Bilabial Stops

Bilabial stops are produced by the lower lip forming a closure with the upper lip, so that the air cannot escape. The sound occurs when the closure is abruptly released as a puff of air. The stop sounds occur in a pair, i.e. one Fortis and one Lenis realisation. The Fortis stop /p/ is never voiced, and there is generally a degree of devoicing of the Lenis sound as well when it is not surrounded by other voiced sounds. Devoicing is therefore most common in the end position of a word. The lenis stop will generally have a marked lengthening effect on the preceding sound(s).

 

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