Voiceless bilabial plosive
p
IPA Number101
Audio sample
Encoding
Entity (decimal)p
Unicode (hex)U+0070
X-SAMPAp
Braille⠏ (braille pattern dots-1234)

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.

Features

Features of the voiceless bilabial plosive:

Varieties

IPA Description
p plain p
pʰ aspirated p
pˠ velarized p
pʲ palatalized p
pʷ labialized p
p̚ p with no audible release
p̌ voiced p
p͈ tense p
pʼ ejective p

Occurrence

The stop /p/ is missing from about 10% of languages that have a /b/. (See voiced velar stop for another such gap.) This is an areal feature of the circum-Saharan zone (Africa north of the equator plus the Arabian peninsula). It is not known how old this areal feature is, and whether it might be a recent phenomenon due to Arabic as a prestige language (Arabic shifted /p/ to /f/ but the timing of this change is not known), or whether Arabic was itself affected by a more ancient areal pattern. It is found in other areas as well; for example, Fijian, Onge, and many Papuan languages have /b/ but no /p/.

Nonetheless, the /p/ sound is very common cross-linguistically. Most languages have at least a plain /p/, and some distinguish more than one variety. Many Indo-Aryan languages, such as Hindustani, have a two-way contrast between the aspirated /pʰ/ and the plain /p/ (also transcribed as [p˭] in extensions to the IPA).

