Labial–velar consonants aredoubly articulated at thevelum and thelips, such as[k͡p]. They are sometimes called "labiovelar consonants", a term that can also refer tolabialized velars, such as thestop consonant[kʷ] and theapproximant[w].
Labial-velars are often written asdigraphs. In theKâte language, however,/k͡p/ is written Q q, and/ɡ͡b/ asɊ ɋ.
Globally, these types of consonants are quite rare, only existing in two regions: West and Central Africa on the one hand, Eastern New Guinea[1] and northern Vanuatu[2] on the other. There are two other isolated cases, allophonically in Vietnamese and in the Adu dialect of Nuosu (Yi).
Truly doubly articulated labial-velars include thestops[k͡p,ɡ͡b], thenasal[ŋ͡m], and theimplosive[ɠ͜ɓ]. To pronounce them, one must attempt to say the velar consonants but then close their lips for the bilabial component, and then release the lips. While 90% of the occlusion overlaps, the onset of the velar occurs slightly before that of the labial, and the release of the labial occurs slightly after that of the velar so the preceding vowel sounds as if it were followed by a velar, and the following vowel sounds as if it were preceded by a labial. The order of the letters in ⟨k͡p⟩ and ⟨ɡ͡b⟩ is therefore not arbitrary but motivated by the phonetic details of the sounds.
Phonemic labial–velars occur in the majority of languages inWest andCentral Africa (for example in the name ofLaurent Gbagbo, former president ofIvory Coast; they are found in manyNiger–Congo languages as well as in theUbangian,Chadic andCentral Sudanic families), and are relatively common in the eastern end ofNew Guinea. The rare implosive is only found inLese, aNilo-Saharan language of theDemocratic Republic of the Congo.[3][4] In Southeast Asia, they occur in the Adu dialect ofNuosu (Yi), which aside from its isolated location, is unusual in having a relatively large inventory of labial-velar consonants, including the rareaspirated version:/k͡pʰ,k͡p,ɡ͡b,ᵑɡ͡b,ŋ͡m/.[5]
Labial–velar stops can also occur as anejective[k͡pʼ] (unattested) and avoiceless implosive[ƙ͜ƥ]. Floyd (1981) and Clark (1990) report that voiced and voiceless implosives/ɠ͡ɓ,ƙ͜ƥ/ occur in Central Igbo. As stated above, the voiced implosive has been confirmed in Lese.
TheYele language ofRossel Island,Papua New Guinea, has both labial–velars andlabial–alveolar consonants. Labial–velar stops and nasals also occur inVietnamese but only word-finally.
| IPA | Description | Example | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Language | Orthography | IPA | Meaning | ||
| k͡p | voiceless labial–velar stop | Logba | ò-kpàyɔ̀ | [òk͡pàjɔ̀] | 'God' |
| ɡ͡b | voiced labial–velar stop | Ewe | Èʋegbe | [èβeɡ͡be] | 'the Ewe language' |
| ɠ̊͜ɓ̥ | voiceless labial–velar implosive | Central Igbo | kpọ́ | [ɠ̊͜ɓ̥ɔ́] | 'call' |
| ɠ͡ɓ | voiced labial–velar implosive | Lese | [eɠ͡ɓe] | 'in' | |
| ŋ͡m | labial-velar nasal | Vietnamese | cung | [kuŋ͡m] | 'sector' |
| ᵑ͡ᵐɡ͡b | prenasalizedvoiced labial–velar stop | Nen[6] | dénḡ | [dɪᵑ͡ᵐɡ͡b] | 'old-style bamboo pipe or container' |
These sounds are clearly single consonants rather thanconsonant clusters. For example,Eggon contrasts/bɡ/,/ɡb/, and/ɡ͡b/. The following possibilities are possible if tone is ignored:[citation needed]
| Single consonant | Two-consonant sequence | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| pom | 'to pound' | kba | 'to dig' |
| abu | 'a dog' | bɡa | 'to beat, to kill' |
| aku | 'a room' | ak͡pki | 'a stomach' |
| ɡom | 'to break' | ɡ͡bɡa | 'to grind' |
| k͡pu | 'to die' | kpu | 'to kneel' |
| ɡ͡bu | 'to arrive' | ɡba | 'to divide' |
Allophonic labial-velars are known fromVietnamese, where they are variants of the plain velar consonants/k/ and/ŋ/.[citation needed]
Some languages, especially inPapua New Guinea and inVanuatu, combine the labial–velar consonants with alabial–velar approximant release:[k͡pʷ],[ŋ͡mʷ]. The extinct languageVolow had a prenasalised labial-velar stop withlabialization[ᵑ͡ᵐɡ͡bʷ].[7][8]
| IPA | Description | Example | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Language | Orthography | IPA | Meaning | ||
| k͡pʷ | voiceless labial–velar stopwithlabialization | Dorig | rqa | [rk͡pʷa][9] | 'woman' |
| ŋ͡mʷ | labial-velar nasalwith labialization | Mwesen | ēm̄ | [ɪŋ͡mʷ] | 'house' |
| ᵑ͡ᵐɡ͡bʷ | prenasalizedvoiced labial–velar stopwith labialization | Volow | n-leq̄evēn | [nlɛᵑᵐɡ͡bʷɛβɪn] | 'woman' |
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Bilabial clicks are stops that involve closure at both the lips and the soft palate. Treatments often analyze the dorsal articulation as part of theairstream mechanism, and so consider such stops to be labial. However, there may be a distinction between the velar labial clicks[k͡ʘɡ͡ʘŋ͡ʘ] and the uvular labial clicks[q͡ʘɢ͡ʘɴ͡ʘ], which is not captured if they are described as simply labial.
