| Ipa Number: | 115 |
| Ipa Symbol: | ɱ |
| Ipa Symbol2: | m̪ |
| Decimal: | 625 |
| Xsampa: | F |
| Kirshenbaum: | M |
| Braille: | 235 |
| Braille2: | 134 |
| Imagefile: | IPA Unicode 0x0271.svg |
The voiced labiodental nasal is a type of consonantal sound. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is (IPA|ɱ). The IPA symbol is a lowercase letter m with a leftward hook protruding from the lower right of the letter. Occasionally it is instead transcribed as an pronounced as /m/ with a dental diacritic: (IPA|m̪) (for example in extIPA, where the two transcriptions are presented as variants).[1]
The labiodental pronunciation of pronounced as /[ɱ]/ is very similar to that of the bilabial nasal pronounced as /[m]/, but instead of the lips touching each other, the lower lip touches the upper teeth. The position of the lips and teeth is generally the same as for the production of the labiodental fricatives pronounced as /[f]/ and pronounced as /[v]/, though air escapes between the lip and the teeth in the case of the fricatives.
Although commonly appearing in languages, it is overwhelmingly an allophone restricted to a position before the labiodental consonants pronounced as /[f]/ and pronounced as /[v]/. A phonemic pronounced as //ɱ// has only been reported for the Kukuya language, which contrasts it with pronounced as //m, mpf, mbv// and is "accompanied by strong protrusion of both lips". It is pronounced as /[ɱʷ]/ before pronounced as //a// and pronounced as /[ɱ]/ before pronounced as //i// and pronounced as //e//, perhaps because labialization is constrained by the spread front vowels; it does not occur before the back (rounded) vowels pronounced as //o// and pronounced as //u//.
It is doubted by some scholars that true closure can be made by a labiodental gesture because of gaps between the incisors, which for many speakers would allow air to flow during the occlusion. This is particularly pertinent considering that one of the Kukuya words with this consonant, pronounced as //ɱáá//, means a 'gap between filed incisors,' a practice of the local people. The pronounced as //ɱ// might therefore be better characterized as a labiodental nasal approximant than as a nasal occlusive.
Nonetheless, pronounced as /[ɱ]/ is extremely common around the world phonetically, as it is the universal allophone of pronounced as //m// and a very common allophone of pronounced as //n// before the labiodental fricatives pronounced as /[f]/ and pronounced as /[v]/, as for example in English comfort and circumvent, and, for many people, infinitive and invent. In the Angami language, pronounced as /[ɱ]/ occurs as an allophone of pronounced as //m// before pronounced as //ə//. In Drubea, pronounced as /[ɱ]/ is reported as an allophone of pronounced as //v// before nasal vowels.[2]
A proposal to retire the letter (IPA|ɱ) was made in the run-up to the Kiel Convention of 1989, with the labiodental nasal to be transcribed solely by (IPA|m̪), but the proposal was defeated in committee.[3] [4]
Features of the voiced labiodental nasal:
Phonemic pronounced as //ɱ// is extremely rare. As an allophone of nasal consonants before pronounced as /[f]/ or pronounced as /[v]/, however, pronounced as /[ɱ]/ is very common.
