Linguolabial consonant

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Linguolabial
◌̼

Linguolabials or apicolabials [1] are consonants articulated by placing the tongue tip or blade against the upper lip, which is drawn downward to meet the tongue. They represent one extreme of a coronal articulatory continuum which extends from linguolabial to subapical palatal places of articulation. Cross-linguistically, linguolabial consonants are very rare. They are found in a cluster of languages in Vanuatu, in the Kajoko dialect of Bijago in Guinea-Bissau, in Umotína (a recently extinct Bororoan language of Brazil), and as paralinguistic sounds elsewhere. They are also relatively common in disordered speech, and the diacritic is specifically provided for in the extensions to the IPA.

Contents

Linguolabial consonants are transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet by adding the "seagull" [2] diacritic, U+033C̼COMBINING SEAGULL BELOW, to the corresponding alveolar consonant, or with the apical diacritic, U+033A̺COMBINING INVERTED BRIDGE BELOW, on the corresponding bilabial consonant. [3]

Description

Sagittal section of linguolabial stop Linguolabial stop.png
Sagittal section of linguolabial stop

Linguolabials are produced by constricting the airflow between the tongue and the upper lip. They are attested in a number of manners of articulation including stops, nasals, and fricatives, and can be produced with the tip of the tongue (apical), blade of the tongue (laminal), or the bottom of the tongue (sublaminal). [4] [5] Acoustically they are more similar to alveolars than bilabials. Linguolabials can be distinguished from bilabials and alveolars acoustically by formant transitions and nasal resonances. [6]

List of consonants

IPA
(two transcriptions)
DescriptionExample
LanguageOrthographyIPAMeaning
linguolabial nasal Araki ana[n̼ana]"laugh" [7] [8]
voiceless linguolabial plosive Tangoa ee[t̼et̼e]"butterfly" [9]
voiced linguolabial plosive Kajoko dialect of Bijago [nɔ̀d̼ɔ́ːɡ]"stone" [10]
prenasalized voiced linguolabial plosive Vao [nad̼ak]"bow" [9]
θ̼ɸ̺ voiceless linguolabial fricative Big Nambas [ˈinɛθ̼]"he is asthmatic"
ð̼β̺ voiced linguolabial fricative Tangoa atu[ð̼atu]"stone" [9]
ɾ̼ⱱ̺ voiced linguolabial flap Kajoko dialect of Bijago [nɔ̀ɾ̼ɔ́ːɡ]"stone" [10]
linguolabial lateral approximant (common in disordered speech)
ɬ̼ voiceless linguolabial lateral fricative (in disordered speech)
ɮ̼ voiced linguolabial lateral fricative (in disordered speech)
ɺ̼ linguolabial lateral flap (uses lower lip) Piraha (part of allophone for /ɡ/, [ɺ͡ɺ̼])toogixi[tòːɺ͡ɺ̼ìʔì]"hoe" [11]
ʙ̺ linguolabial trill
(uses lower lip)
Coatlán Zapotec (paralinguistic)r̼ʔ mimesis for a child's flatulence [12] ;(blowing a raspberry)
ǀ̼orʇ̼ʘ̺linguolabial click release (multiple consonants) Coatlán Zapotec (paralinguistic)kǀ̼mimesis for eating soup or a pig drinking water [12]

Sound shifts

In Vanuatu, some of the Santo–Malekula languages have shifted historically from labial to dental consonants via an intermediate linguolabial stage, which remains in other Santo and Malekula languages. In Nese, for example, labials have become linguolabial before nonrounded vowels; in Tolomako, this has gone further, so that (POc *bebe >) p̈ep̈e'butterfly' (/t̼et̼e/ in Tangoa) later became /tete/ in Tolomako; likewise, (POc *tama >) tam̈a'father' (Tangoa /tan̼a/) became /tana/.

See also

Notes

  1. The term apicolabial is older, but Ladefoged and Maddieson point out that often these sounds are not apical.
  2. Olson et al. (2009), p. 521.
  3. Pullum, Geoffrey K.; Ladusaw, William A. (1996). Phonetic Symbol Guide (2nd ed.). p. 256. ISBN   9780226685366. They note that the apical diacritic was added to the IPA after the linguolabial diacritic, and would have made the latter unnecessary.
  4. Everett (1982).
  5. Maddieson (1988), p. 350.
  6. Maddieson (1988), pp. 364–367.
  7. François, Alexandre (2002). Araki: A disappearing language of Vanuatu. Pacific Linguistics. Vol. 522. Canberra: Australian National University. pp. 15, 270. ISBN   0-85883-493-6.
  8. Audio link: excerpt from a text in Araki language (sentence s75), showcasing the form m̈ana (source: Pangloss archive).
  9. 1 2 3 Ladefoged & Maddieson (1996 :19)
  10. 1 2 Olson et al. (2009), p. 523.
  11. Everett, Daniel Leonard (December 1982). "Phonetic rarities in Pirahã". Journal of the International Phonetic Association. 12 (2): 94–96. doi:10.1017/S0025100300002498. JSTOR   44526660. S2CID   143928460 . Retrieved 27 September 2023.
  12. 1 2 Beam de Azcona, Rosemary. "Sound Symbolism" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2007-06-23. Retrieved 2008-11-24.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Retroflex consonant</span> Type of consonant articulation

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bilabial click</span> Consonantal sound

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Voiced dental fricative</span> Consonantal sound represented by ⟨ð⟩ in IPA

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Apical consonant</span> Phone (speech sound)

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Voiceless alveolar nasal</span> Consonantal sound represented by ⟨n̥⟩ in IPA

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References