw	‘blue’ (m.)	See Catalan phonology
Czech	bota	bota	‘boot’	See Czech phonology
Dutch[3]	boer	buːɾ	‘farmer’	See Dutch phonology
English	aback	əˈbæk	‘aback’	See English phonology
French[4]	boue	bu	‘mud’	See French phonology
Georgian[5]	ბავშვი	ˈbavʃvi	‘child’
German	Bub	buːp	‘boy’	See German phonology
Greek	μπ’όχα/bókha	ˈbo̞xa	‘reek’	See Modern Greek phonology
Hindi	बाल	bɑːl	‘hair’	See Hindi-Urdu phonology
Hungarian	baba	bɒbɒ	‘baby’	See Hungarian phonology
Italian[6]	bile	ˈbile	‘rage’	See Italian phonology
Japanese[7]	番/ban	baɴ	‘(one’s) turn’	See Japanese phonology
Korean	바보/ babo	paːbo	‘fool’	See Korean phonology
Malay	baru	baɾu	‘new’
Maltese	għatba	aːtˈba	‘threshold’
Norwegian	bål	ˈbɔːl	‘bonfire’	See Norwegian phonology
Pirahã	pibaóí	ˈpìbàóí̯	‘parent’
Polish[8]	bas	Pl-bas.ogg [[:Media:Pl-bas.ogg|bas]] (help·info)	‘bass’	See Polish phonology
Portuguese[9]	bato	ˈbatu	‘I strike’	See Portuguese phonology
Romanian[10]	bou	bow	‘bull’	See Romanian phonology.
Russian[11]	рыба	riba.ogg [[:Media:riba.ogg|ˈɾɨbə]] (help·info)	‘fish’	Contrasts with palatalized form. See Russian phonology
Slovak	byť	bic	‘to be’
Spanish[12]	invertir	ĩmbe̞ɾˈtiɾ	‘to invest’	See Spanish phonology
Swedish	bra	ˈbɾɑː	‘good’	See Swedish phonology
Turkish	bulut	ˈbulut̪	‘cloud’	See Turkish phonology
Yi	ꁧ/bbo	bo˧	‘mountain’
Zapotec	Tilquiapan[13]	bald	bal͡d	‘few’

See also[]

• Betacism
• List of phonetics topics

References[]

1. ↑ Thelwall (1990:37)
2. ↑ Carbonell & Llisterri (1992:53)
3. ↑ Gussenhoven (1992:45)
4. ↑ Fougeron & Smith (1993:73)
5. ↑ Shosted & Chikovani (2006:255)
6. ↑ Rogers & d’Arcangeli (2004:117)
7. ↑ Okada (1991:94)
8. ↑ Jassem (2003:103)
9. ↑ Cruz-Ferreira (1995:91)
10. ↑ DEX Online : [1]
11. ↑ Padgett (2003:42)
12. ↑ Martínez-Celdrán, Fernández-Planas & Carrera-Sabaté (2003:255)
13. ↑ Merrill (2008:108)

Bibliography[]

• Carbonell, Joan F.; Llisterri, Joaquim (1992), «Catalan», Journal of the International Phonetic Association 22 (1-2): 53–56, doi:10.1017/S0025100300004618
• Cruz-Ferreira, Madalena (1995), «European Portuguese», Journal of the International Phonetic Association 25 (2): 90–94, doi:10.1017/S0025100300005223
• 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, doi:10.1017/S002510030000459X
• Jassem, Wiktor (2003), «Polish», Journal of the International Phonetic Association 33 (1): 103–107, doi:10.1017/S0025100303001191
• Martínez-Celdrán, Eugenio; Fernández-Planas, Ana Ma.; Carrera-Sabaté, Josefina (2003), «Castilian Spanish», Journal of the International Phonetic Association 33 (2): 255–259, doi:10.1017/S0025100303001373
• 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, doi:10.1023/A:1021879906505
• Rogers, Derek; d’Arcangeli, Luciana (2004), «Italian», Journal of the International Phonetic Association 34 (1): 117–121, doi:10.1017/S0025100304001628
• Shosted, Ryan K.; Vakhtang, Chikovani (2006), «Standard Georgian», Journal of the International Phonetic Association 36 (2): 255–264, doi:10.1017/S0025100306002659
• Thelwall, Robin (1990), «Illustrations of the IPA: Arabic», Journal of the International Phonetic Association 20 (2): 37–41

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als:Stimmhafter bilabialer Plosiv
br:Kensonenn diweuz dre serriñ mouezhiet
ca:Oclusiva bilabial sonora
cs:Znělá bilabiální ploziva
de:Stimmhafter bilabialer Plosiv
es:Oclusiva bilabial sonora
fr:Consonne occlusive bilabiale voisée
ko:유성 양순 파열음
hr:Zvučni bilabijalni ploziv
it:Occlusiva bilabiale sonora
la:Muta bilabialis sonora
lv:Balsīgs bilabiāls eksplozīvs slēdzenis
li:Stömhöbbendj bilabiaal plosief
ms:Letupan dwibibir bersuara
nl:Stemhebbende bilabiale plosief
ja:有声両唇破裂音
no:Stemt bilabial plosiv
pl:Spółgłoska zwarta dwuwargowa dźwięczna
pt:Oclusiva bilabial sonora
ro:Consoană oclusivă bilabială sonoră
ru:Звонкий губно-губной взрывной
sr:Звучни билабијални плозив
sv:Tonande bilabial klusil
th:เสียงกัก ริมฝีปาก ก้อง
uk:Дзвінкий губно-губний проривний
zh-yue:濁雙唇破音
zh:濁雙唇塞音

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Voiced bilabial plosive
b
IPA Number	102
Audio sample
source · help
Encoding
Entity (decimal)	b
Unicode (hex)	U+0062
X-SAMPA	b
Braille

The voiced bilabial plosive or stop is a type of consonantal sound used in many spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is ⟨b⟩, and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is b. The voiced bilabial stop occurs in English, and it is the sound denoted by the letter ⟨b⟩ in obey [obeɪ] (obeI).

Features[edit]

Features of the voiced bilabial stop:

• Its manner of articulation is occlusive, which means it is produced by obstructing airflow in the vocal tract. Since the consonant is also oral, with no nasal outlet, the airflow is blocked entirely, and the consonant is a plosive.
• Its place of articulation is bilabial, which means it is articulated with both lips.
• Its phonation is voiced, which means the vocal cords vibrate during the articulation.
• It is an oral consonant, which means air is allowed to escape through the mouth only.
• Because the sound is not produced with airflow over the tongue, the central–lateral dichotomy does not apply.
• The airstream mechanism is pulmonic, which means it is articulated by pushing air solely with the intercostal muscles and diaphragm, as in most sounds.