Examples

Language Word IPA Meaning Notes
Adyghe паӏо/paio [paːʔʷa]ⓘ 'hat'
Arabic Algerian پاپيش/pāpīš [paːpiːʃ] 'beautiful girls'
Hejazi بول/پول/pōl [po̞ːl] 'Paul' Only used in loanwords, transcribed and pronounced as ⟨ب⟩ by many speakers.
Egyptian كبش/kabš [kɛpʃ] 'ram' Allophone of [b] before unvoiced consonants. Also used in loanwords.
Armenian Eastern[1] պապիկ/papik [pɑpik]ⓘ 'grandpa' Contrasts with aspirated form
Assyrian ܦܬܐ pata [pata] 'face'
Basque harrapatu [(h)arapatu] 'to catch'
Bengali পথ [pɔtʰ] 'road' Contrasts with aspirated form. See Bengali phonology
Catalan[2] por [ˈpɔ(ɾ)] 'fear' See Catalan phonology
Chuvash путене/putene [put̬ʲɛ'nɛ] 'quail'
Czech pes [pɛs] 'dog' See Czech phonology
Danish Standard[3] bog [ˈpɔ̽wˀ] 'book' Usually transcribed in IPA with ⟨b̥⟩ or ⟨b⟩. It may be partially voiced [b] in the intervocalic position.[4][5] It contrasts with aspirated form, which is usually transcribed in IPA with ⟨pʰ⟩ or ⟨p⟩. See Danish phonology
Dutch[6] plicht [plɪxt] 'duty' See Dutch phonology
English pack [pʰæk] 'pack' See English phonology
Esperanto tempo [ˈtempo] 'time' See Esperanto phonology
Filipino pato [paˈto] 'duck'
Finnish pappa [ˈpɑpːɑ] 'grandpa' See Finnish phonology
French[7] pomme [pɔm] 'apple' See French phonology
Gan Chinese Nanchangnese 把戲 [pa˨˩ ɕi˩] 'magic' Contrasts with aspirated form. See Nanchangnese phonology
German Pack [pʰak] 'pile' See Standard German phonology
Greek πόδι / pódi [ˈpo̞ði] 'leg' See Modern Greek phonology
Gujarati પગ/pag [pəɡ] 'foot' See Gujarati phonology
Hakka Chinese Meizhounese 河壩 / ho² ba⁴ [ho˩ pa˥] 'river' Contrasts with aspirated form. See Meizhounese phonology
Hebrew פּקיד/pakid [pakid] 'clerk' See Modern Hebrew phonology
Hindustani Urdu پل/pal [pəl] 'moment' Contrasts with aspirated form. See Hindustani phonology
Hindi पल / pal
Hungarian pápa [ˈpaːpɒ] 'pope' See Hungarian phonology
Italian[8] papà [paˈpa] 'dad' See Italian phonology
Japanese[9] ポスト / posuto [posɯto] 'mailbox' See Japanese phonology
Kabardian пэ/pė [pa]ⓘ 'nose'
Khmer ពន្យល់ / pônyól [pɔnjɔl] 'to explain' See Khmer phonology
Korean 빛 / bit [pit̚] 'light' See Korean phonology
Kurdish Northern por [ˈpʰoːɾ] 'hair' See Kurdish phonology
Central پیرۆزە/píroze [pʰiːɾoːzæ] 'lammergeier'
Southern پۊنگه/pûûnga [pʰʉːŋa] 'pennyroyal'
Lakota púza [ˈpʊza] 'dry'
Lithuanian pastatas [ˈpaːstɐtɐs] 'building' See Lithuanian phonology
Luxembourgish[10] bëlleg [ˈpələɕ] 'cheap' Less often voiced [b]. It is usually transcribed /b/, and contrasts with voiceless aspirated form, which is usually transcribed /p/.[10] See Luxembourgish phonology
Macedonian пее/pee [pɛː] 'sing' See Macedonian phonology
Malay panas [pänäs] 'hot' Often unreleased in syllable codas so /p/ is read as [p̚] instead in lembap [ləmbap̚] 'damp'. See Malay phonology
Maltese aptit [apˈtit] 'appetite'
Mandarin Dungan бонцу [pɑŋ˨˦ t͡sʰou˨˦] 'to assist' Contrasts with aspirated form. See Dungan phonology
Nanjingnese 半大子 [pɑŋ˦ tɑ˦ tsz̩] 'teenager' Contrasts with aspirated form. See Nanjingnese phonology
Sichuanese 不算事 / bu² suan⁴ si⁴ [pu˨˩ suan˨˩˧ sz̩˨˩˧] 'ineffective' Contrasts with aspirated form. See Sichuanese phonology
Standard 爆炸 / bàozhà [pɑʊ˥˩ tʂa˥˩]ⓘ 'to explode' Contrasts with aspirated form. See Standard Chinese phonology
Xi'annese 迸 [pəŋ˦] 'mattock' Contrasts with aspirated form. See Xi'annese phonology
Marathi पाऊस/paa'uus/pā'ūs [pɑːˈuːs] 'rain' See Marathi phonology
Min Chinese Hokkien 咖啡 / ko-pi [ko˨ pi˦] 'coffee' Contrasts with aspirated form. See Hokkien phonology
Teochew 僻 / piah4 [pʰiaʔ˨] 'remote' Contrasts with aspirated form. See Teochew phonology
Fuzhounese 白撞 / băh-dâung [paʔ˨˩ lɑuŋ˨˦˨] 'trespasser' Contrasts with aspirated form. See Fuzhounese phonology
Mutsun po·čor [poːt͡ʃor] 'a sore'
Nepali पिता/pitā [pit̪ä] 'father' See Nepali phonology
Norwegian pappa [pɑpːɑ] 'dad' See Norwegian phonology
Odia ପଥର/pathara [pɔʈʰɔrɔ] 'stone' Contrasts with aspirated form.
Pashto پانير/pa'nir [pɑˈnir] 'cheese'
Persian پول/pul [pul] 'money'
Pirahã pibaóí [ˈpìbàóí̯] 'otter'
Polish[11] pas [päs]ⓘ 'belt' See Polish phonology
Portuguese[12] pai [paj] 'father' See Portuguese phonology
Punjabi ਪੱਤਾ/pattaa/pattā [pət̪ːäː] 'leaf'
Romanian pas [pas] 'step' See Romanian phonology
Russian[13] плод/plod [pɫot̪] 'fruit' Contrasts with palatalized form. See Russian phonology
Serbo-Croatian[14] пиће / piće [pǐːt͡ɕě] 'drink' See Serbo-Croatian phonology
Slovak pes [pɛ̝s] 'dog'
Slovene pes [pə̂s̪] 'dog' See Slovene phonology
Spanish[15] peso [ˈpe̞so̞] 'weight' See Spanish phonology
Swahili pombe [ˈpoᵐbɛ] 'beer'
Swedish apa [ˈɑːˌpa] 'monkey' See Swedish phonology
Telugu పని [pani] 'work' Contrasts with aspirated form in old Telugu. However aspirated form is almost always pronounced as voiceless labiodental fricative in modern Telugu.
Thai แป้ง/paeng [pɛ̂ːŋ] 'powder' See Thai phonology
Tsez пу/pu [pʰu] 'side' Contrasts with ejective form.
Turkish kap [ˈkʰɑp] 'pot' See Turkish phonology
Ukrainian[16] павук/pavuk [pɐˈβ̞uk] 'spider' See Ukrainian phonology
Vietnamese[17] nhíp [ɲip˧ˀ˥] 'tweezers' See Vietnamese phonology
Welsh siop [ʃɔp] 'shop' See Welsh phonology
West Frisian panne [ˈpɔnə] 'pan'
Wu Chinese Shanghainese 司必靈 / sy-piq-lin [sz̩˧ pi̯ɪʔ˦ lin˨] 'spring' Contrasts with aspirated form. See Shanghainese phonology
Suzhounese 標緻 / piau¹-tsyu⁵ [pi̯æ˥ tsz̩ʷ˨˩] 'pretty' Contrasts with aspirated form. See Suzhounese phonology
Wenzhounese 眼淚八汁 / nga⁴-lei⁶-po⁷-tsai⁷ [ŋa lei̯ po˥˧ tsai̯˩˨] 'tear' Contrasts with aspirated form. See Wenzhounese phonology
Yi ꀠ / ba [pa˧] 'exchange' Contrasts aspirated and unaspirated forms.
Yue Chinese Cantonese 豬頭丙 / zyu¹ tau⁴ bing² [t͡ʃyː˥ tʰɐu̯˨˩ pɪŋ˧˥] 'blockhead' Contrasts with aspirated form. See Cantonese phonology
Taishanese 白 [pak̚˧˩] 'white' Contrasts with aspirated form. See Taishanese phonology
Central Alaskan Yup'ik panik [panik] 'daughter'
Zapotec Tilquiapan[18] pan [paŋ] 'bread'

