Labialization
Labialization is a secondary articulatory feature of sounds in some languages. Labialized sounds involve the lips while the remainder of the oral cavity produces another sound. The term is normally restricted to consonants. When vowels involve the lips, they are called rounded.
| Labialized | |
|---|---|
| ◌ʷ |
| Sound change and alternation |
|---|
| Fortition |
| Dissimilation |
The most common labialized consonants are labialized velars. Most other labialized sounds also have simultaneous velarization, and the process may then be more precisely called labio-velarization.
In phonology, labialization may also refer to a type of assimilation process.
Occurrence
Labialization is the most widespread secondary articulation in the world's languages. It is phonemically contrastive in Northwest Caucasian (e.g. Adyghe), Athabaskan, and Salishan language families, among others. This contrast is reconstructed also for Proto-Indo-European, the common ancestor of the Indo-European languages; and it survives in Latin and some Romance languages. It is also found in the Cushitic and Ethio-Semitic languages.
American English labializes /r, ʃ, ʒ, tʃ, dʒ/ to various degrees.
A few languages, including Arrernte and Mba, have contrastive labialized forms for almost all of their consonants.
Types
| Open-labialized | |
|---|---|
| ◌ꟹ |
Out of 706 language inventories surveyed by Ruhlen (1976), labialization occurred most often with velar (42%) and uvular (15%) segments and least often with dental and alveolar segments. With non-dorsal consonants, labialization may include velarization as well. Labialization is not restricted to lip-rounding. The following articulations have either been described as labialization or been found as allophonic realizations of prototypical labialization:
- Labiodental frication, found in Abkhaz[1]
- Complete bilabial closure, [d͡b, t͡p, t͡pʼ], found in Abkhaz and Ubykh[1]
- "Labialization" (/w/, /ɡʷ/, and /kʷ/) without noticeable rounding (protrusion) of the lips, found in the Iroquoian languages. It may be that they are compressed.
- Rounding without velarization, found in Shona and in the Bzyb dialect of Abkhaz.
Eastern Arrernte has labialization at all places and manners of articulation; this derives historically from adjacent rounded vowels, as is also the case of the Northwest Caucasian languages. Marshallese also has phonemic labialization as a secondary articulation at all places of articulation except for labial consonants and coronal obstruents.
In North America, languages from a number of families have sounds that sound labialized (and vowels that sound rounded) without the participation of the lips. See Tillamook language for an example.
Prelabialization
In Slovene, sounds can be prelabialized. Furthermore, the change is phonemic and all phonemes have prelabialized pairs (though not all of their allophones can have pairs). Compare stati 'stand' [ˈs̪t̪àːt̪í] and vstati 'stand up' [ˈʷs̪t̪àːt̪í]. The prelabialization part, however, is usually not considered as being part of the same phoneme as prelabialized sound, but rather as an allophone of /ʋ/ as it changes depending on the environment, e. g. vzeti 'take' [ˈʷz̪èːt̪í] and povzeti 'summarize' [pou̯ˈz̪èːt̪í].[2] See Slovene phonology for more details.
Transcription
In the International Phonetic Alphabet, labialization of velar consonants is indicated with a raised w modifier [ʷ] (Unicode U+02B7), as in /kʷ/. (Elsewhere this diacritic generally indicates simultaneous labialization and velarization.) There are also diacritics, respectively [ɔ̹], [ɔ̜], to indicate greater or lesser degrees of rounding.[3] These are normally used with vowels but may occur with consonants. For example, in the Athabaskan language Hupa, voiceless velar fricatives distinguish three degrees of labialization, transcribed either /x/, /x̹/, /xʷ/ or /x/, /x̜ʷ/, /xʷ/.
The extensions to the IPA has two additional symbols for degrees of rounding: Spread [ɹ͍] and open-rounded [ʒꟹ] (as in English). It also has a symbol for labiodentalized sounds, [tᶹ].[4]
If precision is desired, the Abkhaz and Ubykh articulations may be transcribed with the appropriate fricative or trill raised as a diacritic: [tᵛ], [tᵝ], [tʙ], [tᵖ].