Varieties[edit]

IPA	Description
b	plain b
bʷ	labialised
b̜ʷ	semi-labialised
b̹ʷ	strongly labialised
bʲ	palatalised
bʱ	breathy voiced
bˠ	velarised

Occurrence[edit]

Occurrence of [b] in several languages

Language	Word	IPA	Meaning	Notes
Adyghe	бгъу / bġ°	[bʁʷə] (help·info)	‘nine’
Arabic	Standard[1]	باب / baab / bāb	[baːb]	‘door’	See Arabic phonology
Assyrian	ܒܒܐ baba	[baːba]	‘father’
Armenian	Eastern[2]	բարի/bari	[bɑˈɾi] (help·info)	‘kind’
Basque	bero	[beɾo]	‘hot’
Bengali	বলো / balo	[bɔlo]	‘say!’	Contrasts with aspirated form. See Bengali phonology
Catalan[3]	bell	[ˈbeʎ]	‘beautiful’	See Catalan phonology
Chechen	борз / borz	[borz]	‘wolf’
Chinese	Southern Min	閩 / ban	[ban]	‘Fujian province’	Only in colloquial speech.
Wu	皮 / bi	[bi]	‘skin’
Xiang	浮 / baw	[bau]	‘to float’
Czech	bota	[ˈbota]	‘boot’	See Czech phonology
Dutch[4]	boer	[buːr]	‘farmer’	See Dutch phonology
English	aback	[əˈbæk]	‘aback’	See English phonology
Esperanto	batalo	[baˈtalo]	‘war’	See Esperanto phonology
Filipino	buto	[buto]	‘bone’
French[5]	boue	[bu]	‘mud’	See French phonology
Georgian[6]	ბავშვი / bavšvi	[ˈbavʃvi]	‘child’
German	aber	[ˈäːbɐ]	‘but’	See Standard German phonology
Greek	μπόχα / bócha	[ˈbo̞xa]	‘reek’	See Modern Greek phonology
Gujarati	બક્રી / bakri	[bəkri]	‘goat’	See Gujarati phonology
Hebrew	בית / báyit	[bajit]	‘house’	See Modern Hebrew phonology
Hindustani	Hindi	बाल / bāl	[bäːl]	‘hair’	Contrasts with aspirated version /bʱ/. See Hindi-Urdu phonology
Urdu	بال / bāl
Hungarian	baba	[ˈbɒbɒ]	‘baby’	See Hungarian phonology
Italian[7]	bile	[ˈbile]	‘rage’	See Italian phonology
Japanese[8]	番 / ban	[baɴ]	‘(one’s) turn’	See Japanese phonology
Kabardian	бгъуы/bg»uy	[bʁʷə] (help·info)	‘nine’
Korean	지붕 / jibung	[t͡ɕibuŋ]	‘roof’	See Korean phonology
Kurdish	Northern	bav	[bɑːv]	‘father’	See Kurdish phonology
Central	باوک/bâwk	[bɑːwk]
Southern	باوگ/bâwig	[bɑːwɨg]
Luxembourgish[9]	geblosen	[ɡ̊əˈbloːzən]	‘blown’	More often voiceless [p].[9] See Luxembourgish phonology
Macedonian	убав/ubav	[ˈubav]	‘beautiful’	See Macedonian phonology
Malay	baru	[bäru]	‘new’
Maltese	għatba	[aːtˈba]	‘threshold’
Marathi	बटाटा / baṭāṭā	[bəˈʈaːʈaː]	‘potato’	See Marathi phonology
Nepali	बाटो / bāṭo	[bäʈo]	‘path’	See Nepali phonology
Norwegian	bål	[ˈbɔːl]	‘bonfire’	See Norwegian phonology
Odia	ବାର/barô	[bärɔ]	‘twelve’	Contrasts with aspirated form.
Persian	خوب/ xub	[xub]	‘good’	See Persian phonology
Pirahã	pibaóí	[ˈpìbàóí̯]	‘parent’
Polish[10]	bas	[bäs] (help·info)	‘bass’	See Polish phonology
Portuguese[11]	bato	[ˈbatu]	‘I strike’	See Portuguese phonology
Punjabi	ਬਿੱਲੀ/billī	[bɪlːi]	‘cat’
Romanian[12]	bou	[bow]	‘bull’	See Romanian phonology.
Russian[13]	рыба / ryba	[ˈrɨbə]	‘fish’	Contrasts with palatalized form. See Russian phonology
Serbo-Croatian[14]	биће / biće	[bǐːt͡ɕě]	‘being’	See Serbo-Croatian phonology
Slovak	byť	[bi̞c]	‘to be’
Spanish[15]	invertir	[ĩmbe̞ɾˈt̪iɾ]	‘to invest’	See Spanish phonology
Swedish	bra	[ˈbɾɑː]	‘good’	May be an approximant in casual speech. See Swedish phonology
Telugu	బడి	[badi]	‘school’	Contrasts with aspirated form. Aspirated form is articulated as breathy consonant.
Thai	บำบัด / bam-bàt	[bam.bat̚]	‘therapy’	See Thai phonology
Turkish	bulut	[ˈbuɫut̪]	‘cloud’	See Turkish phonology
Tyap	bai	[bai]	‘to come’
Ukrainian[16]	брат / brat	[brɑt̪]	‘brother’	See Ukrainian phonology
Welsh	mab	[mɑːb]	‘son’	See Welsh phonology
West Frisian	bak	[bak]	‘tray’
Yi	ꁧ / bbo	[bo˧]	‘mountain’
Zapotec	Tilquiapan[17]	bald	[bald]	‘few’

See also[edit]

• Betacism
• List of phonetics topics

Notes[edit]

References[edit]

• Carbonell, Joan F.; Llisterri, Joaquim (1992), «Catalan», Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 22 (1–2): 53–56, doi:10.1017/S0025100300004618, S2CID 249411809
• Cruz-Ferreira, Madalena (1995), «European Portuguese», Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 25 (2): 90–94, doi:10.1017/S0025100300005223, S2CID 249414876
• Danyenko, Andrii; Vakulenko, Serhii (1995), Ukrainian, Lincom Europa, ISBN 9783929075083
• Dum-Tragut, Jasmine (2009), Armenian: Modern Eastern Armenian, Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company
• Fougeron, Cecile; Smith, Caroline L (1993), «Illustrations of the IPA:French», Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 23 (2): 73–76, doi:10.1017/S0025100300004874, S2CID 249404451
• Gilles, Peter; Trouvain, Jürgen (2013), «Luxembourgish» (PDF), Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 43 (1): 67–74, doi:10.1017/S0025100312000278
• Gussenhoven, Carlos (1992), «Dutch», Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 22 (2): 45–47, doi:10.1017/S002510030000459X, S2CID 243772965
• Jassem, Wiktor (2003), «Polish», Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 33 (1): 103–107, doi:10.1017/S0025100303001191
• Martínez-Celdrán, Eugenio; Fernández-Planas, Ana Ma.; Carrera-Sabaté, Josefina (2003), «Castilian Spanish», Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 33 (2): 255–259, doi:10.1017/S0025100303001373
• Merrill, Elizabeth (2008), «Tilquiapan Zapotec» (PDF), Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 38 (1): 107–114, doi:10.1017/S0025100308003344
• Okada, Hideo (1999), «Japanese», in International Phonetic Association (ed.), Handbook of the International Phonetic Association: A Guide to the Use of the International Phonetic Alphabet, Cambridge University Press, pp. 117–119, ISBN 978-0-52163751-0
• Padgett, Jaye (2003), «Contrast and Post-Velar Fronting in Russian», Natural Language & Linguistic Theory, 21 (1): 39–87, doi:10.1023/A:1021879906505, S2CID 13470826
• Rogers, Derek; d’Arcangeli, Luciana (2004), «Italian», Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 34 (1): 117–121, doi:10.1017/S0025100304001628
• Shosted, Ryan K.; Chikovani, Vakhtang (2006), «Standard Georgian» (PDF), Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 36 (2): 255–264, doi:10.1017/S0025100306002659
• Thelwall, Robin (1990), «Illustrations of the IPA: Arabic», Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 20 (2): 37–41, doi:10.1017/S0025100300004266, S2CID 243640727
• Landau, Ernestina; Lončarić, Mijo; Horga, Damir; Škarić, Ivo (1999), «Croatian», Handbook of the International Phonetic Association: A guide to the use of the International Phonetic Alphabet, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 66–69, ISBN 978-0-521-65236-0

External links[edit]

• List of languages with [b] on PHOIBLE

Asked by: Elmo Kilback III

Score: 4.3/5
(42 votes)

The voiced bilabial plosive or stop is a type of consonantal sound used in many spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet

International Phonetic Alphabet

Ï, lowercase ï, is a symbol used in various languages written with the Latin alphabet; it can be read as the letter I with diaeresis or I-umlaut. … The letter is also used in the same context in Dutch, as in Oekraïne (pronounced [ukraːˈinə], Ukraine), and English naïve (/nɑːˈiːv/ or /naɪˈiːv/).

that represents this sound is ⟨b⟩, and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is b .

