Voiced bilabial affricate

Voiced bilabial affricate
b͡β
b͜β
bβ

A voiced bilabial affricate ([b͡β] in IPA) is a rare affricate consonant that is initiated as a bilabial stop [b] and released as a voiced bilabial fricative [β]. It has not been reported to occur phonemically in any language.

Features

Features of the voiced bilabial affricate:

• Its manner of articulation is affricate, which means it is produced by first stopping the airflow entirely, then allowing air flow through a constricted channel at the place of articulation, causing turbulence.

• Its place of articulation is bilabial, which means it is articulated with both lips.

• Its phonation is voiced, which means the vocal cords vibrate during the articulation.

• It is an oral consonant, which means air is allowed to escape through the mouth only.

• It is a central consonant, which means it is produced by directing the airstream along the center of the tongue, rather than to the sides.

• The airstream mechanism is pulmonic, which means it is articulated by pushing air solely with the lungs and diaphragm, as in most sounds.

Occurrence

Language		Word	IPA	Meaning	Notes
English	Broad Cockney[1]	rub	[ˈɹ̠ɐˑb͡β]	'rub'	Sporadic allophone of /b/.[2] See English phonology
	Received Pronunciation[3]				Rare allophone of /b/.[3] See English phonology
	Scouse[4]		[ˈɹ̠ʊˑb͡β]		Possible syllable-initial and word-final allophone of /b/.[4] See English phonology
Shipibo[5]		?	[ˈb͡βo̽ko̽]	'small intestine'	Possible realization of /β/.[5]

References

1. Wells (1982), pp. 322-323.
2. Wells (1982), p. 323.
3. Gimson (2014), p. 172.
4. Wells (1982), p. 372.
5. Valenzuela, Márquez Pinedo & Maddieson (2001).

Bibliography

• Gimson, Alfred Charles (2014), Cruttenden, Alan, ed., Gimson's Pronunciation of English (8th ed.), Routledge, ISBN 9781444183092
• Valenzuela, Pilar M.; Márquez Pinedo, Luis; Maddieson, Ian (2001), "Shipibo", Journal of the International Phonetic Association 31 (2): 281–285, doi:10.1017/S0025100301002109
• Wells, John C. (1982). "Accents of English 2: The British Isles". Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-24224-X.