| Ipa Symbol: | β |
| Ipa Number: | 127 |
| Decimal: | 946 |
| Imagefile: | Voiced bilabial fricative (vector).svg |
| X-Sampa: | B |
| Kirshenbaum: | B |
| Braille: | decimal |
| Braille2: | b |
| Above: | Voiced bilabial approximant |
| Ipa Symbol: | β̞ |
| Ipa Symbol2: | ʋ̟ |
| Showbelow: | no |
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 (IPA|β), and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is B. The official symbol (IPA|β) is the Greek letter beta.
This letter is also often used to represent the bilabial approximant, though that is more precisely written with a lowering diacritic, that is (IPA|β̞). That sound may also be transcribed as an advanced labiodental approximant (IPA|ʋ̟), in which case the diacritic is again frequently omitted, since no contrast is likely.[1] [2] It has been proposed that either a turned ⟨
pronounced as /β/⟩ (approximately) or reversed ⟨pronounced as /β/⟩ be used as a dedicated symbol for the bilabial approximant, but despite occasional usage this has not gained general acceptance.[3]It is extremely rare for a language to make a phonemic contrast between the voiced bilabial fricative and the bilabial approximant. The Mapos Buang language of New Guinea contains this contrast. Its bilabial approximant is analyzed as filling a phonological gap in the labiovelar series of the consonant system rather than the bilabial series.[4] Proto-Germanic[5] and Proto-Italic[6] are also reconstructed as having had this contrast, albeit with pronounced as /[β]/ being an allophone for another consonant in both cases. In Bashkir language, it is an intervocal allophone of pronounced as //b//, and it is contrastive with pronounced as //w//: Bashkir: балабыҙ pronounced as /[bɑɫɑˈβɯð]/, Bashkir: балауыҙ pronounced as /[bɑɫɑˈwɯð]/ .
The bilabial fricative is diachronically unstable (likely to be considerably varied between dialects of a language that makes use of it) and is likely to shift to pronounced as /[v]/.[7]
The sound is not the primary realization of any sound in English dialects except for Chicano English, but it can be produced by approximating the normal English pronounced as /[v]/ between the lips; it can also sometimes occur as an allophone of pronounced as //v// after bilabial consonants.
Features of the voiced bilabial fricative:
| Language | Word | Meaning | Notes | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| pronounced as /[βati]/ | 'four' | |||||
| hanu'''v'''a | pronounced as /[hɑnɯβɑ]/ | 'nothing' | ||||
| fu'''f'''ung | pronounced as /[ɸuβuŋ]/ | 'horn' | ||||
| Eastern dialects | Bengali: [[Bengali alphabet|'''ভি'''সা]] | pronounced as /[βisa]/] | 'Visa' | Allophone of pronounced as /link/ in Bangladesh and Tripura; pronounced as //bʱ// used in Western dialects. | ||
| pronounced as /[βɑ̀lɑ̀ːziʔ]/ | 'no' | |||||
| Catalan; Valencian: [[Catalan orthography|a'''b'''ans]]|italic=yes | pronounced as /[əˈβans]/ | 'before' | Approximant or fricative. Allophone of pronounced as //b//. Mainly found in betacist (pronounced as //b// and pronounced as //v// merging) dialects. See Catalan phonology | |||
| [[Fuzhou dialect|初'''八''']] [[Foochow Romanized|chĕ̤ '''b'''áik]] | pronounced as /[t͡sœ˥˧βaiʔ˨˦]/ | 'eighth day of the month' | Allophone of pronounced as //p// and pronounced as //pʰ// in certain intervocalic positions. | |||