Which one is the Bilabial plosive?

The voiceless bilabial plosive or stop is a type of consonantal sound used in most spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is ⟨p⟩, and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is p .

Which sounds are common to bilabial and plosives?

In phonetic terminology the sounds associated with p, b are called bilabial plosives because their pronunciation requires bringing the two lips together; the sounds associated with t, d are called dental or alveolar plosives because the tongue closes against the upper teeth or the skin covering the roots (alveoli) of …

Which are the bilabial sounds?

Baby babbling is usually the classic example of bilabial sounds, like “bababa” and “mamama.” Bilabial speech sounds are those that are made by using both lips, pressed together for sounds like /p/, /b/, and /m/.

Which are the bilabial sounds in English?

The English bilabial sounds are [p], [b], and [m]. It’s possible to make bilabial fricatives by not closing the lips completely and leaving an opening narrow enough to cause turbulent airflow. To English speakers, these sound like [f] and [v].

39 related questions found

February 11, 2010 at 10:27 am | Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

FREE VARIATION

In LINGUISTICS, a relationship between the members of a pair of phonemes, words, etc., in which either can occur in the same position without causing a change of meaning: the initial vowels /i/ and /ɛ/ are in free variation in the pronunciation of economics (‘eek’ or ‘eck-’) as are up and down in the phrasal verbs slow up, slow down.
Among British speakers, a majority are said to prefer the word ate to be pronounced /et/ to rhyme with met ; but a large minority favour the pronunciation /eɪt/ like eight . The two pronunciations are therefore in free variation, as are /ekəˈnɒmiks/ or /iːkəˈnɒmiks/ for …

Minimal Pairs

Minimal pairs are pairs of words that have one phonological element that is different.

Example:
pin bin /pɪn/ /bɪn/ initial consonant
rot lot /rɒt/ /lɒt/
zeal seal /ziːl/ /siːl/
bin bean /bɪn/ /biːn/ vowel
pen pan /pɛn/ /pæn/
hat had /hæt/ /hæd/ final consonant

Examples of Vowel Contrast Pairs & Sentences
leave-live deal-dill fell-fill
cheek-chick seek-sick bean-bin
deep-dip sleep-slip eat-it
greet-grit wheat-whit heat-hit

Please SIT in this SEAT.

These shoes should FIT your FEET.

He lost the LEAD/LID.

She wore the NEAT/KNIT suit.

Don’t SLEEP/SLIP on the deck.
bead-bed speed-sped seed-said
mean-men peat-pet sweet-sweat
steam-stem beast-best beacon-beckon
teen-ten cheek-check feed-fed

The STEP is STEEP.

We MET while buying MEAT.

Some MEN are MEAN.

I FEEL/FELL sick.

We FEED/FED the cat.
beer-bear wit-wet sill-sell
bitter-better tint-tent wrist-rest
rid-red him-hem fear-fair
hat-hit pin-pen steer-stair

He HID his HEAD.

The girl SLID on the SLED.

This one is BITTER/BETTER.

They LIFT/LEFT ten-pound weights at the gym.

A list of common minimal pairs:
pear-bear choke-joke dare-their
boy-buy cheap-jeep dough-though
pig-big chin-gin shot-shout
path-bath choice-Joyce dime-time
rib-crib coat-goat die-tie
cap-cab cold-gold waiting-wading
park-bark coast-ghost best-bed
pill-bill come-gum yes-chess
Paul-ball could-good you-chew
tank-thank came-game teethe-teeth
tin-thin kick-king year-cheer
true-through sick-sing taught-thought
sank-thank they-day worthy-wordy
safe-save sin-thin sell-shell
tug-tough free-three hand-hanged
wins-wings stun-stung tour-poor
proof-prove fan-than use-chews
married-marriage chained-change stayed-stage
wedding-wedging rained-range climb-crime
clutch-crutch glass-grass stole-store
fought-thought clown-crown watching-washing
badge-bash bagging-banging tugs-tongues
raced-raised priced-prized wench-quench
heed-healed tide-tired bugged-buzzed
sting-string skit-skip hiss-hips
won-run mow-more wig-rig
west-vest wait-gate rifle-rival
grief-grieve half-have fasten-fashion
place-plays grace-graze piggy-picky
grease-crease braid-bride neat-knit
sow-sue pegging-pecking bigger-bicker

Multiple Contrasts
bead bade booed bode bide bowed
teal tail tool toll tile towel
feel fail fool foal file foul
bead bid bayed bed bad
deal dale duel dole dial
meat mitt mate met mat
heel hill hail hell Hal
speak spake spook spoke spike
peat pit pet pate pat
cooed could cud code
heat hit hate hat
doom dumb dome
greed grid grade

(Glides and Liquids)

The glides (/j/ and /w/) and the liquids (/9r/ and /l/) in American English can be grouped together in a larger category called the approximants. This name comes from the fact that the articulators are brought into closer contact, or approximation, than in any of the vowels. However, the constriction is less than for the obstruents (fricatives and plosives).
The glides /j/ and /w/ are similar to diphthongs in that they consist of vowel-like movements. They differ from diphthongs, which are moving vowels, in that:
Their energy is usually less than that that of a vowel.
Their formants do things which vowels never do.
In the case of /j/, F2 and F3 almost collide before going their separate ways. This near-miss leaves a characteristic X pattern which is the hallmark of the /j/. Think of /j/ as an exaggerated /i:/, where the tongue nearly touches the roof of the mouth. It may be divided into two phases: a period of maximal constriction followed by a rapid breakaway. Because the constriction for /j/ is so narrow, this phoneme is often marked by frication as well as voicing.
The phoneme /w/ usually starts as a single F1 at 200-400 Hz, with all significant energy below 800-900 Hz, and only gradually takes on very low F2 and F3 components as the following vowel unfolds. As soon as F3 is visible, however, it is above 2000 Hz, which helps distinguish /w/ from /9r/. Think of /w/ as a “super” /u/, where the lips are nearly in the bilabial position, leaving only a small constriction from which something less than a vowel emerges. Lip rounding is an essential part of /w/, as with /u/. In addition, /w/ is also marked by a velar constriction.
As usual with speech, these observations only represent the best-behaved examples of /j/ and /w/; we will see that there is a great deal of variation.
We call these phonemes “glides” because they glide into the syllable nucleus. They cannot form the nucleus of a syllable, and occur only in prevocalic position. When a glide follows a vowel within a syllable, the combination is considered a diphthong and not two separate phonemes.
The liquids /9r/ and /l/ are among the most interesting of English phonemes. This is because of the position of the tongue which is in each case unique:
In the case of /9r/, the retroflex liquid, the sides of the blade of the tongue are curled up to the alveolar ridge, and further back the tongue sides are brought into contact with the molars. These blockages force air to pass out through a narrow ellipse in the center of the mouth. The tip of the tongue may also be curled back; this is the original meaning of the word “retroflexion”, although different sorts of r-flavoring or rhotacization occur in the repertory of the world’s languages: the uvular fricative in French “rouge”, a /d_(/-like flap in the Spanish “pero”, the trilled double r in the Spanish “perro”, and the real retroflexes in Hindi and other Indian languages.

