Voiced bilabial nasal

The voiced bilabial nasal is a type of consonant. It is used in almost all spoken languages. The letter for this sound in the International Phonetic Alphabet is ⟨m⟩. The X-SAMPA symbol for this sound is ⟨m⟩. The English language has this sound, and it is the sound represented by "m" in map and rum.

Voiced bilabial nasal
m
IPA Number	114
Encoding
Entity (decimal)	m
Unicode (hex)	U+006D
X-SAMPA	m

"Bilabial nasal" redirects here. For the voiceless consonant, see Voiceless bilabial nasal.

Nearly all languages contain this sound. A few languages (for example, Mohawk) do not often use this sound.

Features

• The airstream mechanism is pulmonic. This means that this sound is produced by pushing air solely with the lungs and diaphragm, as in most sounds.
• The phonation is voiced. This means that the vocal cords vibrate while the sound is being pronounced.
• The place of articulation (where the sound is produced) is bilabial. This means that this sound is produced with both lips.
• It is a nasal consonant. This means that air is allowed to escape through the nose, either exclusively (nasal stops) or in addition to through the mouth.

Examples

Language		Word	IPA	Meaning
Arabic	Standard[1]	مطابخ	[mɑˈtˤɑːbiχ]	'kitchens'
Catalan[2]		mare	[ˈmaɾə]	'mother'
Chinese	Cantonese	晚/maan5	[maːn˩˧]	'night'
	Mandarin	母親/mǔqīn	[mu˨˩ tɕʰin˥]	'mother'
Dutch[3]		mond	[mɔnt]	'mouth'
English		him	[hɪm]	'him'
Finnish		minä	[minæ]	'I'
French[4]		manger	[mɑ̃ʒe]	'to eat'
Georgian[5]		სამი	[ˈsɑmi]	'three'
Greek[6]		μάζα/maza	[ˈmaza]	'clump'
Hawaiian[7]		maka	[maka]	'eye'
Indonesian[8]		masuk	[ˈmasuʔ]	'enter'
Italian[9]		mamma	[ˈmamma]	'mamma'
Japanese[10]		乾杯/kampai	[kampai]	'a toast'
Malay		malam	[malam]	'night'
Malayalam[7]		കമ്മി	[kəmmi]	'shortage'
Polish[11]		masa	[ˈmasa]	'mass'
Portuguese[12]		mato	[ˈmatu]	'bush'
Russian[13]		муж	[muʂ]	'husband'
Spanish[14]		grumete	[ɡɾuˈme̞te̞]	'cabin boy'
Vietnamese[15]		muối	[mwoj˧ˀ˥]	'salt'
Zapotec	Tilquiapan[16]	man	[maŋ]	'animal'

References

1. Thelwall, Robin (1990), "Illustrations of the IPA: Arabic", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 20 (2): 37, doi:10.1017/S0025100300004266, S2CID 243640727
2. Carbonell, Joan F.; Llisterri, Joaquim (1992), "Catalan", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 22 (1–2): 53, doi:10.1017/S0025100300004618, S2CID 249411809
3. Gussenhoven, Carlos (1992), "Dutch", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 22 (2): 45, doi:10.1017/S002510030000459X, S2CID 243772965
4. Fougeron, Cecile; Smith, Caroline L (1993), "Illustrations of the IPA:French", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 23 (2): 73, doi:10.1017/S0025100300004874, S2CID 249404451
5. Shosted, Ryan K.; Vakhtang, Chikovani (2006), "Standard Georgian", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 36 (2): 255, doi:10.1017/S0025100306002659, S2CID 53481687
6. Newton, Brian (1972), The generative Interpretation of Dialect: A Study of Modern Greek Phonology, Cabridge Studies in Linguistics, vol. 8, Cambridge University Press, p. 10
7. Ladefoged, Peter (2005), Vowels and Consonants (Second ed.), Blackwell, pp. 139, 165
8. Soderberg, Craig D.; Olson, Kenneth S. (2008), "Illustrations of the IPA:Indonesian", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 38 (2): 210, doi:10.1017/S0025100308003320, S2CID 232349531
9. Rogers, Derek; d'Arcangeli, Luciana (2004), "Italian", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 34 (1): 117, doi:10.1017/S0025100304001628, S2CID 232345223
10. Okada, Hideo (1991), "Phonetic Representation:Japanese", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 21 (2): 94, doi:10.1017/S002510030000445X, S2CID 242782215
11. Jassem, Wiktor (2003), "Polish", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 33 (1): 103, doi:10.1017/S0025100303001191, S2CID 232349472
12. Cruz-Ferreira, Madalena (1995), "European Portuguese", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 25 (2): 91, doi:10.1017/S0025100300005223, S2CID 249414876
13. Padgett, Jaye (2003), "Contrast and Post-Velar Fronting in Russian", Natural Language & Linguistic Theory, 21 (1): 42, doi:10.1023/A:1021879906505, S2CID 13470826
14. Martínez-Celdrán, Eugenio; Fernández-Planas, Ana Ma.; Carrera-Sabaté, Josefina (2003), "Castilian Spanish", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 33 (2): 255, doi:10.1017/S0025100303001373, S2CID 232344066
15. Thompson, Laurence (1959), "Saigon phonemics", Language, 35 (3): 458–461, doi:10.2307/411232, JSTOR 411232
16. Merrill, Elizabeth (2008), "Tilquiapan Zapotec", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 38 (1): 108, doi:10.1017/S0025100308003344, S2CID 232350024