| pronounced as /[βe̝˧˧˦tsɛ̝˥]/ | 'bowl' | Usually pronounced as /[ɦu]/ or pronounced as /[u]/ in other Wu dialects[8] | ||||
| upvendza | pronounced as /[uβendza]/ | 'to love' | Contrasts with both pronounced as /[v]/ and pronounced as /[w]/ | |||
| Bohairic | pronounced as /[ˈdoːβi]/ | 'brick' | Shifted to pronounced as /link/ with a syllable coda allophone of pronounced as /link/ in a later stage. | |||
| Sahidic | pronounced as /[ˈtoːβə]/ | |||||
| pronounced as /[koːβo]/ | 'to want' | Weak fricative or approximant. It is a common intervocalic allophone of pronounced as //b//, and may be simply a plosive pronounced as /link/ instead. | ||||
| Some dialects | pronounced as /[ˈʌpˌβoʊt]/ | 'upvote' | Less-common allophone of pronounced as /link/ after pronounced as /[p]/, pronounced as /[b]/, or pronounced as /[m]/ (the more-common alteration being the shifting of the earlier consonant to pronounced as /[p̪]/, pronounced as /[b̪]/, or pronounced as /[ɱ]/, respectively, although pronounced as /[p̪v]//pronounced as /[b̪v]//pronounced as /[ɱv]/ exist in free variation with pronounced as /[pβ]//pronounced as /[bβ]//pronounced as /[mβ]/). | |||
| very | pronounced as /[βɛɹi]/ | 'very' | May be realized as pronounced as /link/ instead. | |||
| Ewe: E'''ʋ'''e | pronounced as /[èβe]/ | 'Ewe' | Contrasts with both pronounced as /[v]/ and pronounced as /[w]/ | |||
| ivava | pronounced as /[iβa:βa:]/ | 'shoe' | ||||
| German[9] | German: [[German orthography|a'''b'''er]] | pronounced as /[ˈaːβɐ]/ | 'but' | Intervocalic and pre-lateral allophone of pronounced as //b// in casual speech. See Standard German phonology | ||
| tsivot | pronounced as /[tsi:βot]/ | 'five' | ||||
| Japanese: [[Kanji|神戸]]/Japanese: [[Romanization of Japanese|kō'''b'''e]] | pronounced as /[ko̞ːβe̞]/ | 'Kobe' | Allophone of pronounced as //b// only in fast speech between vowels. See Japanese phonology | |||
| Kabyle: [[Berber Latin alphabet|'''b'''ri]]|italic=yes | pronounced as /[βri]/ | 'to cut' | ||||
| Kinyarwanda: a'''b'''ana|italic=yes | pronounced as /[aβa:na]/ | 'children' | ||||
| Korean: [[Hangul|추'''후''']]/Korean: [[Revised Romanization of Korean|chu'''hu''']]|italic=yes/Korean: [[Hanja|追'''後''']] | pronounced as /[ˈt͡ɕʰuβʷu]/ | 'later' | Intervocalic allophone of pronounced as //h// before pronounced as //u// and pronounced as //w//. See Korean phonology | |||
| Nabongo | pronounced as /[naβonɡo]/ | 'title for a king' | ||||
| venġévsën | pronounced as /[βəˈɴɛβt͡ʃen]/ | 'prayer' | Mapos Buang has both a voiced bilabial fricative and a bilabial approximant as separate phonemes. The fricative is transcribed as (v), and the approximant as (w). | |||
| Nepali | pronounced as /[sʌβä]/ | 'Meeting' | Allophone of /bʱ/. See Nepali phonology | |||
| Portuguese: [[Portuguese orthography|sá'''b'''ado]] | pronounced as /[ˈsaβɐðu]/ | 'Saturday' | Allophone of pronounced as //b//. See Portuguese phonology | |||
| '''w'''ing|italic=yes | pronounced as /[βɪŋ]/ | 'wine' | Allophone of syllable-initial pronounced as //v// for some speakers; can be pronounced as /[{{IPAplink|ʋ}} ~ {{IPAplink|w}} ~ {{IPAplink|ɰ}}]/ instead. See Colognian phonology | |||
| Logudorese[10] | paba | 'pope' | Intervocalic allophone of pronounced as //b// as well as word-initial pronounced as //p// when the preceding word ends with a vowel and there is no pause between the words. | |||