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Dum-Tragut (2009:17)
  2. ^ Carbonell & Llisterri (1992:53)
  3. ^ Basbøll (2005:61)
  4. ^ Goblirsch (2018), pp. 134–5, citing Fischer-Jørgensen (1952) and Abrahams (1949, pp. 116–21, 228–30).
  5. ^ Puggaard-Rode, Horslund & Jørgensen (2022).
  6. ^ Gussenhoven (1992:45)
  7. ^ Fougeron & Smith (1993:73)
  8. ^ Rogers & d'Arcangeli (2004:117)
  9. ^ Okada (1999), p. 117.
  10. ^ a b Gilles & Trouvain (2013:67–68)
  11. ^ Jassem (2003:103)
  12. ^ Cruz-Ferreira (1995:91)
  13. ^ Padgett (2003:42)
  14. ^ Landau et al. (1999), p. 66.
  15. ^ Martínez-Celdrán, Fernández-Planas & Carrera-Sabaté (2003:255)
  16. ^ Danyenko & Vakulenko (1995), p. 4.
  17. ^ Thompson (1959:458–461)
  18. ^ Merrill (2008:108)

References

  • Abrahams, Henrik (1949), Études phonétiques sur les tendances évolutives des occlusives germaniques, Aarhus University Press
  • Basbøll, Hans (2005), The Phonology of Danish, Taylor & Francis, ISBN 0-203-97876-5
  • 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
  • Fischer-Jørgensen, Eli (1952), "Om stemtheds assimilation", in Bach, H.; et al. (eds.), Festskrift til L. L. Hammerich, Copenhagen: G. E. C. Gad, pp. 116–129
  • 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
  • Goblirsch, Kurt (2018), Gemination, Lenition, and Vowel Lengthening: On the History of Quantity in Germanic, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 978-1-107-03450-1
  • 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
  • Puggaard-Rode, Rasmus; Horslund, Camilla Søballe; Jørgensen, Henrik (2022), "The rarity of intervocalic voicing of stops in Danish spontaneous speech", Laboratory Phonology, 13 (1), doi:10.16995/labphon.6449, hdl:1887/3304670
  • Rogers, Derek; d'Arcangeli, Luciana (2004), "Italian", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 34 (1): 117–121, doi:10.1017/S0025100304001628
  • Thompson, Laurence (1959), "Saigon phonemics", Language, 35 (3): 454–476, doi:10.2307/411232, JSTOR 411232
  • 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 0-521-65236-7

External links

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