Bilabial trill

Bilabial trill
ʙ
Image
IPA number	121
Encoding
Entity (decimal)	ʙ
Unicode (hex)	U+0299
X-SAMPA	B\
Kirshenbaum	b<trl>
Sound

The bilabial trill is a consonant. We use it in some spoken languages. International Phonetic Alphabet represents this sound as ⟨ʙ⟩, and the X-SAMPA symbol of it is B\.

In many of the languages that contains bilabial trill, it only occurs as part of a prenasalised bilabial stop with trilled release, [mbʙ]. This developed historically from a prenasalized stop before a relatively high back vowel, such as [mbu]. In such instances, these sounds are usually still limited to the environment of a following [u].

There is also voiceless alveolar bilabially trilled affricate([t̪͡ʙ̥], sometimes "tᵖ"), which is not often used. We found it in Pirahã and from a few words in the Chapacuran languages Wari’ and Oro Win. The sound also appears as an allophone of the labialized voiceless alveolar plosive /tʷ/ of Abkhaz and Ubykh, but in those languages it is more often realised by a doubly articulated stop [t͡p]. In the Chapacuran languages, [tʙ̥] is reported almost exclusively before rounded vowels such as [o] and [y].

Features

Features of the bilabial trill:

• Its behavior is trill. It means that we produce this sound by directing air over the articulator so that it vibrates. In most instances, it is only found as the trilled release of a prenasalized stop.

• We produce it at bilabial. It means that we produce this sound with both lips.
• Its phonation is voiced. It means that the vocal cords vibrate during the articulation.
• It is an oral consonant. It means that air is allowed to escape through the mouth only.
• We do not produce this sound with air flowing over the tongue. So, the central–lateral dichotomy is not suitable.
• The airstream mechanism is pulmonic. It means that we produce this sound by pushing air solely with the lungs and diaphragm, as in most sounds.

Occurrence

Language		Word	IPA	Meaning	Notes
Ngwe	Lebang dialect	[àʙɨ́ ́]		'ash'
Nias		simbi	[siʙi]	'lower jaw'
Kele		[ᵐʙulim]		'face'
Kom		[ʙ̥ɨmɨ]		'to believe'
Korean[source?]		부릉/bureung	[ʙ̥uɾɯŋ]	'vroom' (onomatopoeic word)
Pirahã		kaoáíbogi	[kàò̯áí̯ʙòˈɡì]	'evil spirit'	allophone of /b/ before /o/
Titan		[ᵐʙutukei]		'wooden plate'
Ubykh		[t͡ʙ̥aχəbza]		'Ubykh language'	allophone of /tʷ/.See Ubykh phonology.
Unua		[ᵐʙue]		'pig'
Wari’		[t͡ʙ̥ot͡ʙ̥oweʔ]		'chicken'

In addition, the Knorkator song "[Buchstabe]" on the 1999 album Hasenchartbreaker uses a similar sound to replace "br" in a number of German words (e.g. [ˈʙaːtkaʁˌtɔfəln] for Bratkartoffeln).

Bibliography

• Ladefoged, Peter (2005). Vowels and Consonants (Second ed.). Blackwell.
• Dimock, Laura (2005). "The Bilabial Trill in Unua" (PDF). Wellington Working Papers in Linguistics 17: 17–33. ISSN 1170-1978. http://www.victoria.ac.nz/lals/resources/Publications/wwp/WWP2005v17.pdf. Retrieved 21 Nov. 2011.

Other websites

• Oro Win recordings