The main sign of the retroflex in spectrograms is that F3 comes very close to F2, in the extreme case being swallowed up into it, and in either case restricting all significant energy below 2000 Hz (higher in females and children). /9r/ is different from /3r/ in that in /9r/, the formants show a great deal of movement; in intervocalic position F3 will swing down below 2000 Hz and back above it. In /3r/, the formants seem to move instantly together and to stay there as long as the syllable persists.
The lateral liquid /l/ is in a sense the reverse of /9r/. In the lateral, it is the tip of the tongue which is placed on the alveolar ridge, while the sides of the tongue are left in their normal horizontal, open position. Air thus escapes from the two sides of the tongue out the mouth, but not from the center. The splitting and rejoining of the sound waves cause an antiresonance around 1500 Hz which is a good clue for /l/.

The phoneme /l/ shows a lot of variety in the spectrogram. Before a vowel, F3 may descend or stay even, while F2 rises, giving the phoneme a forked appearance. This is particularly true for the syllable `ly’ as in “daily.” In other cases, the formants F2 and F3 move directly into the next vowel without any marked frequency variations, but the /l/ shows less energy than the vowel. There is often a clear spectral discontinuity where the tongue touches the alveolar ridge, causing the antiresonance to form, and again when it is taken away. In postvocalic contexts, /l/ is signalled by the crushing down of F2 with F1 near or below 1000 Hz, with F3 simultaneously moving up toward 3000 Hz, again leaving the hole in the normal F2 range. The two cases may be combined in the case of intervocalic /l/, where an elliptical low-energy pattern may be detected. /l/ is easy to confuse with /oU/.

One thing which /3r/ and /l/ have in common is that their duration can be as short or long as desired. The glides must move; we cannot pronounce a long /w/ or /j/; if we try to do so, they become /u/ or /i:/. But the liquids can be pronounced as long as we wish: try saying “well” and draw out the /l/, or “father” and draw out the /3r/. Both phonemes can become syllabic nuclei: for /l/ the symbol is /l_=/, while we have already seen the vowels /3r/ and /&r/.
There are variants of the glides and liquids which occur in consonant clusters. Examples are the beginnings of the following words:

/s/ swipe, Sri, sly
/f/ few, foie gras, flood, from
/T/ thwart, thrice
/ph/ pew, poids, ply, pry
/th/ tune, twice, try
/kh/ cue, quiet, clay, cry
/b/ beautiful, bwana, blue, brute
/d/ dew, Dwight, dry
/g/ gewgaw, guava, glide, grind

Notice that in English we do not like combinations such as /th l/ or /d l/, although these exist in other languages. The voiced /z/ and /v/ occur in very few such combinations; again, this is probably an English preference since there are words such as zouave and voir in French.

In cases where the preceding consonant is voiceless, the glide or liquid may be partially or totally devoiced; in this case it is realized in aspiration bands rather than as voicing bands, and would be labelled phonetically as /j_0/, /w_0/, /9r_0/, or /l_0/. In all cases, the two phonemes interact and make recognition more difficult.
Some phoneticians speak of the dark and light variants of /l/. What they call light /l/ might also be termed pre-vocalic /l/; while dark /l/ is post-vocalic. In cases of intervocalic /l/, the liquid will tend to group either with the preceding syllable, in which case it is dark, or with the following syllable, in which case it is light. But there are many cases where the distinction is not so clear, and we get elements of both, leading to the nice diamond or O shape between F2 and F3 which is an easy marker for /l/.

Consonant Clusters index
beginning with voiced bilabial nasal —- / m / ———

001———mp (final) ——-bump, camp, hemp, limp, lump, ramp

002———mps (final) —– amps, camps, lamps, lumps, mumps, trumps

003———mf (final) ——-lymph, nymph

004———mft (final) ——triumphed

005———mfs (final) ——nymphs

006———mt (final) ——-camped, dreamt revamped, lumped

007———mt (medial) ——empty, temptation

008———mtr (medial) —–temptress

009———mts (final) ——-tempts

010———md (final) ——-aimed, assumed, formed, roamed, shamed

011———mst (final) ——glimpsed

012———mz (final) ——-comes, terms, times

beginning with voiceless bilabial plosive—- / p / —-

013———pθ (final)——–depth

014———pθs (final)——-depths

015———pθr (medial)——upthrust

016———pt (final) ——–abrupt, Egypt, except, harped, kept, opt

017———pt (medial)——abruptly, absorption, acceptable

018———pts (final) ——-accepts, adopts

019———ps (final) ——–cups, equips, jumps, perhaps, steps

020———ps (medial) ——Epsom, Ipswich, lopsided, upside down

021———pst (final) ——-lapsed

beginning with voiced bilabial plosive—- / b / —-

022———bd (final) ——–absorbed, bribed, curbed, lobbed, robed, robbed

023———bz (final) ——–cabs, fibs, jabs, knobs, verbs, yobs

beginning with voiceless labiodental fricative—- / f / —-

024———fθ (final) ———fifth, twelfth

025———fθs (final) ——–fifths, twelfths

026———fθl (medial) ——fifthly

027———ft (final) ———craft, drift, gift, left, lift, loft, soft

028———ft (medial) ——-after, daftest, often rafter, softly, swiftly, thrifty

029———fts (final) ——–crofts, drifts, gifts, lifts, lofts

030———fs (final) ———beliefs, cliffs, chefs, chiefs, hankerchiefs, laughs

beginning with voiced labiodental fricative—- / v / —-

031———vd (final) ——–arrived, believed, involved, lived, proved, saved

032———vz (final) ——–additives, captives, loaves, loves, serves, waves

beginning with voiceless dental fricative—- / θ / —-

033———θs (final) ——–baths, cloths, maths, oaths, paths, truths

beginning with voiced dental fricative—- / ð / —-[ Back ]

034———ðd (final) ——–bathed, betrothed, clothed, seethed, swathed

035———ðz (final) ——–bathes, breathes, clothes, loathes, seethes, soothes

beginning with voiced alveolar nasal—- / n / —-

036———nθ (final) ——-month, tenth

037———nθ (medial) —–anthem

038———nt (final) ——–ant, aren´t, aunt, bent, can´t, font, want

039———nts (final) ——-ants, fonts, grunts, hints, hunts, pants

040———ntst (final) ——chintzed

041———nd (final) ——-behind, concerned, find, found, friend, owned

042———nd (medial) —–friendship, landlord —–* Note rules for deletion of / d /

043———ndz (final) ——bends, ends, friends, sounds

044———ns (final) ——-hence, pence, since, tense

045———ns (medial) —–pensive, tenses

046———nz (final) ——-hens, lens, pens, runs, tens

047———nʧ (final) ——-lunch, pinch

048———nʧt (final) ——lunched, pinched

049———nʤ (final) ——change, hinge

050———nʤd (final) —–changed, hinged

beginning with voiceless alveolar plosive—- / t / —-

051———tθ (final) ——–breadth, eighth, hundredth, thousandth, width

052———tθs (final) ——-breadths, eighths, hundredths, thousandths, widths

053———ts (final) ——–cats, eats, fights, its, meets, parts, puts, waits

054———tst (final) ——amidst, midst

beginning with voiced alveolar plosive—- / d / —-

055———dz (final) ——-almonds, beds, birds, hands, kinds, weeds, words

beginning with voiceless alveolar fricative—- / s / —-

056———sp (final) ——-clasp, crisp, gasp, lisp, wasp

057———st (final) ——-chased, first, pursed

058———sts (final) ——thirsts

059———sk (final) ——-ask, desk, dusk, risk

beginning with voiced alveolar fricative—- / z / —-

060———zd (final) ——-amazed, crazed, gazed, lazed, phased, phrased

beginning with voiced alveolar lateral approximant—- / l / —-

061———lmd (final) ——filmed

062———lmz (final) ——elms, films

063———lp (final) ——–help

064———lpt (final) ——-helped

065———lps (final) ——-helps

066———lbd (final) ——-bulbed

067———lbz (final) ——-bulbs

068———lf (final) ———self

069———lfθs (final) ——-twelfths, Alf´s

070———lft (final) ——–elfed

071———lvd (final) ——-delved

072———lθ (final) ——–health

073———lθs (final) ——-tilths

074———lnd (final) ——-kilned

075———lnz (final) ——-kilns

076———lt (final) ——–difficult

077———ltst (final) ——-waltzed

078———ld (final) ——–cold, held

079———ldz (final) ——-holds, worlds

080———ls (final) ——–else

081———lz (final) ——–fills, girls

082———lʧt (final) ——-filched

083———lʤd (final) ——bilged

084———lʃt (final) ——–welshed

085———lk (final) ——–milk, silk

086———lks (final) ——-milks

087———lkt (final) ——-milked

088———lkts (final) ——mulcts

beginning with voiced alveolar approximant —— / r / —-

rm (final) ——-silent before a consonant in England & Wales——- “alarm” / əˈlɑ:m /, “arm” / ˈɑ:m /, “warm” / ˈwɔ:m /

rm (final) ——-generally pronounced (& sometimes rolled) in Scotland & Ireland
—————- “alarm” / əˈlɑ:rm /, “arm” / ˈɑ:rm /, “warm” / ˈwɔ:rm /

The / r / within these consonant clusters is generally pronounced in Canada most parts of the USA.

