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The 'bilabial nasal' is a type of consonantal sound used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is , 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 ''bum''.
It occurs nearly universally, and few languages (e.g., Mohawk) are known to lack this sound.

Contents

Features

Occurrence

See also

Features

Features of the bilabial nasal:

★ Its manner of articulation is stop, which means it is produced by obstructing airflow in the vocal tract.

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

★ Its phonation type is voiced, which means the vocal cords are vibrating during the articulation.

★ It is a nasal consonant, which means air is allowed to escape through the nose.

★ It is a central consonant, which means it is produced by allowing the airstream to flow over the middle of the tongue, rather than the sides.

★ The airstream mechanism is pulmonic egressive, which means it is articulated by pushing air out of the lungs and through the vocal tract, rather than from the glottis or the mouth.

Occurrence

Language		Word	IPA	Meaning	Notes
Arabic		مطابخ		'kitchens'	See Arabic phonology
Armenian		ի'ն'		'my'
Czech		'''m'už''		'man'	See Czech phonology
English		''hi'm'''		'him'	See English phonology
Finnish		'''m'inä''		'I'	See Finnish phonology
French		'''m'anger''		'to eat'	See French phonology
Georgian		სა'მ'ი		'three'
German		''rüh'm'en''		'to praise'	See German phonology
Greek		'μ'άζα		'clump'	See Modern Greek phonology
Hindi		मकान		'house'
Hungarian		'''m'a''		'today'	See Hungarian phonology
Italian		'''m'a'mm'a''		'mamma'	See Italian phonology
Japanese		乾杯/''ka'm'pai''		'a toast'	See Japanese phonology
Korean		엄마/''eo'mm'a''	align="center"	align="center"| 'mommy'	See Korean phonology
Norwegian		'''m'a'mm'a''		'mamma'	See Norwegian phonology
Pirahã		'''b'aíxi''		'parent'	allophone of
Polish		'''m'yśleć''		'to think'	See Polish phonology
Russian		'м'уж		'husband'	Contrasts with palatalized version. See Russian phonology
Serbian		'м'илина/'''m'ilina''		'enjoyment'
Spanish		''gru'm'ete''		'cabin boy'	See Spanish phonology
Swahili		'''m'iti''	]]	'trees'
Swedish		'''m'ask''		'worm'	See Swedish phonology
Turkish		''beni'm'''		'mine'

See also

★ List of phonetics topics