Voiceless labiodental affricate
| Voiceless labiodental affricate | |
|---|---|
| p̪͡f | |
| p̪͜f | |
| p̪f | |
| Sound | |
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A voiceless labiodental affricate ([p̪͡f] in IPA) is a rare affricate consonant that is initiated as a labiodental stop [p̪] and released as a voiceless labiodental fricative [f].
The XiNkuna dialect of Tsonga has this affricate, as in [tiɱp̪͡fuβu] "hippopotami" and aspirated [ɱp̪͡fʰuka] "distance" (compare [ɱfutsu] "tortoise", which shows that the stop is not epenthetic), as well as a voiced labiodental affricate, [b̪͡v], as in [ʃileb̪͡vu] "chin". There is no voiceless labiodental fricative [f] in this dialect of Tsonga, only a voiceless bilabial fricative, as in [ɸu] "finished". (Among voiced fricatives, both [β] and [v] occur, however.)
German has a similar sound in Pfeffer /ˈp͡fɛfər/ ('pepper') and Apfel /ˈap͡fəl/ ('apple'). Phonotactically, this /p͡f/ does not occur after long vowels, diphthongs or /l/. It differs from a true labiodental affricate in that it starts out bilabial but then the lower lip retracts slightly for the frication.
Features
Features of the voiceless labiodental affricate:
- Its manner of articulation is affricate, which means it is produced by first stopping the airflow entirely, then allowing air flow through a constricted channel at the place of articulation, causing turbulence.
- There are two variants of the stop component:
- bilabial, which means it is articulated with both lips. The affricate with this stop component is called bilabial-labiodental.
- labiodental, which means it is articulated with the lower lip and the upper teeth.
- The fricative component of this affricate is labiodental, articulated with the lower lip and the upper teeth.
- 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.
- It is a central consonant, which means it is produced by directing the airstream along the center of the tongue, rather than to the sides.
- The airstream mechanism is pulmonic, which means it is articulated by pushing air solely with the lungs and diaphragm, as in most sounds.
Occurrence
| Language | Word | IPA | Meaning | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bavarian | hupfa | [ˈhup͡fɑ] | 'to jump' | Bilabial-labiodental. | |
| German | Standard[1] | Pfirsiche |  [ˈp͡fɪɐ̯zɪçə] | 'peaches' | Bilabial-labiodental.[1] See German phonology |
| Swiss dialects[2][3] | Soipfe | [ˈz̥oi̯p͡fə] | 'soap' | Bilabial-labiodental. The example word is from the Zurich dialect.[2] | |
| Italian | Some central-south dialects[4] | infatti | [iɱˈp̪͡fät̪̚t̪i] | 'indeed' | Labiodental, allophone of /f/ after nasals.[4] See Italian phonology |
| Luxembourgish[5] | Kampf | [ˈkʰɑmp͡f] | 'fight' | Bilabial-labiodental, occurs only in German loanwords.[5] See Luxembourgish phonology | |
| Tsonga | XiNkuna dialect | [tiɱp̪͡fuβu] | 'hippopotami' | Labiodental, contrasts with aspirated form. | |
References
- 1 2 Mangold (2005), p. 45.
- 1 2 Fleischer & Schmid (2006), p. 244.
- ↑ Marti (1985), p. ?.
- 1 2 Canepari (1992), p. 71.
- 1 2 Gilles & Trouvain (2013), p. 72.
Bibliography
- Canepari, Luciano (1992), Il MªPi – Manuale di pronuncia italiana [Handbook of Italian Pronunciation] (in Italian), Bologna: Zanichelli, ISBN 88-08-24624-8
- Fleischer, Jürg; Schmid, Stephan (2006), "Zurich German" (PDF), Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 36 (2), doi:10.1017/S0025100306002441
- Gilles, Peter; Trouvain, Jürgen (2013), "Luxembourgish" (PDF), Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 43 (1): 67–74, doi:10.1017/S0025100312000278
- Mangold, Max (2005), Das Aussprachewörterbuch (6th ed.), Duden, ISBN 978-3411040667
- Marti, Werner (1985), Berndeutsch-Grammatik, Bern: Francke, ISBN 3-7720-1587-5