| Turkish: [[Turkish alphabet|'''v'''ücut]]|italic=yes | pronounced as /[βy̠ˈd͡ʒut̪]/ | 'body' | Allophone of pronounced as //v// before and after rounded vowels. See Turkish phonology | |||
| Turkmen: [[Turkmen alphabet|'''w'''atan]]|italic=yes | pronounced as /[βatan]/ | 'country' | ||||
| Venda[11] | pronounced as //daβa// | 'work party held by one who wants to have the land ploughed or cultivated' | Contrasts with /v/ and /w/ | |||
| Allophone of pronounced as //b// | ||||||
| Language | Word | Meaning | Notes | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Amharic: [[Ge'ez alphabet|አበባ]] | pronounced as /[aβ̞əβ̞a]/ | 'flower' | Allophone of pronounced as //b// medially between sonorants. | |||
| Basque: [[Asturian alphabet|a'''ba'''nicu]]|italic=yes | pronounced as /[aβ̞aˈniku]/ | 'swing' | Allophone of pronounced as //b// | |||
| Basque: [[Basque alphabet|ala'''b'''a]]|italic=yes | pronounced as /[alaβ̞a]/ | 'daughter' | Allophone of pronounced as //b// | |||
| Catalan; Valencian: [[Catalan orthography|a'''b'''ans]]|italic=yes | pronounced as /[əˈβ̞ans]/ | 'before' | Approximant or fricative. Allophone of pronounced as //b//. Mainly found in betacist (pronounced as //b// and pronounced as //v// merging) dialects. See Catalan phonology | |||
| Japanese: [[kanji|私]]/Japanese: [[Romanization of Japanese|'''w'''atashi]] | pronounced as /[β̞ätäɕi]/ | 'me' | Usually represented phonemically as pronounced as //w//. See Japanese phonology | |||
| Kyrgyz | ооба | [оːˈβ̞a] | 'yes' | Allophone of /b/ medially between vowels. | ||
| Limburgan; Limburger; Limburgish: '''w'''èlle|italic=yes | pronounced as /[ˈβ̞ɛ̝lə]/ | 'to want' | The example word is from the Maastrichtian dialect. | |||
| el na'''v'''a '''v'''ia|italic=yes | pronounced as /[el ˈnaβ̞a ˈβ̞ia]/ | 'he was going away' | Regular pronunciation of pronounced as //v// when intervocalic. Used also as an allophone for other positions. | |||
| wabeenġ | pronounced as /[β̞aˈᵐbɛːɴ]/ | 'kind of yam' | Mapos Buang has both a voiced bilabial fricative and a bilabial approximant as separate phonemes. The fricative is transcribed as, and the approximant as . | |||
| Occitan (post 1500);: la'''v'''etz | pronounced as /[laˈβ̞ets]/ | 'then' | Allophone of pronounced as //b// | |||
| sj'''w'''aam | pronounced as /[ʃβ̞aːm]/ | 'smoke' | Weakly rounded; contrasts with pronounced as //v//. See Kerkrade dialect phonology | |||
| Spanish; Castilian: [[Spanish orthography|la'''v'''a]]|italic=yes | pronounced as /[ˈläβ̞ä]/ | 'lava' | Ranges from close fricative to approximant.[12] Allophone of pronounced as //b//. See Spanish phonology | |||
| Central Standard | Swedish: [[Swedish alphabet|a'''b'''er]]|italic=yes | pronounced as /[ˈɑːβ̞eɾ]/ | 'problem' | Allophone of pronounced as //b// in casual speech. See Swedish phonology | ||
| Ukrainian: [[Ukrainian alphabet|'''в'''она]] | pronounced as /[β̞oˈnɑ]/ | 'she' | An approximant; the most common prevocalic realization of pronounced as //w//. Can vary with labiodental pronounced as /link/. See Ukrainian phonology | |||
This consonantal sound in Persian was once presented by the letter the letter ve and today, it is no longer in use. The example is archaic Persian: زڤان pronounced as //zaβɑn// > Persian: زبان pronounced as //zæbɒn// 'language'[13]
pronounced as /navigation/