The voiced bilabial nasal is a type of consonantal sound used in almost all spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is ⟨m⟩, and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is m
. The bilabial nasal occurs in English, and it is the sound represented by "m" in map and rum. Only very few languages (e.g. Wyandot) are known to lack this sound.
Voiced bilabial nasal | |
---|---|
m | |
IPA Number | 114 |
Encoding | |
Entity (decimal) | m |
Unicode (hex) | U+006D |
X-SAMPA | m |
Braille | ![]() |
Audio sample | |
source · help |
Features of the voiced bilabial nasal:
IPA | Description |
---|---|
m | plain m |
mʲ | palatalised |
mˠ | velarised |
mˤ | pharyngealized |
Language | Word | IPA | Meaning | Notes | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Bulgarian[22] | мя́сто/mjásto | [mʲa̟sto] | 'place' | Contrasts with /m/. See Bulgarian phonology. | |
Irish | mé | [mʲeː] | 'I' | Contrasts with /mˠ/. See Irish phonology. | |
Kildin Saami[23] | ме̄рр/mʹērr | [mʲerː] | 'sea' | Kildin Saami contrasts varieties of bilabial nasals in voicedness, length and palatalization.[23] | |
Latgalian[24] | miļti | [mʲilʲtʲi][25] | 'flour' | Contrasts with /m/.[26] See Latgalian phonology. | |
Lithuanian[27] | miglà | [mʲɪɡˈɫa] | 'mist' | Contrasts with /m/. See Lithuanian phonology | |
Marshallese[28] | emān | [ɛmʲænʲ] | 'four' | Contrasts with /mˠ/.[28] | |
Nenets | Tundra Nenets[29] | мяˮ/ḿaq | [mʲɑ][30] | 'tent' | Contrasts with /m/.[29] |
Forest Nenets[29] | |||||
Russian | медь/medʹ | [mʲetʲ] | 'copper' | Contrasts with /m/. See Russian phonology. | |
Veps[31] | nem' | [nemʲ] | 'peninsula' | Contrasts with /m/.[31] |
Language | Word | IPA | Meaning | Notes | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Gilbertese | Contrasts with /m/. | ||||
Irish | má | [mˠɑː] | 'if' | Contrasts with /mʲ/. See Irish phonology. | |
Marshallese[28] | m̧winam̧ōn | [mˠinʲɑmˠʌnʲ] | 'caterpillar' | Contrasts with /mʲ/.[28] |