Voiceless bilabial plosive

The voiceless bilabial plosive or stop is a type of consonantal sound used in most spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is ⟨p⟩, and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is p.

Voiceless bilabial plosive
p
IPA number	101
Audio sample
source · help
Encoding
Entity (decimal)	p
Unicode (hex)	U+0070
X-SAMPA	p
Braille

Features

Features of the voiceless bilabial plosive:

• Its manner of articulation is occlusive, which means it is produced by obstructing airflow in the vocal tract. Since the consonant is also oral, with no nasal outlet, the airflow is blocked entirely, and the consonant is a plosive.
• Its place of articulation is bilabial, which means it is articulated with both lips.
• Its phonation is voiceless, which means it is produced without vibrations of the vocal cords. In some languages the vocal cords are actively separated, so it is always voiceless; in others the cords are lax, so that it may take on the voicing of adjacent sounds.
• It is an oral consonant, which means air is allowed to escape through the mouth only.
• 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
p	plain p
pʰ	aspirated p
pˠ	velarized p
pʲ	palatalized p
pʷ	labialized p
p̚	p with no audible release
p̌	voiced p
p͈	tense p
pʼ	ejective p

Occurrence

Research has shown that incidental learning positively impacts the acquisition of the /p/ sound for Arabic speakers and other EFL learners. This is particularly interesting given that the stop /p/ is missing from about 10% of languages that have a /b/. (See voiced velar stop for another such gap.) This is an areal feature of the circum-Saharan zone (Africa north of the equator plus the Arabian Peninsula). It is not known how old this areal feature is, and whether it might be a recent phenomenon due to Arabic as a prestige language, or whether Arabic was itself affected by a more ancient areal pattern. It is found in other areas as well; for example, Fijian, Onge, and many Papuan languages have /b/ but no /p/.

Nonetheless, the /p/ sound is very common cross-linguistically. Most languages have at least a plain /p/, and some distinguish more than one variety. Many Indo-Aryan languages, such as Hindustani, have a two-way contrast between the aspirated /pʰ/ and the plain /p/ (also transcribed as [p˭] in extensions to the IPA).