The / r / is pronounced by all English speakers when it precedes a vowel sound, as in “angry” / ˈærɪ / or “zebra” / ˈzebrə /.

/ r / can precede several other consonants sounds, though in these contexts it is rarely pronounced in England and Wales.

beginning with voiceless post-alveolar affricate—- / ʧ / —-

089———ʧt (final) ——-hitched, matched, watched

beginning with voiceless post-alveolar affricate—- / ʤ / —-[ Back ]

090———ʤd (final) ——caged, edged, forged, judged, waged

beginning with voiceless post-alveolar fricative—- / ʃ / —-

091———ʃt (final) ——-cashed, fished, mashed, washed

beginning with voiceless post-alveolar fricative—- / ʒ / —-

092———ʒd (final) ——-leisured, measured, pleasured, treasured

beginning with voiced palatal semi-vocalic—- / j / —-

/ t / + / j / is often replaced by / ʧ / in words such as “nature” / ˈneɪʧəʳ /, “future” / ˈfju:ʧəʳ /, “feature” / ˈfi:ʧəʳ /, and “creature” / ˈkri:ʧəʳ /. This type of assimilation is known as coalescence. See Wikipedia on Yod-coalescence.

/ d / + / j / is often replaced by / ʤ / in words such as “gradual” / ˈgræʤʊəl / and individual / . This type of assimilation is known as coalescence. See Wikipedia on Yod-coalescence.

beginning with voiced velar nasal—- / ŋ / —-

093———ŋθ (final) ——-length

094———ŋt (final) ——-instinct

095———ŋts (final) ——instincts

096———ŋd (final) ——-longed

097———ŋst (medial) —–minxed

098———ŋz (final) ——-things

099———ŋk (final) ——-think

100———ŋg (final) ——-thing

beginning with voiceless velar plosive—- / k / —-

101———kθ (final) ——-sixth

102———kθs (final) ——sixths

103———kt (final) ——-fact, worked

104———kts (final) ——conflicts, contexts, expects texts

105———ks (final) ——-six, works

106———kst (final) ——context, next, oversexed, pretext, text

beginning with voiced velar plosive—- / g / —-

107———gd (final) ——-bagged, hugged, logged, tagged, wagged

108———gz (final) ——-eggs, figs, mugs, rugs

as⋅pi⋅rate [v. as-puh-reyt; n., adj., as-per-it]
–verb (used with object)
1. Phonetics.
a. to articulate (a speech sound, esp. a stop) so as to produce an audible puff of breath, as with the first t of total, the second t being unaspirated.
b. to articulate (the beginning of a word or syllable) with an h-sound, as in which, pronounced (hwich), or hitch as opposed to witch or itch.

Generally the “h” is not sounded by itself but instead indicates a pronunciation change in the consonant directly ahead of it. This change, called “aspiration”, occurs in other languages, too. In English, for example, you know that the word “philosophy” is pronounced with “f” sounds, not “p” sounds. The “h” after the “p” tells you this, as it does in “Philip” and “triumph.” A German pronounces “ach” differently from “ac” or “ak”, too, because he knows that the “h” indicates a change, which we call “aspiration” in Irish.

Stop consonant
A stop or plosive is a consonant sound produced by obstructing airflow in the vocal tract by the lips or tongue.

In the case of oral stops, the airflow is blocked completely, causing pressure to build up. The obstruction in the mouth is then suddenly opened; the released airflow produces a sudden impulse in pressure causing an audible sound.

The oral cavity can also be completely obstructed while allowing air to escape through the nose; this may be called a nasal stop. Usually the term “stop” is used to refer to oral stops only, with nasal stops called simply nasals. Since nasals are always continuous, not abrupt, it seems strange to call them stops, though strictly the definition of stops given above allows it.

Here are some of the oral stops. (The figures in square brackets are from the IPA.)
[p] voiceless bilabial plosive
[b] voiced bilabial plosive
[t] voiceless alveolar plosive
[d] voiced alveolar plosive
[ʈ] voiceless retroflex plosive
[ɖ] voiced retroflex plosive
[c] voiceless palatal plosive
[ɟ] voiced palatal plosive
[k] voiceless velar plosive
[g] voiced velar plosive
[q] voiceless uvular plosive
[ɢ] voiced uvular plosive
[ʔ] glottal stop

English has the following stops:

[p], [t], [k] (voiceless)

[b], [d], [g] (voiced)

[m], [n], [n] (nasal)

[ʔ] (glottal stop, though not as a phoneme in most dialects)

All languages in the world have stops. Some Polynesian languages have only three. Swiss German has [p, t, k, pp, tt, kk]; some also have [p_h t_h k_h]. Most
languages have at least [p], [t], and [k], and usually more.

Stops may be made with more than one airstream mechanism. The normal mechanism is pulmonic, that is with air flowing outward from the lungs. A pulmonic stop is called a plosive. All languages have plosives. Some languages have stops made with other mechanisms too: these are called ejective, implosive , or click dependent on the mechanism.

[p, b]
are occlusive, noise, plosive, bilabial, oral consonant phonemes.
[p] is voiceless, fortis; [b] is voiced, lenis.

The lips are brought together
and form a complete obstruction. Then the lips open quickly and the
air escapes with plosion. In case with [b] the vocal cords are
brought together and vibrate; in case with [p] the vocal cords are
kept apart and do not vibrate.

Remember:
voiceless plosives [p, t, k] are aspirated before a stressed vowel,
if not preceded by the sibilant [s]. To distinguish between the final
voiced and voiceless plosives mind the length of the preceding
vowels.

Exercise
1. 
/Track
1/

Distinguish
between [p] and [b].

pit	bit	rope	robe
pat	bat	tripe	tribe
port	bought	tap	tab
pull	bull	cup	cub
pride	bride	rip	rib

[t, d]
are occlusive, noise, plosive, forelingual, apical, alveolar, oral
consonant phonemes.
[t] is voiceless, fortis; [d] is voiced, lenis.

The tip of
the tongue is pressed against the alveolar ridge which forms a
complete obstruction. Then the tongue tip is quickly removed from the
alveolar ridge and the air escapes with plosion. In case with [d] the
vocal cords are brought together and vibrate. In case with [t] the
vocal cords are kept apart and do not vibrate.

Exercise
2. 
/Track
2/

Distinguish
between [t] and [d].

two	do	sight	side
ten	den	heart	hard
ton	done	plate	played
town	down	bat	bad
train	drain	set	said

[k, g]
are
occlusive, noise, plosive, backlingual, velar, oral consonant
phonemes.
[k] is voiceless, fortis; [g] is voiced, lenis.

