Voiceless labiodental affricate

Voiceless labiodental affricate
p̪f
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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] "hippopotamuses" 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 /p͡f/ in Pfeffer /ˈp͡fɛfər/ ('pepper') and Apfel /ˈap͡fəl/ ('apple'). Phonotactically, this sound 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.

Occurrence

LanguageWordIPAMeaningNotes
Bavarianhupfa[ˈhup͡fɑ]'to jump'
GermanStandard[1]Pfirsiche [ˈp͡fɪɐ̯zɪçə] 'peaches'Bilabial-labiodental.[1] See Standard German phonology
Swiss dialects[2][3]Soipfe[ˈz̥oi̯p͡fə]'soap'Bilabial-labiodental. The example word is from the Zurich dialect.
ItalianSome central-south dialects[4]infatti[iɱˈp̪͡fät̪̚t̪i]'indeed'Labiodental, allophone of /f/ after nasals.[4] See Italian phonology
Luxembourgish[5]Kampf[ˈkʰɑmp͡f]'fight'Occurs only in German loanwords.[5] See Luxembourgish phonology
TsongaXiNkuna dialecttimpfuvu[tiɱp̪͡fuβu]'hippopotami'Contrasts with aspirated form.

Notes

  1. 1 2 Mangold (2005), p. 45.
  2. ↑ Fleischer & Schmid (2006), p. 244.
  3. ↑ Marti (1985), p. ?.
  4. 1 2 Canepari (1992), p. 71.
  5. 1 2 Gilles & Trouvain (2013), p. 72.

References

  • 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) [First published 1962], Das Aussprachewörterbuch (6th ed.), Mannheim: Dudenverlag, ISBN 978-3-411-04066-7
  • Marti, Werner (1985), Berndeutsch-Grammatik, Bern: Francke, ISBN 3-7720-1587-5
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