Examples

Language		Word	IPA	Meaning	Notes
Adyghe		паӏо / پائۆ / paio		'hat'
Arabic	Algerian	پاپيش/pāpīš	[paːpiːʃ]	'beautiful girls'
	Hejazi	بول/پول/pōl	[po̞ːl]	'Paul'	Only used in loanwords, transcribed and pronounced as ⟨ب⟩ by many speakers.
	Egyptian	كبش/kabš	[kɛpʃ]	'ram'	Allophone of [b] before unvoiced consonants. Also used in loanwords.
Armenian	Eastern	պապիկ/papik		'grandpa'	Contrasts with aspirated form
Assyrian		ܦܬܐ pata	[pata]	'face'
Basque		harrapatu	[(h)arapatu]	'to catch'
Bengali		পথ	[pɔtʰ]	'road'	Contrasts with aspirated form. See Bengali phonology
Catalan		por	[ˈpɔ(ɾ)]	'fear'	See Catalan phonology
Chuvash		путене/putene	[put̬ʲɛ'nɛ]	'quail'
Czech		pes	[pɛs]	'dog'	See Czech phonology
Danish	Standard	bog	[ˈpɔ̽wˀ]	'book'	Usually transcribed in IPA with ⟨b̥⟩ or ⟨b⟩. It may be partially voiced [b] in the intervocalic position. It contrasts with aspirated form, which is usually transcribed in IPA with ⟨pʰ⟩ or ⟨p⟩. See Danish phonology
Dutch		plicht	[plɪxt]	'duty'	See Dutch phonology
English		pack	[pʰæk]	'pack'	See English phonology
Esperanto		tempo	[ˈtempo]	'time'	See Esperanto phonology
Filipino		pato	[paˈto]	'duck'
Finnish		pappa	[ˈpɑpːɑ]	'grandpa'	See Finnish phonology
French		pomme	[pɔm]	'apple'	See French phonology
Gan Chinese	Nanchangnese	把戲	[pa˨˩ ɕi˩]	'magic'	Contrasts with aspirated form. See Nanchangnese phonology
German		Pack	[pʰak]	'pile'	See Standard German phonology
Greek		πόδι / pódi	[ˈpo̞ði]	'leg'	See Modern Greek phonology
Gujarati		પગ/pag	[pəɡ]	'foot'	See Gujarati phonology
Hakka Chinese	Meizhounese	河壩 / ho² ba⁴	[ho˩ pa˥]	'river'	Contrasts with aspirated form. See Meizhounese phonology
Hebrew		פּקיד/pakid	[pakid]	'clerk'	See Modern Hebrew phonology
Hindustani	Urdu	پل/pal	[pəl]	'moment'	Contrasts with aspirated form. See Hindustani phonology
	Hindi	पल / pal
Hungarian		pápa	[ˈpaːpɒ]	'pope'	See Hungarian phonology
Italian		papà	[paˈpa]	'dad'	See Italian phonology
Japanese		ポスト / posuto	[posɯto]	'mailbox'	See Japanese phonology
Kabardian		пэ / پە / pė		'nose'
Khmer		ពន្យល់ / pônyól	[pɔnjɔl]	'to explain'	See Khmer phonology
Korean		빛 / bit	[pit̚]	'light'	See Korean phonology
Kurdish	Northern	پۆر / por	[ˈpʰoːɾ]	'hair'	See Kurdish phonology
	Central	پیرۆزە / píroze	[pʰiːɾoːzæ]	'lammergeier'
	Southern	پۊنگه / pûûnga	[pʰʉːŋa]	'pennyroyal'
Lakota		púza	[ˈpʊza]	'dry'
Lithuanian		pastatas	[ˈpaːstɐtɐs]	'building'	See Lithuanian phonology
Luxembourgish		bëlleg	[ˈpələɕ]	'cheap'	Less often voiced [b]. It is usually transcribed /b/, and contrasts with voiceless aspirated form, which is usually transcribed /p/. See Luxembourgish phonology
Macedonian		пее/pee	[pɛː]	'sing'	See Macedonian phonology
Malay		panas	[pänäs]	'hot'	Often unreleased in syllable codas so /p/ is read as [p̚] instead in lembap [ləmbap̚] 'damp'. See Malay phonology
Maltese		aptit	[apˈtit]	'appetite'
Mandarin	Dungan	бонцу	[pɑŋ˨˦ t͡sʰou˨˦]	'to assist'	Contrasts with aspirated form. See Dungan phonology
	Nanjingnese	半大子	[pɑŋ˦ tɑ˦ tsz̩]	'teenager'	Contrasts with aspirated form. See Nanjingnese phonology
	Sichuanese	不算事 / bu² suan⁴ si⁴	[pu˨˩ suan˨˩˧ sz̩˨˩˧]	'ineffective'	Contrasts with aspirated form. See Sichuanese phonology
	Standard	爆炸 / bàozhà		'to explode'	Contrasts with aspirated form. See Standard Chinese phonology
	Xi'annese	迸	[pəŋ˦]	'mattock'	Contrasts with aspirated form. See Xi'annese phonology
Marathi		पाऊस/paa'uus/pā'ūs	[pɑːˈuːs]	'rain'	See Marathi phonology
Min Chinese	Hokkien	咖啡 / ko-pi	[ko˨ pi˦]	'coffee'	Contrasts with aspirated form. See Hokkien phonology
	Teochew	僻 / piah^4	[pʰiaʔ˨]	'remote'	Contrasts with aspirated form. See Teochew phonology
	Fuzhounese	白撞 / băh-dâung	[paʔ˨˩ lɑuŋ˨˦˨]	'trespasser'	Contrasts with aspirated form. See Fuzhounese phonology
Mutsun		po·čor	[poːt͡ʃor]	'a sore'
Nepali		पिता/pitā	[pit̪ä]	'father'	See Nepali phonology
Norwegian		pappa	[pɑpːɑ]	'dad'	See Norwegian phonology
Odia		ପଥର/pathara	[pɔʈʰɔrɔ]	'stone'	Contrasts with aspirated form.
Pashto		پانير/pa'nir	[pɑˈnir]	'cheese'
Persian		پول/pul	[pul]	'money'
Pirahã		pibaóí	[ˈpìbàóí̯]	'otter'
Polish		pas		'belt'	See Polish phonology
Portuguese		pai	[paj]	'father'	See Portuguese phonology
Punjabi		ਪੱਤਾ/ پتا / pattā	[pət̪ːäː]	'leaf'
Romanian		pas	[pas]	'step'	See Romanian phonology
Russian		плод/plod	[pɫot̪]	'fruit'	Contrasts with palatalized form. See Russian phonology
Serbo-Croatian		пиће / piće	[pǐːt͡ɕě]	'drink'	See Serbo-Croatian phonology
Slovak		pes	[pɛ̝s]	'dog'
Slovene		pes	[pə̂s̪]	'dog'	See Slovene phonology
Spanish		peso	[ˈpe̞so̞]	'weight'	See Spanish phonology
Swahili		pombe / پٗونْبٖ	[ˈpoᵐbɛ]	'beer'
Swedish		apa	[ˈɑːˌpa]	'monkey'	See Swedish phonology
Telugu		పని	[pani]	'work'	Contrasts with aspirated form in old Telugu. However aspirated form is almost always pronounced as voiceless labiodental fricative in modern Telugu.
Thai		แป้ง/paeng	[pɛ̂ːŋ]	'powder'	See Thai phonology
Tsez		пу/pu	[pʰu]	'side'	Contrasts with ejective form.
Turkish		kap	[ˈkʰɑp]	'pot'	See Turkish phonology
Ukrainian		павук/pavuk	[pɐˈβ̞uk]	'spider'	See Ukrainian phonology
Vietnamese		nhíp	[ɲip˧ˀ˥]	'tweezers'	See Vietnamese phonology
Welsh		siop	[ʃɔp]	'shop'	See Welsh phonology
West Frisian		panne	[ˈpɔnə]	'pan'
Wu Chinese	Shanghainese	司必靈 / sy-piq-lin	[sz̩˧ pi̯ɪʔ˦ lin˨]	'spring'	Contrasts with aspirated form. See Shanghainese phonology
	Suzhounese	標緻 / piau¹-tsyu⁵	[pi̯æ˥ tsz̩ʷ˨˩]	'pretty'	Contrasts with aspirated form. See Suzhounese phonology
	Wenzhounese	眼淚八汁 / nga⁴-lei⁶-po⁷-tsai⁷	[ŋa lei̯ po˥˧ tsai̯˩˨]	'tear'	Contrasts with aspirated form. See Wenzhounese phonology
Yi		ꀠ / ba	[pa˧]	'exchange'	Contrasts aspirated and unaspirated forms.
Yue Chinese	Cantonese	豬頭丙 / zyu¹ tau⁴ bing²	[t͡ʃyː˥ tʰɐu̯˨˩ pɪŋ˧˥]	'blockhead'	Contrasts with aspirated form. See Cantonese phonology
	Taishanese	白	[pak̚˧˩]	'white'	Contrasts with aspirated form. See Taishanese phonology
Central Alaskan Yup'ik		panik	[panik]	'daughter'
Zapotec	Tilquiapan	pan	[paŋ]	'bread'