The
back of the tongue is brought into contact with the soft palate which
forms a complete obstruction. Then the back of the tongue is quickly
removed from the soft palate and the air escapes with plosion. The
vocal cords vibrate in case with [g].

Exercise
3. /Track
3/

Distinguish between [k] and [g].

could	good	leak	league
cot	got	pick	pig
coat	goat	lock	log
cave	gave	ankle	angle
clue	glue	crow	grow

Exercise
4.

Practise
the following tongue-twisters.

1. Picky
people pick Peter Pan Peanut butter.

Peter
Pan peanut is the peanut picky people pick.

2.
A big bad baby brought the bought black blanket back.

3.
I’ll have a proper cup of coffee in a copper coffee-cup.

4.
The two-twenty-two train tore through the tunnel.

5.
The great Greek grape growers grow great Greek grapes.

Exercise
5. /Track
4 /

Imitation.
Practise the phonetic difficulties before you start the conversation.

‘tea and ‘coffee	a ‘cup of ‘coffee	‘count them
at ‘breakfast	a ‘cup of ‘tea	in the ‘tea break
‘biscuit	a ‘couple of ‘cups of ‘tea	at ‘three
‘keep me	a ‘couple of ‘cups of ‘coffee	and ‘three
and ‘later	‘four ‘cups of ‘coffee	drink
a ‘couple	‘three ‘cups of ‘tea	get ‘in

A: ‘How
many ‘cups of ‘tea and ֻcoffee
¦ do you ‘drink each ‘day?
||

B:
I’ll ‘count
them.
||
I ‘drink ‘two.cups
of .coffee
at ‚breakfast.
||
In the ‘morning ˇbreak,
|
I ‘drink a‘nother
◦cup
of ◦coffee.
||
In the ‘tea
‚break
¦ at ‘three o’‚clock,
|
I have a ‘cup of ‚tea
¦ and a ‘biscuit.
||
‘When I get ‘in from ˇwork,
|
I ‘drink a ‘couple
of ◦cups
of ◦tea.
||
And ‘later in the ˇevening,
|
I .drink
a’nother ‘cup of ‘coffee.
||

A:
‘So that’s ‘four ‘cups of ˇcoffee
|
and
‘three
¦.cups
of ‘tea.
||

B:
‘Yes.
||
And ‘if I’m ‘working ˇlate,
|
I ‘have a ‘couple
of .cups
of ‚coffee
¦ to ‘keep me a‘wake.
||

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Manners of articulation
Obstruent
Plosive (occlusive)
Affricate
Fricative
Sibilant
Sonorant
Nasal
Flap/Tap
Approximant
Liquid
Vowel
Semivowel
Lateral
Trill
Airstreams
Pulmonic
Ejective
Implosive
Click
Alliteration
Assonance
Consonance
See also: Place of articulation
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edit

In phonetics, a plosive, also known as an occlusive or an oral stop, is a stop consonant in which the vocal tract is blocked so that all airflow ceases. The occlusion may be done with the tongue (blade /t/, /d/, or body /k/, /ɡ/), lips (/b/, /p/), or glottis (/ʔ/). Occlusives contrast with nasal stops, where the vocal tract is blocked but airflow continues through the nose, as in /m/ and /n/, and with fricatives, where partial occlusion impedes but does not block airflow in the vocal tract.

Terminology

The terms occlusive, plosive, and stop are often used interchangeably, but they are not defined the same. Occlusives/plosives are oral stops, in contrast with nasal stops such as /m/, /n/. The ambiguity arises because the phrase nasal stop is frequently abbreviated to nasal, and oral stop to stop; in some ways nasal consonants behave more like sonorants than like oral stops, so the use of the term stop in reference to nasals may cause confusion.

The term stop refers to the stopping of the airflow, at least through the mouth. The term plosive derives from the plosive airflow which results when the occlusion of typical oral stops is released. The term occlusive refers to the occlusion of the vocal tract which stops the airflow. Plosive and occlusive are generally synonyms, though various authors may make idiosyncratic distinctions between them. In some cases, plosive refers exclusively to oral stops with outward airflow powered by the diaphragm, as in English. Occlusive may then be used as a cover term for plosives together with similar consonants with other airflow mechanisms, such as ejectives, implosives, and clicks, or as a cover term for plosives and affricates. In other cases, it is occlusive which is restricted to oral stops with outward airflow, while plosive covers implosives and clicks. In yet other cases, plosive means specifically the glottal stop, or the opposite, to oral stops excluding the glottal stop.

In Ancient Greek, occlusives were called áphōna (stoicheîa),^[1] which was translated into Latin as mūtae (cōnsōnantēs), and from there borrowed into English as mute.^[2] (Mute was sometimes used instead for voiceless consonants, whether occlusives or fricatives, a usage which was later replaced with surd, a term still occasionally seen in the literature.)^[3] Both the Latin and Greek terms sometimes referred to consonants in general, which ancient grammarians did not consider pronounceable on their own without vowels.^[4]

Common stops

All languages in the world have stops^[5] and most have at least the voiceless plosives [p], [t], [k] and the nasals [n], and [m]. However, there are exceptions: Colloquial Samoan lacks the coronals [t] and [n], and several North American languages, such as the northern Iroquoian languages, lack the labials [p] and [m]. In fact, the labial plosive is the least stable of the voiceless stops in the languages of the world, as the unconditioned sound change [p] → [f] (→ [h] → Ø) is quite common in unrelated languages, having occurred in the history of Classical Japanese, Classical Arabic and Proto-Celtic, for instance. Some of the Chimakuan, Salishan, and Wakashan languages near Puget Sound lack nasal stops [m] and [n], as does the Rotokas language of Papua New Guinea. In some African and South American languages, nasal stops occur, but only in the environment of nasal vowels, and so are not distinctive. Formal Samoan has nasals /n ŋ/ and /t/ but only one word with velar [k]; colloquial Samoan conflates these to /ŋ k/. Ni‘ihau Hawaiian has [t] for /k/ to a greater extent than Standard Hawaiian, but neither distinguish a /k/ from a /t/. It may be more accurate to say that Hawaiian and colloquial Samoan do not distinguish velar and coronal stops than to say they lack one or the other.

Articulation

In the articulation of the plosive, three phases can be distinguished:

• Catch: The airway closes so that no air can escape through the mouth (hence the name stop).
• Hold or occlusion: The airway stays closed, causing a pressure difference to build up (hence the name occlusive).
• Release or burst: The closure is opened. The released airflow produces a sudden impulse causing an audible sound, or burst (hence the name plosive).

In many languages, such as Malay and Vietnamese, final plosives lack a release burst, or have a nasal release. See Unreleased stop.

Nasal stops are somewhat similar. In the catch and hold, airflow continues through the nose; in the release, there is no burst, and final nasals are typically unreleased across most languages.

In affricates, the catch and hold are those of a plosive, but the release is that of a fricative. That is, affricates are plosive–fricative articulation contours.

Classification

Voice

Voiced stops are articulated with simultaneous vibration of the vocal cords, voiceless stops without. Plosives are commonly voiceless, whereas nasal stops are only rarely so.

