Voiceless labiodental stop

Voiceless labiodental stop
p̪
p͆
IPA number	101 408
Encoding
Entity (decimal)	p​̪
Unicode (hex)	U+0070 U+032A
X-SAMPA	p_d
Kirshenbaum	p[
Braille

The voiceless labiodental stop is a consonant sound produced like a [p], but with the lower lip contacting the upper teeth, as in [f]. This can be represented in the IPA as ⟨p̪⟩. A separate symbol not recognized by the IPA that is often seen, especially in Bantu linguistics, is the qp ligature ⟨ȹ⟩.

The voiceless labiodental stop is possibly not phonemic in any language, though see the entry on Shubi. However, it does occur allophonically. The XiNkuna dialect of Tsonga has affricates, [p̪͡f] and [b̪͡v] (that is, [ȹ͡f] and [ȸ͡v]), which unlike the bilabial-labiodental affricate [p͡f] of German, are purely labiodental.

Features

Features of the voiceless labiodental stop:

• Its manner of articulation is occlusive, which means it is produced by obstructing airflow in the vocal tract. Since the consonant is also oral, with no nasal outlet, the airflow is blocked entirely, and the consonant is a stop.
• Its place of articulation is labiodental, which means it is articulated with the lower lip and the upper teeth.
• Its phonation is voiceless, which means it is produced without vibrations of the vocal cords.
• It is an oral consonant, which means air is allowed to escape through the mouth only.
• Because the sound is not produced with airflow over the tongue, the central–lateral dichotomy does not apply.
• The airstream mechanism is pulmonic, which means it is articulated by pushing air solely with the lungs and diaphragm, as in most sounds.

Varieties

IPA	Description
p̪	plain p̪
p̪ʰ	aspirated p̪
p̪ʲ	palatalized p̪
p̪ʷ	labialized p̪
p̪̚	p̪ with no audible release
p̪̌	voiced p̪
p̪ʼ	ejective p̪

Occurrence

Language		Word	IPA	Meaning	Notes
Greek		σάπφειρος	[ˈsap̪firo̞s̠]	'sapphire'	See Modern Greek phonology

See also

• List of phonetics topics