Labial consonant

Labial consonants are sounds made when we use our lips. There are two main types. Bilabials are made when both lips come together. Labiodentals are made when the lower lip touches the upper teeth. Many languages have these sounds, including English. For example, “m,” “p,” and “b” are bilabials. The sounds “f” and “v” are labiodentals.

In a few languages, there is a third way to make labial consonants, called dentolabials. This is when the upper lip touches the lower teeth. This does not happen often in everyday speech. There are also sounds called linguolabials, where the tongue touches the upper lip. These are usually thought of as a different kind of sound.

Lip rounding, or labialization, is when the lips are rounded while making a sound. For example, this happens with the “w” sound in English. Some languages, like those spoken in the languages of the Caucasus, use lip rounding a lot. Most languages do not separate bilabials and labiodentals into different sounds. But some languages, like Ewe, do make this difference.

Lack of labials

Some languages do not use labial consonants. These are sounds made with the lips. Examples include Tlingit, Eyak, Wichita, and most Iroquoian languages, except for Cherokee. These languages sometimes use sounds like /w/ or labialized consonants. But the lips are not always moved much to make these sounds. The Tillamook language, which is no longer spoken, had rounded sounds without true lip movements. Over time, these languages have started using labial sounds due to the influence of English.