Aspiration

In aspirated plosives, the vocal cords (or vocal folds) are abducted at the time of release. In a prevocalic aspirated plosive (a plosive followed by a vowel or sonorant), the time when the vocal cords begin to vibrate will be delayed until the vocal folds come together enough for voicing to begin, and will usually start with breathy voicing. The duration between the release of the plosive and the voice onset is called the voice onset time (VOT) or the aspiration interval. Highly aspirated plosives have a long period of aspiration, so that there is a long period of voiceless airflow (a phonetic [h]) before the onset of the vowel. In tenuis plosives, the vocal cords come together for voicing immediately following the release, and there is little or no aspiration (a voice onset time close to zero). In English, there may be a brief segment of breathy voice that identifies the plosive as voiceless and not voiced. In voiced plosives, the vocal folds are set for voice before the release, and often vibrate during the entire hold, and in English, the voicing after release is not breathy. A plosive is called «fully voiced» if it is voiced during the entire occlusion. In English, however, initial voiced plosives like /#b/ or /#d/ may have no voicing during the period of occlusion, or the voicing may start shortly before the release and continue after release, though word-final plosives tend to be fully voiced: In most dialects of English, the final g in the bag is likely to be fully voiced, while the initial b will only be voiced during part of its occlusion. Initial voiceless plosives, like the p in pie, are aspirated, with a palpable puff of air upon release, while a plosive after an s, as in spy, is tenuous (unaspirated). When spoken near a candle flame, the flame will flicker more after the words par, tar, and car are articulated, compared with spar, star, and scar. In the common pronunciation of papa, the initial p is aspirated while the medial p is not.

Length

In a geminate or long consonant, the occlusion lasts longer than in simple consonants. In languages where plosives are only distinguished by length (e.g., Arabic, Ilwana, Icelandic), the long plosives may be held up to three times as long as the short plosives. Italian is well known for its geminate plosives, as the double t in the name Vittoria takes just as long to say as the ct does in English Victoria. Japanese also prominently features geminate consonants, such as in the minimal pair 来た kita ‘came’ and 切った kitta ‘cut’.

Note that there are many languages where the features voice, aspiration, and length reinforce each other, and in such cases it may be hard to determine which of these features predominates. In such cases, the terms fortis is sometimes used for aspiration or gemination, while lenis is used for single, tenuous, or voiced plosives. Be aware, however, that the terms fortis and lenis are poorly defined, and their meanings vary from source to source.

Nasalization

Nasal stops are differentiated from oral stops only by a lowered velum that allows the air to escape through the nose during the occlusion.

Nasal stops are acoustically sonorants, as they have a non-turbulent airflow and are nearly always voiced, but they are articulatorily obstruents, as there is complete blockage of the oral cavity.

A prenasalized stop starts out with a lowered velum that raises during the occlusion. The closest examples in English are consonant clusters such as the [nd] in candy, but many languages have prenasalized stops that function phonologically as single consonants. Swahili is well known for having words whose spellings begin with mp or nd, like mtu, though truer prenasalized sounds like [mp] or [nd] do occur word-initially in other Bantu languages.

A postnasalized stop begins with a raised velum that lowers during the occlusion. This causes an audible nasal release, as in English sudden. Russian and other Slavic languages have words that begin with [dn], which can be seen in the name of the Dnieper River.

Note that the terms prenasalization and postnasalization are normally used only in languages where these sounds are phonemic: that is, not analyzed into sequences of plosive plus nasal stop.

Airstream mechanism

Stops may be made with more than one airstream mechanism. The normal mechanism is pulmonic egressive, that is, with air flowing outward from the lungs. All languages have pulmonic stops. Some languages have stops made with other mechanisms as well: ejective stops (glottalic egressive), implosive stops (glottalic ingressive), or click consonants (velaric ingressive).

Tenseness

A fortis stop (in the narrow sense) is produced with more muscular tension than a lenis stop (in the narrow sense). However, this is difficult to measure, and there is usually debate over the actual mechanism of alleged fortis or lenis consonants.

There are a series of stops in Korean, sometimes written with the IPA symbol for ejectives, which are produced using «stiff voice», meaning there is increased contraction of the glottis than for normal production of voiceless stops. The indirect evidence for stiff voice is in the following vowels, which have a higher fundamental frequency than those following other stops. The higher frequency is explained as a result of the glottis being tense. Other such phonation types include breathy voice, or murmur; slack voice; and creaky voice.

Examples

The following plosives have been given dedicated symbols in the IPA.

[p] voiceless bilabial plosive [t] voiceless alveolar plosive [ʈ] voiceless retroflex plosive [c] voiceless palatal plosive [k] voiceless velar plosive [q] voiceless uvular plosive [ʡ] epiglottal plosive [ʔ] glottal stop

[b] voiced bilabial plosive [d] voiced alveolar plosive [ɖ] voiced retroflex plosive [ɟ] voiced palatal plosive [ɡ] voiced velar plosive [ɢ] voiced uvular plosive

English

[p], [t], [k] (aspirated word-initially, tenuis in clusters with s)

[b], [d], [ɡ] (in most dialects: partially voiced word-initially, fully voiced intervocally)

[ʔ] (glottal stop, not as a phoneme in most dialects)

See also

• Continuant (the opposite of a stop)
• List of phonetics topics
• Pop filter
• Nonexplosive stop

References

1. ^ ἄφωνος. Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; A Greek–English Lexicon at Perseus Project
2. ^ «mute». Oxford English Dictionary. Oxford University Press. 2nd ed. 1989.
3. ^ «surd». Oxford English Dictionary. Oxford University Press. 2nd ed. 1989.
4. ^ Dionysius Thrax. τέχνη γραμματική (Art of Grammar), ς´ περὶ στοιχείου (6. On the Sound):

   σύμφονα δὲ τὰ λοιπὰ ἑπτακαίδεκα· β γ δ ζ θ κ λ μ ν ξ π ρ σ τ φ χ ψ. σύμφοναι δὲ +λέγονται+, ὅτι αὐτὰ μὲν καθ᾽ ἑαυτὰ φωνὴν οὐκ ἔχει, συντασσόμενα δὲ μετὰ τῶν φωνηέντων φωνὴν ἀποτελεῖ.

   The remaining seventeen are consonants: b, g, d, z, th, k, l, m, n, x, p, r, s, t, ph, ch, ps. They are called consonants because they do not have a sound on their own, but, when arranged with vowels, they produce a sound.

5. ^ König, W. (ed) dtv Atlas zur deutschen Sprache dtv 1994

• Ladefoged, Peter; Maddieson, Ian (1996). The Sounds of the World’s Languages. Oxford: Blackwell. ISBN 0-631-19814-8.
• Ian Maddieson, Patterns of Sounds, Cambridge University Press, 1984. ISBN 0-521-26536-3

External links

• Rothenberg M.. «The Breath-Stream Dynamics of Simple-Released Plosive Production». Vol. 6. http://www.rothenberg.org/Breath-Stream/BSD_contents.htm. Bibliotheca Phonetica, Karger, Basel, 1968

The voiced bilabial plosive [b], as in bench or bubble, follows the same process with one exception. During or immediately after the release of the closure, the vocal folds start vibrating, resulting in voicing.

You may not immediately recognize the voiceless bilabial fricative [ɸ] because it’s not a phoneme in English. You probably produce this sound fairly often, though. When you blow out a candle, you produce a voiceless bilabial fricative. The voiced bilabial fricative [β] is produced the same way with the addition of vocal fold vibration.

Some dialects of English (Irish English and Southern U.S. English, for example) pronounce the sound at the beginning of words like what and where as a voiceless labial velar approximant [ʍ]. You’ll also produce a [ʍ] if you say the word water in a whisper.

/p/ and /b/ share manner and place of articulation and differ in voicing (/p/ is voiceless and /b/ is voiced). So, in theory they are exactly the same sound except for the fact that when we produce a /b/ our vocal folds vibrate and when it is a /p/ they don’t. Unfortunately, things are a bit more complicated than that. In order to pronounce /p/ and /b/ well, we have to take into account more elements, and this is even more important when we compare them to Spanish /p/ and /b/.

One very important thing is that almost everything said here about /p/ and /b/ can be applied to  the pairs /t/-/d/ and /k/-/g/ because the three plosive pairs behave in the same way.

Let’s start by listening to these minimal pairs:

 park – bark

 pie  – buy

 pet  – bet

 pee – bee

 plot – blot

You will probably have noticed that, even though /p/ and /b/ are different, they are produced in a very similar way. And it is also quite clear that they are not the same as the Spanish corresponding sounds.