See also

• List of phonetics topics

Notes

1. "Impact of Watching Cartoons on Pronunciation of a Child in an EFL Setting: A Comparative Study with Problematic Sounds of EFL Learners – AWEJ". Retrieved 2024-05-30.
2. Altakhaineh, Abdel Rahman Mitib; Alsaraireh, Mohammad Yousef; Alhendi, Hiba (2022-10-01). "The impact of incidental learning on the acquisition of the sound /p/ by Arabic-speaking EFL learners". ExELL. 10 (1): 51–65. doi:10.2478/exell-2022-0010.
3. Dum-Tragut (2009:17)
4. Carbonell & Llisterri (1992:53)
5. Basbøll (2005:61)
6. Goblirsch (2018), pp. 134–5, citing Fischer-Jørgensen (1952) and Abrahams (1949, pp. 116–21, 228–30).
7. Puggaard-Rode, Horslund & Jørgensen (2022).
8. Gussenhoven (1992:45)
9. Fougeron & Smith (1993:73)
10. Rogers & d'Arcangeli (2004:117)
11. Okada (1999), p. 117.
12. Gilles & Trouvain (2013:67–68)
13. Jassem (2003:103)
14. Cruz-Ferreira (1995:91)
15. Padgett (2003:42)
16. Landau et al. (1999), p. 66.
17. Martínez-Celdrán, Fernández-Planas & Carrera-Sabaté (2003:255)
18. Danyenko & Vakulenko (1995), p. 4.
19. Thompson (1959:458–461)
20. Merrill (2008:108)

