Voiced bilabial nasal

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

The voiced bilabial nasal is a type of consonantal sound which has been observed to occur in about 96% of spoken languages.^[1] 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. Very few languages (e.g. Wyandot) are known to lack this sound. A small number of languages have been observed to lack independent nasal phonemes altogether, such as Quileute, Makah, and Central Rotokas.^[2]

Voiced bilabial nasal
m
IPA number	114
Audio sample
source · help
Encoding
Entity (decimal)	m
Unicode (hex)	U+006D
X-SAMPA	m
Braille

Features

Features of the voiced bilabial nasal:

• Its manner of articulation is occlusive, which means it is produced by obstructing airflow in the vocal tract. Because the consonant is also nasal, the blocked airflow is redirected through the nose.
• 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 a nasal consonant, which means air is allowed to escape through the nose, either exclusively (nasal stops) or in addition to through the mouth.
• Because the sound is not produced with airflow over the tongue, the central–lateral dichotomy does not apply.
• Its airstream mechanism is pulmonic, which means it is articulated by pushing air solely with the intercostal muscles and abdominal muscles, as in most sounds.

Varieties

IPA	Description
m	plain m
mʲ	palatalised
mˠ	velarised
mˤ	pharyngealized

Occurrence

Occurrence of /m/ in several languages.

Language		Word	IPA	Meaning	Notes
ǃKung		m	[m]	'eat'
Adyghe		мазэ / māză	[maːza]	'moon'
Arabic	Standard[3]	مطابخ / maṭābiḫ	[maˈtˤɑːbɪχ]	'kitchens'	See Arabic phonology
Armenian	Eastern[4]	մայր / mayr	[mɑjɾ]ⓘ	'mother'
Assyrian		ܡܪܐ / mara	[maːra]	'owner'
Basque		maitatu	[majt̪at̪u]	'to love'
Bengali		মা / ma	[ma]	'mother'	See Bengali phonology
Bulgarian		мъгла / mygla	[mɐɡla]	'fog'
Burushaski		akhuruman	[akʰuruman]	'so many'
Catalan[5]		meu	[ˈmew]	'mine'	See Catalan phonology
Cherokee		ᎠᎹ / ama	[ama˦]	'water'
Cantonese		貓 / 猫 / māau	[maːu̯˥]ⓘ	'cat'	See Cantonese phonology
Chukchi		Mанэгран	[maneɣɻan]	'tent'
Chuvash		манăн / manën	[manən]	'my'
Czech		muž	[mʊʃ]ⓘ	'man'	See Czech phonology
Dutch[6]		mond	[mɔnt]ⓘ	'mouth'	See Dutch phonology
Dhivehi		mas	[mas̪]	'fish'	See Dhivehi phonology
English		him	[hɪm]ⓘ	'him'	See English phonology
Esperanto		tempo	[ˈtempo]ⓘ	'time'	See Esperanto phonology
Filipino		manok	[maˈnok]	'chicken'	See Filipino phonology
Finnish		minä	[ˈminæ]ⓘ	'I'	See Finnish phonology
French[7]		manger	[mɑ̃ʒe]ⓘ	'to eat'	See French phonology
Georgian[8]		სამი / sami	[ˈsɑmi]	'three'
German		Maus	[maʊ̯s]ⓘ	'mouse'	See Standard German phonology
Greek[9]		μάζα / maza	[ˈmaza]ⓘ	'clump'	See Modern Greek phonology
Gujarati		મોર / mór	[moːɾ]	'male peacock'	See Gujarati phonology
Hawaiian[10]		maka	[maka]	'eye'	See Hawaiian phonology
Hindi		मधु / mëdhu	[məd̪ʱuː]	'honey'	See Hindi-Urdu phonology
Hebrew		אמא / ima	[ˈʔimäʔ]	'mother'	See Modern Hebrew phonology
Hungarian		ma	[mɒ]ⓘ	'today'	See Hungarian phonology
Indonesian[11]		masuk	[ˈmäsʊʔ]	'enter'
Italian[12]		mamma	[ˈmamma]ⓘ	'mommy'	See Italian phonology
Japanese[13]		豆 / mame	[mäme̞]	'bean'	See Japanese phonology
Kabardian		мазэ / mazè	[maːza]	'moon'
Kagayanen[14]		manang	[manaŋ]	'older sister'
Kazakh		кеме / keme	[keme]	'ship'	See Kazakh phonology
Ket		qīm-n-diŋa	[qim n diŋa]	'woman'	See Ket language
Khmer		ខ្មែរ / khmae	[kʰmae]	'Khmer'	See Khmer phonology
Korean		마을 / maûl	[mɐɯl]	'village'	See Korean phonology
Kurukh		aḍḍō-mekhō	[aɖɖo mekʰo]	'cattle'
Lak		лакку маз/lakku maz	[lakːu maz]	'Lak'	See Lak language
Limburgish		moer	[muːʁ]	'carrot'	Common. Example from the Weert dialect.
Lithuanian		mama	[ˈmɐmɐ]	'mom'
Macedonian		мајка / majka	[ˈmajka]	'mother'	See Macedonian phonology
Malay		malam	[mäläm]	'night'
Malayalam[15]		കമ്മി / kammi	[kəmmi]	'shortage'
Maltese		ilma	[ilma]	'water'
Mandarin		貓 / 猫 / māo	[mɑʊ̯˥]ⓘ	'cat'	See Mandarin phonology
Marathi		मन / mën	[mən]	'mind'	See Marathi phonology
Mutsun		muruṭ	[muɾuʈ]	'night'
Nepali		आमा / āmā	[ämä]	'mother'	See Nepali phonology
Norwegian		mamma	[ˈmɑmːɑ]	'mom'	See Norwegian phonology
Ojibwe		ᐊᓈᒥᒻ / anaamim	[ənaːˈmɪm]	'accuse'	See Ojibwe phonology
Odia		ମା / mä	[mä]	'mother'
Persian		مادر / madär	[mɒdær]	'mother'	See Persian phonology
Pirahã		baíxi	[ˈmàí̯ʔì]	'parent'	allophone of /b/
Polish[16]		masa	[ˈmäsä]ⓘ	'mass'	See Polish phonology
Portuguese[17]		mato	[ˈmatu]ⓘ	'bush'	See Portuguese phonology
Punjabi		ਮੈਂ / mēm̐	[mɛ̃ː]	'I'
Russian[18]		муж / muž	[muʂ]ⓘ	'husband'	Contrasts with palatalized version. See Russian phonology
Sanskrit		अहम् / aham	[əhəm]	'I'	See Sanskrit phonology
Serbo-Croatian[19]		мој / moj	[môːj]	'my'	See Serbo-Croatian phonology
Slovak		muž	[mu̞ʂ]	'man'
Slovene		miš	[mîʃ]	'mouse'
Spanish[20]		grumete	[ɡɾuˈme̞te̞]	'cabin boy'	See Spanish phonology
Swahili		miti	[ˈmiti]	'trees'
Swedish		mamma	[mama]	'mom'	See Swedish phonology
Telugu		మబ్బు/mabu	[mabːu]	'cloud'	Occurs as allophone of anuswara when followed by retroflex stops
Thai		มอมแมม / mommäm	[mɔːm.mɛːm]	'shabby'	See Thai phonology
Toki Pona		mani	[mani]	'money'
Tsez		мец / mec	[mɛ̝t͡s]	'tongue'
Turkish		benim	[be̞ˈn̟ɪm]	'mine'	See Turkish phonology
Ukrainian[21]		молоко / moloko	[mɔɫɔˈkɔ]	'milk'	See Ukrainian phonology
Urdu		مکان / mëkan	[məkaːn]	'house'	See Hindi-Urdu phonology
Uyghur		مەن / män	[mæn]	'I'
Uzbek		men	[men]	'I'
Vietnamese[22]		muối	[mwojˀ˧˥]	'salt'	See Vietnamese phonology
Welsh		mam	[mam]ⓘ	'mother'	See Welsh phonology
West Frisian		mar	[mar]	'lake'	See West Frisian phonology
Yi		ꂷ / ma	[ma˧]	'bamboo'
Zapotec	Tilquiapan[23]	man	[maŋ]	'animal'