---

p (bilabial, plosive, voiceless)

Spelling: p (pot), pp (puppy), pe (ripe). Exceptional spellings: gh (hiccough)

Compare the following words:

 park – parque        penguin – pingüino         appear – aparecer        panic – pánico

Listen to them in context.

 Penguins can’t fly.                                      Los pingüinos no pueden volar.

 Please, don’t get into a panic.              Por favor no entres en pánico.

Where does this big difference between English and Spanish /p/ lie? I’m sure you’ve heard the puff of air -like a small explosion- which is expelled when an English /p/ is produced. This is called aspiration and it is an essential characteristic of English voiceless plosives (/p/, /t/ and /k/) when they appear at the beginning of a stressed syllable. It is a feature that doesn’t exist in Spanish, so we have to get used to doing it in the English way. As we’ll see in a moment, learning how to pronounce /p/, /t/ and /k/ correctly -that is, accompanied by that puff of air- is crucial to avoiding misunderstandings.

Here are some examples where /p/, /t/ and /k/ are pronounced by native speakers:

 Is there a problem with talking about LGBT rights as human rights? (Laurie Taylor, BBC4).

 It’s quite normal for a novelist in the eighteenth century to publish at least their first novel, sometimes all their novels, anonymously (John Mullan, BBC4).

 He’s rather proud of this last possession (Julian Barnes, KUSP).

 Typed on a piece of paper (Rupert Everett, BBC4).

It’s very important to remember that aspiration only occurs at the beginning of stressed syllables, so if the syllable is not stressed the amount of air that accompanies it will be drastically reduced. A classic example of this the word paper, in which the first p is aspirated whereas the second is not.

Listen to how Rupert Everett pronounces it in the last example:

 paper

And there is another crucial point to remember: aspiration doesn’t occur when the voiceless plosive comes after the consonant s, so in words like stop, Spain or school, the plosives –t, p, k– are produced without aspiration.

Have a look at this example:

 Your first novel, The South, is set in Spain, / and your most recent short story published in The New Yorker is set in Spain. / What kind of literary inspiration does Spain give you? (Eleanor Wachtel, CBC Radio).

As you can appreciate, none of the plosives (p and t, in this example) are aspirated.

---

b (bilabial, plosive, voiced)

Spelling: b (back), bb (rabbit)

Now let’s see what happens with the /b/ when we compare the English and Spanish sounds.

 boat – barco           baby – bebé

Listen to them in context.

 The boat arrived late.           El barco llegó tarde.

 She’s just had a baby.           Acaba de tener un bebé.

They are obviously different too. But what does this difference consist of? We might say that the English /b/ sounds dry and flat while the Spanish /b/ sounds somewhat richer. The release of the sound is also more sudden and clear in English. There is a phonetic reason for all this: even though /b/ is a voiced sound, when it comes in English at the beginning of a word it is devoiced, which means that it is produced with no vibration of the vocal folds. The devoicing of  voiced plosives (/b/, /d/ and /g/) in initial position is another essential characteristic of English, which accounts for the difference between the English and Spanish sounds.

Here are some examples taken from real life:

 The French scientist Cuvier was looking at the bones of things like whales and monkeys (A.S. Byatt, BBC4).

 I think Romanticism begins with strong feeling rather than rational thought (Jonathan Bate, BBC4).

 Well, the book was well received in a small circle of friends and people who were in the know (Nicholas Roe, BBC4).

 And throughout their lives they banded together both to support each other but also to keep the lid on things (Judith Hawley, BBC4).

Unexpected confusion. The devoicing of voiced plosives has a very important consequence. When /p/ and /b/ are at the beginning of words, English speakers don’t distinguish them by their voicing, since /p/ is voiceless and /b/ is devoiced (so, there is no vocal fold activity in either of them, they’re both voiceless de facto). They distinguish them because of the presence or absence of aspiration -the puff of air mentioned before-, because /p/ is aspirated and /b/ isn’t (remember the minimal pair park-bark). So if you pronounce the sound /p/ in the Spanish way -that is, without aspiration-, an English speaker is most likely to understand a /b/ (as I said, this happens with the pairs /t/-/d/ and /k/-/g/ too).

Let’s see how the phonetician Jack Windsor Lewis illustrates this problem on his very interesting website: “Hearing the Spanish word pacharán for the first time I wrote it as bacharan which is a fact that should warn students that if they fail to aspirate stressed syllable-initial /p/ etc, a native English speaker will be very likely to interpret that attempt at /p/ etc as the corresponding soft (voiced) consonant”.

From all this, we can draw a very interesting conclusion: Spanish /p/, /t/, / k/ sound very much like English /b/, /d/, /g/ in many situations. So we might think we are saying pitch but what our interlocutor actually understands is bitch.

This is the type of work I do with my students in my one-to-one classes. I make them practice these processes with exercises until they improve their comprehension of native speakers and are capable of speaking like that themselves. If you are interested in my classes, you can contact me here.

 
Here are a few more real-life examples where /p/ and /b/ can be heard in the same sentence.

 And both of those aspects are important too because they always have this sort of public role (Judith Hawley, BBC4).

 And King’s Lynn was… Compare to London was something of a backwash in those days  (Judith Hawley, BBC4).

 I’m not worried about the buildings, I’m worried about the people (Michael Caine, BBC4).

b between sounds. Finally we’ll address an issue which is responsible for the strong foreign accent of many Spanish speakers of English: the pronunciation of voiced plosives (/b/, /d/ and /g/) within words. Let’s listen to the following examples:

 about – abajo           abolish – abolir             Albania – Albania

 ebony – ébano         obesity – obesidad      ubiquitous – ubicuo

It is clear that the English /b/ is very different form the Spanish /b/ when it is found inside a word. Here the problem is that, in medial position, the Spanish /b/ is no longer a plosive but a fricative. This means that we don’t stop the flow of air before producing the sound. Instead, we go smoothly from one sound to the other. You can check this by performing an experiment: put your finger between your lips and say the Spanish word abajo. You’ll see that, when you pronounce the /b/,  your lips don’t touch. The typical closure of plosives doesn’t occur. But, in English, this sound is produced in a different way. If you say the word about, you have to make sure that you close your mouth completely for a brief moment when you say the /b/. Do it in this way and you’ll get rid of the problem once and for all.

And here are two examples of the English /b/ in medial position. See how clearly the feature I’ve been talking about can be seen in the word abroad.

 A major exhibition about how photographers from abroad have viewed Britain (John Wilson, BBC4).

But, unfortunately, the trouble doesn’t stop here. There is another little detail to mention. We don’t normally speak in isolated words, but in chunks of speech where words are linked to one another. We produce an uninterrupted stretch of sound. For this reason, we are likely to pronounce the /b/ badly even when it comes at the beginning of a word. Have look at this example:

 You need to learn the basics of English grammar.

This is the correct pronunciation of the basics  But many Spanish speakers are likely to say it like this *

As you can see, in the Spanish rendition of this sentence the word basics, is not pronounced with a plosive b. We tend to do a fricative b in this context because we link it to the previous sound. This should be absolutely avoided in English. Fortunately, it’s a very easy mistake to correct.

And here is a good example of how different the three plosives /b, d, g/ sound from their Spanish counterparts. Concentrate on the words gay, Roberts and Madonna in particular.

 Rupert Everett first memoir, Red Carpets and other Banana Skins, is full of witty, outrageous anecdotes about Hollywood, where he played the role of gay best friend to both Julia Roberts and Madonna (Kirsty Lang, BBC4).

Keep this point also in mind and you’ll improve your pronunciation immensely.

It is also very interesting to compare this section with those devoted to the other two voiced plosives, so you can check d between sounds and g between sounds.

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