Itsmanner of articulation isocclusive, which means it is produced by obstructing airflow in the vocal tract. Because the consonant is alsonasal, the blocked airflow is redirected through the nose.
Itsplace of articulation islabial–velar, which means it is simultaneously articulated with the lips and with the back part of thetongue (the dorsum) against thesoft palate (the velum). The dorsal closure is made and released slightly before the labial closure, but they overlap for most of their duration.
Itsphonation is voiced, which means the vocal cords vibrate during the articulation.
It is anasal consonant, which means air is exclusively allowed to escape through the nose for nasal stops; otherwise, in addition to through the mouth.
It is amedian consonant, which means it is produced by directing the airstream down the midline of the tongue, rather than to the sides.
In theBanks Islands languages which have it, the phoneme/ŋ͡mʷ/ is written⟨m̄⟩ in localorthographies, using amacron on the corresponding bilabial.In other languages ofVanuatu further south (such asSouth Efate, orLenakel), the same segment is spelled⟨m̃⟩ with a combiningtilde.
