Voiced bilabial nasal
m
IPA Number114
Audio sample
Encoding
Entity (decimal)m
Unicode (hex)U+006D
X-SAMPAm
Braille
⠍ (braille pattern dots-134)

The voiced 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. Only very few languages (e.g. Wyandot) are known to lack this sound.

Features

Voiced bilabial nasal.svg

Features of the voiced bilabial nasal:

Varieties

IPA Description
m plain m
mʲ palatalised
mˠ velarised
mˤ pharyngealized

Occurrence

Occurrence of /m/ in several languages.
Language Word IPA Meaning Notes
Adyghe мазэ/māză [maːza] 'moon'
Arabic Standard[1] مطابخ/maṭābiḫ [maˈtˤɑːbɪχ] 'kitchens' See Arabic phonology
Armenian Eastern[2] մայր/mayr [mɑjɾ] (help·info) 'mother'
Assyrian ܡܪܐ/mara [maːra] 'owner'
Basque maitatu [majt̪at̪u] 'to love'
Bengali মা/ma [ma] 'mother' See Bengali phonology
Bulgarian мъгла/măgla [mɐɡla] 'fog'
Catalan[3] meu [ˈmeʊ̯] 'mine' See Catalan phonology
Cherokee ᎠᎹ/ama [ama˦] 'water'
Chinese Cantonese 猫 / māau [maːu̯˥] 'cat' See Cantonese phonology
Mandarin 猫 / māo [mɑʊ̯˥] See Mandarin phonology
Chukchi Mанэгран [maneɣɻan] 'tent'
Chuvash манăн/manăn 'my'
Czech muž [mʊʃ] 'man' See Czech phonology
Dutch[4] mond [mɔnt] 'mouth' See Dutch phonology
Dhivehi mas [mas̪] 'fish' See Dhivehi phonology
English him [hɪm] 'him' See English phonology
Esperanto tempo [ˈtempo] 'time' See Esperanto phonology
Filipino manok [maˈnok] 'chicken' See Filipino phonology
Finnish minä [ˈminæ] 'I' See Finnish phonology
French[5] manger [mɑ̃ʒe] 'to eat' See French phonology
Georgian[6] სამი/sami [ˈsɑmi] 'three'
German Maus [maʊ̯s] 'mouse' See Standard German phonology
Greek[7] μάζα / maza [ˈmaza] 'clump' See Modern Greek phonology
Gujarati મોર / mōr [moːɾ] 'male peacock' See Gujarati phonology
Hawaiian[8] maka [maka] 'eye' See Hawaiian phonology
Hindi मधु/madhū [məd̪ʱuː] 'honey' See Hindi-Urdu phonology
Hebrew אמא/ima [ˈʔimäʔ] 'mother' See Modern Hebrew phonology
Hungarian ma [mɒ] 'today' See Hungarian phonology
Indonesian[9] masuk [ˈmäsʊʔ] 'enter'
Italian[10] mamma [ˈmamma] 'mommy' See Italian phonology
Japanese[11] 乾杯 / kampai [kampai] 'cheers' See Japanese phonology
Kabardian мазэ/mazè [maːza] 'moon'
Kagayanen[12] manang [manaŋ] 'older sister'
Khmer ខ្មែរ / khmêr [kʰmae] 'Khmer' See Khmer phonology
Korean 마을 / maeul [ma̠ɯɭ] 'village' See Korean phonology
Lithuanian mama [ˈmɐmɐ] 'mom'
Macedonian мајка/majka [ˈmajka] 'mother' See Macedonian phonology
Malay malam [mäläm] 'night'
Malayalam[13] കമ്മി/kammi [kəmmi] 'shortage'
Maltese ilma [ilma] 'water'
Marathi मन/man [mən] 'mind' See Marathi phonology
Mutsun muruṭ [muɾuʈ] 'night'
Nepali आमा/āmā [ämä] 'mother' See Nepali phonology
Norwegian mamma [ˈmɑmːɑ] 'mom' See Norwegian phonology
Ojibwe ᐊᓈᒥᒻ/anaamim [ənaːˈmɪm] 'accuse' See Ojibwe phonology
Odia ମା/mä [mä] 'mother'
Persian مادر/mâdar [mɒdær] 'mother' See Persian phonology
Pirahã baíxi [ˈmàí̯ʔì] 'parent' allophone of /b/
Polish[14] masa [ˈmäsä] 'mass' See Polish phonology
Portuguese[15] mato [ˈmatu] 'bush' See Portuguese phonology
Punjabi ਮੈਂ/mēm̐ [mɛ̃ː] 'I'
Russian[16] муж/muzh [muʂ] 'husband' Contrasts with palatalized version. See Russian phonology
Sanskrit अहम् /aham [əhəm] 'I' See Sanskrit phonology
Serbo-Croatian[17] мој / moj [mȏːj] 'my' See Serbo-Croatian phonology
Slovak muž [mu̞ʂ] 'man'
Slovene miš [míʃ] 'mouse'
Spanish[18] grumete [ɡɾuˈme̞te̞] 'cabin boy' See Spanish phonology
Swahili miti [ˈmiti] 'trees'
Swedish mask [mask] 'worm' See Swedish phonology
Telugu మబ్బు [mabːu] 'cloud' Occurs as allophone of anuswara when followed by retroflex stops
Thai มอมแมม / mommaem [mɔːm.mɛːm] 'shabby' See Thai phonology
Toki Pona mani [mani] 'money'
Tsez мец/mec [mɛ̝t͡s] 'tongue'
Turkish benim [be̞nim] 'mine' See Turkish phonology
Ukrainian[19] молоко/moloko [mɔɫɔˈkɔ] 'milk' See Ukrainian phonology
Urdu مکان/makān [məkaːn] 'house' See Hindi-Urdu phonology
Uyghur مەن/men [mæn] 'I'
Vietnamese[20] muối [mwojˀ˧˥] 'salt' See Vietnamese phonology
Welsh mam [mam] 'mother' See Welsh phonology
West Frisian mar [mar] 'lake' See West Frisian phonology
Yi ꂷ / ma [ma˧] 'bamboo'
Zapotec Tilquiapan[21] man [maŋ] 'animal'

