A voiceless bilabial implosive is a rare
consonant
In articulatory phonetics, a consonant is a speech sound that is articulated with complete or partial closure of the vocal tract. Examples are and pronounced with the lips; and pronounced with the front of the tongue; and pronounced w ...
al sound, used in some
spoken language
Language is a structured system of communication. The structure of a language is its grammar and the free components are its vocabulary. Languages are the primary means by which humans communicate, and may be conveyed through a variety of ...
s. The symbol in the
International Phonetic Alphabet
The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) is an alphabetic system of phonetic notation based primarily on the Latin script. It was devised by the International Phonetic Association in the late 19th century as a standardized representation ...
that represents this sound is or . A dedicated IPA letter, , was withdrawn in 1993.
Features
Features of the voiceless bilabial implosive:
Occurrence
A rare and evidently unstable sound, is found in the
Serer of Senegal, the Owere dialect of
Igbo in Nigeria, and in some dialects of the
Poqomchi’ and
Quiche languages of Guatemala. It can also be found in
Ngiti in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
It is also found in the
Sunwar language of Nepal.
See also
*
Voiced bilabial implosive
References
External links
*
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Bilabial consonants
Implosives
Voiceless oral consonants