For simple labialization, Ladefoged & Maddieson (1996) resurrected an old IPA symbol, [ ̫],[5] which would be placed above a letter with a descender such as ɡ. However, their chief example is Shona sv and zv, which they transcribe /s̫/ and /z̫/ but which actually seem to be whistled sibilants, without necessarily being labialized.[6] Another possibility is to use the IPA diacritic for rounding, distinguishing for example the labialization in English soon [s̹] and [sʷ] swoon.[7] The open rounding of English /ʃ/ is also unvelarized.
Assimilation
Labialization also refers to a specific type of assimilatory process where a given sound become labialized due to the influence of neighboring labial sounds. For example, /k/ may become /kʷ/ in the environment of /o/, or /a/ may become /o/ in the environment of /p/ or /kʷ/.
In the Northwest Caucasian languages as well as some Australian languages rounding has shifted from the vowels to the consonants, producing a wide range of labialized consonants and leaving in some cases only two phonemic vowels. This appears to have been the case in Ubykh and Eastern Arrernte, for example. The labial vowel sounds usually still remain, but only as allophones next to the now-labial consonant sounds.
Examples
| type | Phone | IPA | Languages | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stops | plain | labzd voiceless bilabial stop | ⓘ | Chaha, Paha |
| labzd voiced bilabial stop | ⓘ | Chaha, Paha, Mayo, Yaqui | ||
| labzd voiceless alveolar stop | ⓘ | Archi, Abkhaz, Lao, Paha, Ubykh | ||
| labzd voiced alveolar stop | ⓘ | Archi, Abkhaz, Ubykh | ||
| labzd voiceless velar stop | ⓘ | Abaza, Abkhaz, Adyghe, Halkomelem, Kabardian, Taos, Chipewyan, Hadza, Gwichʼin, Tlingit, Akan, Nez Perce, Archi, Cantonese, Wariʼ, Chaha, Dahalo, Hausa, Igala, Igbo, Italian, Lao, Latin, Nahuatl, Nawat, Ossetic, Paha, Portuguese, Thai, Tigrinya, Hiw, Ubykh, Bearlake Slavey, Breton | ||
| labzd voiced velar stop | ⓘ | Abaza, Abkhaz, Adyghe, Akan, Archi, Chaha, Dahalo, Hausa, Oowekyala, Ossetic, Hadza, Igala, Igbo, Gwichʼin, Kabardian, Paha, Portuguese, Tigrinya, Ubykh, Breton, Yoruba | ||
| labzd voiceless uvular stop | ⓘ | Abaza, Abkhaz, Adyghe, Kabardian, Ossetic, Paha, Tlingit, Nez Perce, Ubykh | ||
| labzd pharyngealized voiceless uvular stop | [qˤʷ] | Archi, Ubykh | ||
| labzd voiced uvular stop | ⓘ | Oowekyala, Kwak'wala, Tsakhur | ||
| labzd glottal stop | ⓘ | Adyghe, Kabardian, Lao, Tlingit | ||
| labzd prenasalized voiced bilabial plosive | [ᵐbʷ] | Tamambo | ||
| Labial–velar | labzd voiceless labio–velar stop | [k͡pʷ] | Dorig, Mwotlap | |
| labzd prenasalized voiced labial–velar stop | [ᵑɡ͡bʷ] | Volow | ||
| Affricates | sibilant | labzd voiceless alveolar affricate | ⓘ | Adyghe, Archi, Lezgian, Tsakhur |
| labzd voiced alveolar affricate | ⓘ | Adyghe, Dahalo | ||
| labzd voiceless palato-alveolar affricate | ⓘ | Archi, Abaza, Adyghe, Paha, Aghul, German | ||
