Voiced bilabial fricative

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Voiced bilabial fricative
β
IPA Number 127
Encoding
Entity (decimal) β
Unicode (hex) U+03B2
X-SAMPA B
Braille ⠨ (braille pattern dots-46) ⠃ (braille pattern dots-12)
Voiced bilabial approximant
β̞
Audio sample

The voiced bilabial fricative is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is ⟨β⟩ (or more properly ⟨⟩), and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is ⟨B⟩. The symbol ⟨β⟩ is the Greek letter beta. This symbol is also sometimes used to represent the bilabial approximant, though that is more clearly written with the lowering diacritic, that is ⟨β̞⟩. Theoretically, it could also be transcribed as an advanced labiodental approximantʋ̟⟩, but this symbol is hardly (if ever) used in this manner. Very few languages are known to make a phonemic contrast between the voiced bilabial fricative and the bilabial approximant, but one language that does make this contrast is the Tarahumara language of the Uto-Aztecan family. The bilabial fricative is diachronically unstable and is likely to shift to [v].[1] In the English language, this sound is not used, but can be made by approximating the normal "v" sound between the two lips.

Features

Features of the voiced bilabial fricative:

Occurrence

In the following transcriptions, the undertack diacritic is used to indicate an approximant [β̞].

Language Word IPA Meaning Notes
Akei [βati] 'four'
Alekano hanuva [hɑnɯβɑ] 'nothing'
Amharic[2] አበባ [aβ̞əβ̞a] 'flower' Allophone of /b/ medially between sonorants.[2]
Angor fufung [ɸuβuŋ] 'horn'
Basque[3] alaba [alaβ̞a] 'daughter' Allophone of /b/
Berta [βɑ̀lɑ̀ːziʔ] 'no'
Catalan[4] rebost [rəˈβ̞ɔst] 'larder' Fricative or approximant. Allophone of /b/. See Catalan phonology
Chinese Fuzhou[5] [example needed] Allophone of /p/ and /pʰ/ in certain intervocalic positions.[5]
Dahalo [koːβo] 'to want'
English Chicano very [βɛɹi] 'very' May be realized as [b] instead.
Ewe[6] Eʋe [ɛβɛ] 'Ewe language' Contrasts with both [v] and [w]
German[7][8] aber [ˈaːβɐ] 'but' Intervocalic and pre-lateral allophone of /b/ in casual speech.[7][8] See German phonology
Hopi tsivot [tsi:βot] 'five'
Japanese[9] 神戸市/be-shi [ko̞ːβ̞e̞ ɕi] 'Kobe' Allophone of /b/ only in fast speech between vowels. See Japanese phonology
Kabyle bri [βri] 'to cut'
Kinyarwanda abana [aβana] 'children'
Limburgish[10][11][12][13] wèlle [ˈβ̞ɛlə] 'to want' The example word is from the Maastrichtian dialect.
Occitan Gascon la-vetz [laβ̞ets] 'then' Allophone of /b/
Portuguese European[14][15] bado [ˈsaβɐðu] 'Saturday' Allophone of /b/. See Portuguese phonology
Ripuarian Colognian[citation needed] wing [βɪŋ] 'wine' Allophone of syllable-initial /v/ for some speakers; can be [ʋ ~ w ~ ɰ] instead.[citation needed] See Colognian phonology
Kerkrade dialect[16] sjwaam [ʃβ̞aːm] 'smoke' Weakly rounded; contrasts with /v/.[16]
Sardinian Logudorese dialect[17] paba <phonos file="paba.wav">[ˈpäːβä]</phonos> 'Pope' Intervocalic allophone of /b/ as well as word-initial /p/ when the preceding word ends with a vowel and there is no pause between the words.[17]
Spanish[18] lava [ˈläβ̞ä] 'lava' Ranges from close fricative to approximant.[19]Allophone of /b/. See Spanish phonology
Swedish Central Standard[20] aber [ˈɑːβ̞eɾ] 'problem' Allophone of /b/ in casual speech. See Swedish phonology
Turkmen watan [βatan] 'country'
Zapotec Tilquiapan[21] [example needed] Allophone of /b/

See also

References

  1. Picard (1987:364), citing Pope (1966:92)
  2. 2.0 2.1 Hayward & Hayward (1999:48)
  3. Hualde (1991:99–100)
  4. Wheeler (2005:10)
  5. 5.0 5.1 Zhuqing (2002:?)
  6. Ladefoged (2005:156)
  7. 7.0 7.1 Krech et al. (2009:108)
  8. 8.0 8.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.. This source mentions only intervocalic [β].
  9. Okada (1991:95)
  10. Gussenhoven & Aarts (1999:155)
  11. Heijmans & Gussenhoven (1998:107)
  12. Peters (2006:117)
  13. Verhoeven (2007:219)
  14. Cruz-Ferreira (1995:92)
  15. Mateus & d'Andrade (2000:11)
  16. 16.0 16.1 Stichting Kirchröadsjer Dieksiejoneer (1997:17)
  17. 17.0 17.1 (Italian) http://www.antoninurubattu.it/rubattu/grammatica-sarda-italiano-sardo.html
  18. Martínez-Celdrán et al. (2003:257)
  19. Phonetic studies such as Quilis (1981) have found that Spanish voiced stops may surface as spirants with various degrees of constriction. These allophones are not limited to regular fricative articulations, but range from articulations that involve a near complete oral closure to articulations involving a degree of aperture quite close to vocalization
  20. Engstrand (2004:167)
  21. Merrill (2008:109)

Bibliography

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