Voiced bilabial flap

The voiced bilabial tap or flap is a sound used in some spoken languages. It is not in English.

Bilabial flap
ⱱ̟
ⱳ

Characteristics

• Its phonation is voiced. It means that the vocal cords vibrate during the articulation.
• We produce it at bilabial. It means that we produce this sound with both lips.
• Its behavior is flap. It means that we produce this sound with a single contraction of the muscles, to make we throw one of the thing we use to produce this sound (usually the tongue) against another.
• It is an oral consonant. It means that air is allowed to escape through the mouth only.
• It is a central consonant. It means that we produce this sound by directing the air along the center of the tongue, but not to the sides.

Examples

Language		Word	IPA	Meaning	Notes
Chinese	Taiwanese Hakka Sixian	𤸁苶苶仔	[kʰʲoʲ˥ ŋʲap˨ ŋʲaⱱ̟˨ ɛ˥˧]	'tired'
Mambay		vbwah	[ⱱ̟wâˁħ]	'fog'	Phonemic.
Mangbetu		[nɔ́w̆à]		'to refrain'	In free variation with labiodental flap
Mono		vwa	[w̆a]	'send'	Contrasts with /v/ and /w/. In free variation with labiodental flap