Palatalized

Occurrence of /mʲ/ in several languages.

Language		Word	IPA	Meaning	Notes
Bulgarian[24]		мя́сто/mästo	[mʲa̟sto]	'place'	Contrasts with /m/. See Bulgarian phonology.
Irish		mé	[mʲeː]	'I'	Contrasts with /mˠ/. See Irish phonology.
Kildin Saami[25]		ме̄рр/mʹērr	[mʲerː]	'sea'	Kildin Saami contrasts varieties of bilabial nasals in voicedness, length and palatalization.[25]
Latgalian[26]		miļti	[mʲilʲtʲi][27]	'flour'	Contrasts with /m/.[26] See Latgalian phonology.
Lithuanian[28]		miglà	[mʲɪɡˈɫa]	'mist'	Contrasts with /m/. See Lithuanian phonology
Marshallese[29]		emān	[ɛmʲænʲ]	'four'	Contrasts with /mˠ/.[29]
Nenets	Tundra Nenets[30]	мяˮ/ḿaq	[mʲɑ][31]	'tent'	Contrasts with /m/.[30]
	Forest Nenets[30]	[example needed]
Polish		mięso	[mʲɛ̃w̃sɔ]	'meat'	Contrasts with /m/. See Polish phonology.
Russian		медь/měď	[mʲetʲ]ⓘ	'copper'	Contrasts with /m/. See Russian phonology.
Veps[32]		nem'	[nemʲ]	'peninsula'	Contrasts with /m/.[32]

Velarized

Occurrence of /mˠ/ in several languages.

Language		Word	IPA	Meaning	Notes
Gilbertese		mwe[33]	[mˠe]	'sleep'	Contrasts with /m/ and /mː/.
Irish		má	[mˠɑː]	'if'	Contrasts with /mʲ/. See Irish phonology.
Marshallese[29]		m̧winam̧ōn	[mˠinʲɑmˠʌnʲ]	'caterpillar'	Contrasts with /mʲ/.[29]

See also

• List of phonetics topics