| Language | Word | IPA | Meaning | Notes | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Arabic | Hejazi | قُرُنْفُل | pronounced as /[gʊrʊɱfʊl]/ | 'clove' | See Hejazi Arabic phonology | |
| Catalan | Catalan; Valencian: [[Catalan alphabet|li'''m'''fa]] | pronounced as /[ˈlĩɱfɐ]/ | 'lymph' | See Catalan phonology | ||
| Czech | Czech: [[Czech orthography|tra'''m'''vaj]] | pronounced as /[ˈtraɱvaj]/ | 'tram' | See Czech phonology | ||
| Danish: [[Danish alphabet|sy'''m'''foni]] | pronounced as /[syɱfoˈniˀ]/ | 'symphony' | See Danish phonology | |||
| Dutch; Flemish: [[Dutch orthography|o'''m'''vallen]] | pronounced as /[ˈʔɔɱvɑlə(n)]/ | 'to fall over' | See Dutch phonology | |||
| 'symphony' | Allophone of pronounced as /link/ before pronounced as /link/ and pronounced as /link/ See English phonology. | |||||
| Finnish | Finnish: [[Finnish alphabet|ka'''m'''feri]] | pronounced as /[ˈkɑɱfe̞ri]/ | 'camphor' | See Finnish phonology | ||
| German | German: [[German alphabet|fü'''n'''f]] | pronounced as /[fʏɱf]/ | 'five' | See German phonology | ||
| Greek, Modern (1453-);: [[Greek alphabet|έ'''μ'''βρυο]] {{transl|el|[[Romanization of Greek|é'''m'''vryo]] | pronounced as /[ˈe̞ɱvrio̞]/ | 'embryo' | Learned or careful pronunciation. See Modern Greek phonology | |||
| Hebrew | Hebrew: [[Hebrew alphabet|סי'''מ'''פוניה]] | pronounced as /[siɱˈfonja]/ | 'symphony' | See Modern Hebrew phonology | ||
| Hungarian: [[Hungarian orthography|ha'''m'''vad]] | pronounced as /[ˈhɒɱvɒd]/ | 'smoulder' | See Hungarian phonology | |||
| Italian: [[Italian alphabet|i'''n'''vece]] | pronounced as /[iɱˈveːt͡ʃe]/ | 'instead' | See Italian phonology | |||
| pronounced as /[ɱíì]/ | 'eyes' | Phonemic, distinguishes /m/ and /ɱ/. | ||||
| Macedonian: [[Macedonian alphabet|тра'''м'''вај]] Macedonian: tramvaj | pronounced as /[traɱˈvaj]/ | 'tram' | See Macedonian phonology | |||
| Norwegian: [[Norwegian alphabet|ko'''m'''fyr]] | pronounced as /[kɔɱˈfyːɾ]/ | 'stove' | See Norwegian phonology | |||
| Polish | Polish: [[Polish orthography|sy'''m'''fonia]] | pronounced as /[sɘ̟ɱˈfɔɲ̟ä]/ | 'symphony' | See Polish phonology | ||
| Romanian; Moldavian; Moldovan: [[Romanian alphabet|î'''n'''văța]] | pronounced as /[ɨɱvəˈt͡sä]/ | 'to learn' | See Romanian phonology | |||
| Russian: [[Russian alphabet|а'''м'''фора]] | pronounced as /['aɱfərə]/ | 'amphora' | See Russian phonology | |||
| [[Serbian Cyrillic alphabet|тра'''м'''вај]] / [[Gaj's Latin alphabet|tra'''m'''vaj]] | pronounced as /[trǎɱʋäj]/ | 'tram' | Allophone of pronounced as /link/ and pronounced as /link/ before pronounced as /link/ and pronounced as /link/. See Serbo-Croatian phonology | |||
| Slovenian: [[Slovene alphabet|si'''m'''fonija]] | pronounced as /[siɱfoˈníːjà]/ | 'symphony' | Allophone of pronounced as /link/ and pronounced as /link/ before pronounced as /link/ and pronounced as /link/. | |||
| Spanish; Castilian: [[Spanish orthography|i'''n'''fluir]] | pronounced as /[iɱfluˈiɾ]/ | 'to have influence' | See Spanish phonology | |||
| Swedish: [[Swedish alphabet|fra'''m'''för]] | pronounced as /[ˈfɾâɱˌfɶːɾ]/ | 'in front of', 'performs' | See Swedish phonology | |||
| West Frisian | Western Frisian: [[West Frisian alphabet|û'''n'''wis]] | pronounced as /[uːɱ'ʋɪs]/ | 'unsure' | Allophone of pronounced as //n// before labiodental sounds. | ||
| Yuanmen | 戴 (帽子) | pronounced as /[ɱoː⁶]/ | 'wear' | Was briefly phonemic before merging with /m/. | ||
pronounced as /navigation/