References

• Abrahams, Henrik (1949), Études phonétiques sur les tendances évolutives des occlusives germaniques, Aarhus University Press
• Basbøll, Hans (2005), The Phonology of Danish, Taylor & Francis, ISBN 0-203-97876-5
• Carbonell, Joan F.; Llisterri, Joaquim (1992), "Catalan", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 22 (1–2): 53–56, doi:10.1017/S0025100300004618, S2CID 249411809
• Cruz-Ferreira, Madalena (1995), "European Portuguese", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 25 (2): 90–94, doi:10.1017/S0025100300005223, S2CID 249414876
• Danyenko, Andrii; Vakulenko, Serhii (1995), Ukrainian, Lincom Europa, ISBN 9783929075083
• Dum-Tragut, Jasmine (2009), Armenian: Modern Eastern Armenian, Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company
• Fischer-Jørgensen, Eli (1952), "Om stemtheds assimilation", in Bach, H.; et al. (eds.), Festskrift til L. L. Hammerich, Copenhagen: G. E. C. Gad, pp. 116–129
• Fougeron, Cecile; Smith, Caroline L (1993), "Illustrations of the IPA:French", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 23 (2): 73–76, doi:10.1017/S0025100300004874, S2CID 249404451
• Gilles, Peter; Trouvain, Jürgen (2013), "Luxembourgish", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 43 (1): 67–74, doi:10.1017/S0025100312000278
• Goblirsch, Kurt (2018), Gemination, Lenition, and Vowel Lengthening: On the History of Quantity in Germanic, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 978-1-107-03450-1
• Gussenhoven, Carlos (1992), "Dutch", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 22 (2): 45–47, doi:10.1017/S002510030000459X, S2CID 243772965
• Jassem, Wiktor (2003), "Polish", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 33 (1): 103–107, doi:10.1017/S0025100303001191
• Martínez-Celdrán, Eugenio; Fernández-Planas, Ana Ma.; Carrera-Sabaté, Josefina (2003), "Castilian Spanish", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 33 (2): 255–259, doi:10.1017/S0025100303001373
• Merrill, Elizabeth (2008), "Tilquiapan Zapotec" (PDF), Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 38 (1): 107–114, doi:10.1017/S0025100308003344
• Okada, Hideo (1999), "Japanese", in International Phonetic Association (ed.), Handbook of the International Phonetic Association: A Guide to the Use of the International Phonetic Alphabet, Cambridge University Press, pp. 117–119, ISBN 978-0-52163751-0
• Padgett, Jaye (2003), "Contrast and Post-Velar Fronting in Russian", Natural Language & Linguistic Theory, 21 (1): 39–87, doi:10.1023/A:1021879906505, S2CID 13470826
• Puggaard-Rode, Rasmus; Horslund, Camilla Søballe; Jørgensen, Henrik (2022), "The rarity of intervocalic voicing of stops in Danish spontaneous speech", Laboratory Phonology, 13 (1), doi:10.16995/labphon.6449, hdl:1887/3304670
• Rogers, Derek; d'Arcangeli, Luciana (2004), "Italian", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 34 (1): 117–121, doi:10.1017/S0025100304001628
• Thompson, Laurence (1959), "Saigon phonemics", Language, 35 (3): 454–476, doi:10.2307/411232, JSTOR 411232
• Landau, Ernestina; Lončarić, Mijo; Horga, Damir; Škarić, Ivo (1999), "Croatian", Handbook of the International Phonetic Association: A guide to the use of the International Phonetic Alphabet, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 66–69, ISBN 0-521-65236-7

External links

• List of languages with [p] on PHOIBLE