| labzd voiced palato-alveolar affricate | ⓘ | Abaza, Aghul, Tsakhur, German | ||
| labzd voiceless alveolo-palatal affricate | [t͡ɕʷ] | Abkhaz, Akan, Ubykh | ||
| labzd voiced alveolo-palatal affricate | [d͡ʑʷ] | Abkhaz, Akan, Ubykh | ||
| non-sibilant | labzd voiceless velar affricate | ⓘ | Navajo | |
| labzd voiceless uvular affricate | ⓘ | Kabardian, Lillooet | ||
| lateral | labzd voiceless velar lateral affricate | ⓘ | Archi | |
| Fricatives | sibilant | labzd voiceless alveolar sibilant | ⓘ | Archi, Lao, Lezgian |
| labzd voiced alveolar sibilant | ⓘ | Archi, Tsakhur, Lezgian | ||
| labzd voiceless palato-alveolar sibilant | ⓘ | Archi, Abaza, Abkhaz, Adyghe, Paha, Aghul, Ubykh | ||
| labzd voiced palato-alveolar sibilant | ⓘ | Archi, Abaza, Abkhaz, Adyghe, Aghul, Ubykh | ||
| labzd voiceless retroflex sibilant | ⓘ | Bzhedug | ||
| labzd voiced retroflex sibilant | ⓘ | Bzhedug | ||
| labzd voiceless alveolo-palatal sibilant | ⓘ | Abkhaz, Ubykh | ||
| labzd voiced alveolo-palatal sibilant | ⓘ | Abkhaz, Ubykh | ||
| non-sibilant | labzd voiceless bilabial fricative | [ɸʷ] | ||
| labzd voiced bilabial fricative | [βʷ] | Tamambo | ||
| labzd voiceless labiodental fricative | ⓘ | Hadza, Chaha | ||
| labzd voiced labiodental fricative | ⓘ | |||
| labzd voiceless dental fricative | ⓘ | Paha | ||
| labzd voiced dental fricative | ⓘ | Paha | ||
| labzd voiceless palatal fricative | ⓘ | Akan | ||
| labzd voiceless velar fricative | ⓘ | Abaza, Adyghe, Avestan, Chaha, Halkomelem, Kabardian, Oowekyala, Taos, Navajo, Tigrinya, Lillooet, Tlingit | ||
| labzd voiced velar fricative | ⓘ | Abaza, Navajo, Lillooet, Gwichʼin, possibly Proto-Indo-European | ||
| labzd voiceless uvular fricative | ⓘ | Abkhaz, Adyghe, Archi, Halkomelem, Kabardian, Lillooet, Tlingit, Wariʼ, Chipewyan, Oowekyala, Ossetic, Ubykh | ||
| labzd pharyngealized voiceless uvular fricative | [χˤʷ] | Abkhaz, Archi, Ubykh | ||
| labzd voiced uvular fricative | ⓘ | Abkhaz, Adyghe, Chipewyan, Kabardian, Ubykh | ||
| labzd pharyngealized voiced uvular fricative | [ʁˤʷ] | Archi, Ubykh | ||
| labzd voiceless pharyngeal fricative | ⓘ | Abaza, Abkhaz | ||
| labzd voiced pharyngeal fricative | ⓘ | Abaza, Lillooet | ||
| Pseudo-fricatives | labzd voiceless glottal fricative | ⓘ | Akan, Tlingit, Tsakhur | |
| Lateral fricatives | labzd voiceless alveolar lateral fricative | ⓘ | Dahalo | |
| labzd voiceless velar lateral fricative | ⓘ | Archi | ||
| Nasals | labzd bilabial nasal | ⓘ | Adyghe, Chaha, Paha, Tamambo | |
| labzd palatal nasal | [ɲʷ] | Akan | ||
| labzd velar nasal | [ŋʷ] | Akan, Avestan, Lao, Hiw, Igala | ||
| labzd labial-velar nasal | [ŋ͡mʷ] | Dorig, Mwotlap | ||
| Approximants | labzd alveolar lateral approximant | ⓘ | Lao | |
| labzd labiodental approximant | [ʋʷ] | Russian[8] | ||
| labialized palatal approximant | [ɥ] | Abkhaz, Akan, French, Mandarin, Paha | ||
