Voiceless bilabial plosive

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IPA – number	101
IPA – text	p
IPA – image	Image:Xsampa-p.png
entity	p
X-SAMPA	p
Kirshenbaum	p
Sound sample ▶(?)

The voiceless bilabial plosive is a type of consonantal sound used in many spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is p, and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is p. The voiceless bilabial plosive in English is spelled with 'p', as in pit or speed.

[p] is missing from about 10% of languages that have a [b]. (See [g] for another such gap.) This is an areal feature of the "circum-Saharan zone" (Africa north of the equator, including the Arabian peninsula). It's unknown how old this areal feature is, and whether it might be a recent phenomenon due to Arabic as a prestige language (Arabic lost its [p] in prehistoric times), or whether Arabic was itself affected by a more ancient areal pattern. It is found in other areas as well; for example, Proto-Celtic is reconstructed as having [b] but no [p].

Nonetheless, the [p] sound is very common cross-linguistically. Most languages have at least a plain [p], and some distinguish more than one variety. Many Indian languages, such as Hindi, have a two-way contrast between aspirated and plain [p].

Contents 1 Features 2 Varieties of the voiceless bilabial plosive 3 In Arabic 4 In English 5 In Georgian 6 In German 7 In Greek 8 See also

Features

Features of the voiceless bilabial plosive:

• Its manner of articulation is plosive or stop, which means it is produced by obstructing airflow in the vocal tract.
• Its place of articulation is bilabial which means it is articulated with both lips.
• Its phonation type is voiceless, which means it is produced without vibrations of the vocal cords.
• It is an oral consonant, which means air is allowed to escape through the mouth.
• It is a central consonant, which means it is produced by allowing the airstream to flow over the middle of the tongue, rather than the sides.
• The airstream mechanism is pulmonic egressive, which means it is articulated by pushing air out of the lungs and through the vocal tract, rather than from the glottis or the mouth.

Varieties of the voiceless bilabial plosive

IPA	Description
p	plain p
pʰ	aspirated p
pʲ	palatalized p
pʷ	labialized p
p˺	unreleased p
p̌	voiced p
pʼ	ejective p

In Arabic

Arabic has no [p], original Semitic [p] (as attested to in Akkadian) having become [f] in prehistoric times. Native speakers of Arabic usually render foreign [p] as [b] in both speech and writing, so that the Greek name Paulus becomes Arabic Bolus, for example.

In English

English has both aspirated and plain [p], but they are allophones.

When [p] occurs at the beginning of a word or a stressed syllable, like in print, support, or potato, then it is always aspirated. When it occurs at the beginning of an unstressed syllable that isn't at the beginning of a word, like in occupant, vapid, or keeper, then it is always unaspirated. When [p] occurs in a consonant cluster following [s], like in spin, sprain, or suspend, then it is always unaspirated. When it occurs at the end of a word, like in tip, wasp, or telescope, then it is usually unaspirated, and if the word is at the end of an utterance, then the [p] is often unreleased.

In Georgian

Georgian has aspirated and ejective [p]. They are distinct phonemes, not allophones. Aspirated p is spelled with ფ. Ejective p is spelled with პ .

In German

In German, as in English, plain and aspirated [p] are allophones. Aspirated [p] does not exist in all dialects, however, nor does it in the Austrian version of Standard German.

In Greek

In Ancient Greek, plain and aspirated [p] were separate phonemes, represented by the letters pi (π) and phi (φ) respectively. In Modern Greek there is no aspirated [p], phi having come to be pronounced [f].

See also

• list of phonetics topics

Consonants (List, table)	See also: IPA, Vowels
Pulmonics Bilabial Lab'den. Dental Alveolar Postalv. Retroflex Palatal Velar Uvular Pharyn. Epiglottal Glottal   Non-pulmonics and other symbols Plosives p b t d ʈ ɖ c ɟ k ɡ q ɢ ʡ ʔ  Clicks  ʘ ǀ ǃ ǂ ǁ Nasals m ɱ n ɳ ɲ ŋ ɴ  Implo­sives  ɓ ɗ ʄ ɠ ʛ Trills ʙ r • ʀ •  Ejec­tives  pʼ tʼ kʼ qʼ sʼ Flaps & Taps • • ɾ ɽ • Other laterals  ɺ ɫ Fricatives ɸ β f v θ ð s z ʃ ʒ ʂ ʐ ç ʝ x ɣ χ ʁ ħ ʕ ʜ ʢ h ɦ Co-articulated approximants  ʍ w ɥ Lat. Fricatives ɬ ɮ • • • Other fricatives  ɕ ʑ ɧ    Approximants    β̞ ʋ ɹ ɻ j ɰ Affricates  ʦ ʣ ʧ ʤ Lat. Appr'mants l ɭ ʎ ʟ Co-articulated stops  kp ɡb ŋm
This page contains phonetic information in IPA, which may not display correctly in some browsers. [Help] Where symbols appear in pairs, the one to the right represents a voiced consonant. Shaded areas denote pulmonic articulations judged impossible.