Bilabial nasal

Bilabial nasal
m
IPA number	114
Encoding
Entity (decimal)	m
Unicode (hex)	U+006D
X-SAMPA	m
Kirshenbaum	m
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The 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.

It occurs nearly universally, and few languages (e.g. Mohawk) are known to lack this sound.

Features

Features of the bilabial nasal:

• Its manner of articulation is occlusive, which means it is produced by obstructing airflow in the vocal tract. Because the consonant is also nasal, the blocked airflow is redirected through the nose.
• Its place of articulation is bilabial, which means it is articulated with both lips.
• Its phonation is voiced, which means the vocal cords vibrate during the articulation.
• It is a nasal consonant, which means air is allowed to escape through the nose, either exclusively (nasal stops) or in addition to through the mouth.
• 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.

Occurrence

Language		Word	IPA	Meaning	Notes
Adyghe		мазэ	[maːza]	'moon'
Arabic	Standard	مطابخ	[maˈtˤaːbɪχ]	'kitchens'	See Arabic phonology
Armenian	Eastern	մայր	[mɑjɾ]	'mother'
Assyrian Neo-Aramaic		mara‎	[maːra]	'owner'
Basque		maitatu	[majt̪at̪u]	'to love'
Bengali		মা	[ma]	'mother'	See Bengali phonology
Bulgarian		мъгла	[mɐɡla]	'fog'
Catalan		mare	[ˈmaɾə]	'mother'	See Catalan phonology
Cherokee		ᎠᎹ	[ama˦]	'water'
Chinese	Cantonese	猫 / māau	[maːu̯˥]	'cat'	See Cantonese phonology
	Mandarin	猫 / māo	[mɑʊ̯˥]		See Mandarin phonology
Czech		muž	[mʊʃ]	'man'	See Czech phonology
Dutch		mond	[mɔnt]	'mouth'	See Dutch phonology
English		him	[hɪm]	'him'	See English phonology
Esperanto		tempo	['tempo]	'time'	See Esperanto phonology
Filipino		manok	[maˈnok]	'rooster'	See Filipino phonology
Finnish		minä	[ˈminæ]	'I'	See Finnish phonology
French		manger	[mɑ̃ʒe]	'to eat'	See French phonology
Georgian		სამი	[ˈsɑmi]	'three'
German		Maus	[maʊ̯s]	'mouse'	See Standard German phonology
Greek		μάζα / maza	[ˈmaza]	'clump'	See Modern Greek phonology
Gujarati		મોર / mōr	[moːɾ]	'male peacock'	See Gujarati phonology
Hawaiian		maka	[maka]	'eye'	See Hawaiian phonology
Hindi		मधु	[məd̪ʱuː]	'honey'	See Hindi-Urdu phonology
Hebrew		אמא	[ˈʔimäʔ]	'mother'	See Modern Hebrew phonology
Hungarian		ma	[mɒ]	'today'	See Hungarian phonology
Indonesian		masuk	[ˈmäsʊʔ]	'enter'
Italian		mamma	[ˈmamma]	'mommy'	See Italian phonology
Japanese		乾杯 / kampai	[kampai]	'cheers'	See Japanese phonology
Kabardian		мазэ	[maːza]	'moon'
Kagayanen		manang	[manaŋ]	'older sister'
Korean		마을 / maeul	[mɐɯl]	'village'	See Korean phonology
Macedonian		мајка	[ˈmajka]	'mother'	See Macedonian phonology
Malay		malam	[mäläm]	'night'
Malayalam		കമ്മി	[kəmmi]	'shortage'
Maltese		ilma	[ilma]	'water'
Marathi		मन	[mən]	'mind'	See Marathi phonology
Mutsun		muruṭ	[muɾuʈ]	'night'
Norwegian		mamma	[ˈmɑmːɑ]	'mom'	See Norwegian phonology
Ojibwe		ᐊᓈᒥᒻ	[ənaːˈmɪm]	'accuse'	See Ojibwe phonology
Persian		مادر	[mɒdær]	'mother'	See Persian phonology
Pirahã		baíxi	[ˈmàí̯ʔì]	'parent'	allophone of /b/
Polish		masa	[ˈmäsä]	'mass'	See Polish phonology
Portuguese		mato	[ˈmatu]	'bush'	See Portuguese phonology
Punjabi		ਮੈਂ	[mɛ̃ː]	'I'
Russian		муж	[muʂ]	'husband'	Contrasts with palatalized version. See Russian phonology
Sanskrit		मातृ	[maːtr̩]	'mother'
Serbo-Croatian		милина / milina	[milǐnä]	'enjoyment'	See Serbo-Croatian phonology
Slovak		muž	[mu̞ʃ]	'man'
Spanish		grumete	[ɡɾuˈme̞te̞]	'cabin boy'	See Spanish phonology
Swahili		miti	[ˈmiti]	'trees'
Swedish		mask	[mask]	'worm'	See Swedish phonology
Toki Pona		mani	[mani]	'money'
Tsez		мец	[mɛ̝t͡s]	'tongue'
Turkish		benim	[be̞nim]	'mine'	See Turkish phonology
Ukrainian		молоко	[moɫoˈkɔ]	'milk'	See Ukrainian phonology
Urdu		مکان‎	[məkaːn]	'house'	See Hindi-Urdu phonology
Uyghur		مهن	[mæn]	'I'
Vietnamese		muối	[mwoj˧ˀ˥]	'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	man	[maŋ]	'animal'

See also

• List of phonetics topics

References

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