Dentolabial consonant

Dentolabial consonants are special sounds made when we press our lower teeth against our upper lip. In the study of sounds called phonetics, these are different from labiodental sounds, which use the lips and teeth.

These sounds are rare in normal speaking, because many people's teeth are not aligned well enough to make them easily.

Scientists who study speech use a special symbol to write these sounds. This symbol looks like a small bridge above the letter, such as ⟨m͆⟩ or ⟨f͆⟩. One example is a special "f" sound used in some dialects of the Greenlandic language. This shows how languages can have unique ways of making sounds.

Dentolabial consonants in the extIPA

Dentolabial consonants are special sounds made by touching the lower teeth to the upper lip. They are rare in normal speech because it can be hard to make these sounds.

The only dentolabial consonant found in normal speech is the voiceless dentolabial fricative [f͆]. Other complex dentolabial sounds like affricates are also possible.