| Labio-velar approximant (voiced) | [w] | widespread; in every above-mentioned language, as well as e.g. Arabic, English, Korean, Vietnamese | ||
| Voiceless labio-velar approximant | [ʍ] | certain dialects of English | ||
| nasal labialized velar approximant | [w̃] | Polish, Portuguese | ||
| labzd postalveolar approximant | [ɹ̠ʷ] | many dialects of English | ||
| Ejectives | labzd bilabial ejective | ⓘ | Adyghe | |
| labzd alveolar ejective | ⓘ | Abkhaz, Adyghe, Ubykh | ||
| labzd velar ejective | ⓘ | Abaza, Abkhaz, Adyghe, Archi, Bearlake Slavey, Chipewyan, Halkomelem, Kabardian, Ossetic, Tlingit, Ubykh | ||
| labzd palato-alveolar ejective fricative | ⓘ | Adyghe | ||
| labzd uvular ejective | ⓘ | Abaza, Abkhaz, Archi, Halkomelem, Hakuchi, Tlingit, Ubykh | ||
| labzd pharyngealized uvular ejective | [qˤʷʼ] | Archi, Ubykh | ||
| labzd alveolar ejective affricate | [t͡sʷʼ] | Archi, Khwarshi | ||
| labzd alveolar lateral ejective affricate | [t͡ɬʷʼ] | Khwarshi | ||
| labzd palato-alveolar ejective affricate | [t͡ʃʷʼ] | Abaza, Archi, Khwarshi | ||
| labzd alveolo-palatal ejective affricate | [t͡ɕʷʼ] | Abkhaz, Ubykh | ||
| labzd retroflex ejective affricate | [ʈ͡ʂʷʼ] | allophonic in Adyghe | ||
| labzd velar lateral ejective affricate | [k͡ʟ̝̊ʷʼ] | Archi | ||
| labzd velar ejective fricative | [xʷʼ] | Tlingit | ||
| labzd uvular ejective fricative | [χʷʼ] | Tlingit | ||
See also
- Labio-palatalization (◌ᶣ)
References
- Siegel, Bernard J. (1977). Annual Review of Anthropology. Annual Reviews Incorporated. ISBN 9780824319069.
- Jurgec, Peter (2007), Novejše besedje s stališča fonologije Primer slovenščine (in Slovenian), Tromsø, p. 95
{{citation}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - As a mnemonic, the more-rounded diacritics resemble the rounded vowel ⟨ɔ⟩.
- International Phonetic Association (1999). Handbook of the International Phonetic Association: A Guide to the Use of the International Phonetic Alphabet. Cambridge University Press. p. 190. ISBN 978-0-52163751-0.
- This is not a subscript w but originally a subscript omega that "recalls the letter w" (Jespersen & Pedersen, 1926, Phonetic Transcription and Transliteration: Proposals of the Copenhagen Conference, April 1925. Oxford University Press).
- See . Archived May 16, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
- John Esling (2010) "Phonetic Notation", in Hardcastle, Laver & Gibbon (eds) The Handbook of Phonetic Sciences, 2nd ed.
- Yanushevskaya & Bunčić (2015:223)
Bibliography
- Crowley, Terry. (1997) An Introduction to Historical Linguistics. 3rd edition. Oxford University Press.
- Ladefoged, Peter; Maddieson, Ian (1996). The Sounds of the World's Languages. Oxford: Blackwell. ISBN 978-0-631-19815-4.
- Ruhlen, M. (1976), A Guide to the Languages of the World, Stanford University Press
- Yanushevskaya, Irena; Bunčić, Daniel (2015), "Russian", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 45 (2): 221–228, doi:10.1017/S0025100314000395
