encyclopedia

Voiced bilabial implosive

The voiced bilabial implosive is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is ɓ, and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is b_<.

Features

Features of the voiced bilabial implosive:

Its manner of articulation is plosive or stop, which means it is produced by obstructing airflow in the vocal tract.
Its place of articulation is bilabial which means it is articulated with both lips.
Its phonation type is voiced, which means the vocal cords are vibrating during the articulation.
It is an oral consonant, which means air is allowed to escape through the mouth.
It is a central consonant, which means it is produced by allowing the airstream to flow over the middle of the tongue, rather than the sides.
The airstream mechanism is glottalic ingressive, which means it is produced by sucking air into the glottis, rather than pushing it out.