Palatalized

Occurrence of /mʲ/ in several languages.
Language Word IPA Meaning Notes
Bulgarian[22] мя́сто/mjásto [mʲa̟sto] 'place' Contrasts with /m/. See Bulgarian phonology.
Irish mé [mʲeː] 'I' Contrasts with /mˠ/. See Irish phonology.
Kildin Saami[23] ме̄рр/mʹērr [mʲerː] 'sea' Kildin Saami contrasts varieties of bilabial nasals in voicedness, length and palatalization.[23]
Latgalian[24] miļti [mʲilʲtʲi][25] 'flour' Contrasts with /m/.[24] See Latgalian phonology.
Lithuanian[26] miglà [mʲɪɡˈɫa] 'mist' Contrasts with /m/. See Lithuanian phonology
Marshallese[27] emān [ɛmʲænʲ] 'four' Contrasts with /mˠ/.[27]
Nenets Tundra Nenets[28] мяˮ/ḿaq [mʲɑ][29] 'tent' Contrasts with /m/.[28]
Forest Nenets[28]
Russian медь/medʹ [mʲetʲ] 'copper' Contrasts with /m/. See Russian phonology.
Veps[30] nem' [nemʲ] 'peninsula' Contrasts with /m/.[30]

Velarized

Occurrence of /mˠ/ in several languages.
Language Word IPA Meaning Notes
Gilbertese mwe[31] [mˠe] 'sleep' Contrasts with /m/ and /mː/.
Irish má [mˠɑː] 'if' Contrasts with /mʲ/. See Irish phonology.
Marshallese[27] m̧winam̧ōn [mˠinʲɑmˠʌnʲ] 'caterpillar' Contrasts with /mʲ/.[27]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Thelwall (1990:37)
  2. ^ Dum-Tragut (2009:19)
  3. ^ Carbonell & Llisterri (1992:53)
  4. ^ Gussenhoven (1992:45)
  5. ^ Fougeron & Smith (1993:73)
  6. ^ Shosted & Chikovani (2006:255)
  7. ^ Newton (1972:10)
  8. ^ Ladefoged (2005:139)
  9. ^ Soderberg & Olson (2008:210)
  10. ^ Rogers & d'Arcangeli (2004:117)
  11. ^ Okada (1999:117)
  12. ^ Olson et al. (2010:206–207)
  13. ^ Ladefoged (2005:165)
  14. ^ Jassem (2003:103)
  15. ^ Cruz-Ferreira (1995:91)
  16. ^ Padgett (2003:42)
  17. ^ Landau et al. (1999), p. 67.
  18. ^ Martínez-Celdrán, Fernández-Planas & Carrera-Sabaté (2003:255)
  19. ^ Danyenko & Vakulenko (1995), p. 4.
  20. ^ Thompson (1959:458–461)
  21. ^ Merrill (2008:108)
  22. ^ Klagstad (1958:48)
  23. ^ a b Rießler (2022:222)
  24. ^ a b Nau (2011:12)
  25. ^ Nau (2011:14)
  26. ^ Pakerys (1995:?)
  27. ^ a b c d Choi (1992:14)
  28. ^ a b c Burkova (2022:680)
  29. ^ Burkova (2022:681)
  30. ^ a b Grünthal (2022:294)
  31. ^ Stephen & Groves (1978)

References

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  • Choi, John (1992). "Phonetic Underspecification and Target Interpolation: An Acoustic Study of Marshallese Vowel Allophony". Working Papers in Phonetics. Los Angeles: UCLA. 82. Retrieved April 23, 2022.
  • Dum-Tragut, Jasmine (2009), Armenian: Modern Eastern Armenian, Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company
  • 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 978-3-929075-08-3
  • 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
  • Riho, Grünthal (2022). "Veps". The Oxford Guide to the Uralic Languages. Oxford Guides to the World's Languages (1st ed.). Oxford University Press.
  • Gussenhoven, Carlos (1992), "Dutch", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 22 (2): 45–47, doi:10.1017/S002510030000459X, S2CID 243772965
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  • Ladefoged, Peter (2005), Vowels and Consonants (Second ed.), Blackwell
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  • Merrill, Elizabeth (2008), "Tilquiapan Zapotec" (PDF), Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 38 (1): 107–114, doi:10.1017/S0025100308003344
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  • Rießler, Michael (2022). "Kildin Saami". The Oxford Guide to the Uralic Languages. Oxford Guides to the World's Languages (1st ed.). Oxford University Press.
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  • Pakerys, Antanas (1995). Lietuvių bendrinės kalbos fonetika (in Lithuanian). Vilnius: Žara. OCLC 911717523.
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  • Thelwall, Robin (1990), "Illustrations of the IPA: Arabic", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 20 (2): 37–41, doi:10.1017/S0025100300004266, S2CID 243640727
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External links

International Phonetic Alphabet (chart)
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