Voiceless dental bilabially trilled affricate

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The voiceless alveolar bilabially trilled affricate, [t̪͡ʙ̥] (occasionally written "t^p"), is one of the world's rarest sounds. It is reported from a few words in the Chapacuran languages, Wari’ and Oro Win, and recently also from the neighboring Muran language Pirahã. The sound also appears as an allophone of the labialized voiceless alveolar plosive /tʷ/ of Abkhaz and Ubykh, but in those languages it is more often realised by a doubly articulated stop [t͡p].

[tʙ̥] is considered to be a single consonant in these Amazonian languages because they do not otherwise have bilabial trills or consonant clusters. This is a stronger version of the argument made for [dʒ] being a single sound in English.

[tʙ̥] will regularly be trilled with three contact oscillations, as is normal for alveolar trills. However, trills are occasionally pronounced as fricatives in many languages, especially in slurred speech. When this happens to [tʙ̥], it is pronounced [tpɸ].

In the Chapacuran languages at least, [tʙ̥] is reported almost exclusively before rounded vowels. This probably has something to say about the development of this sound.

In Wari’ the sound is only known from two dozen words. A few of these are:

[t͡ʙ̥ot͡ʙ̥o]	to be pleasant (forms a minimal pair with [toto] to paint)
[t͡ʙ̥ot͡ʙ̥oweʔ]	chicken
[t͡ʙ̥owem t͡ʙ̥owem]	dragonfly
[t͡ʙ̥ym]	to be green

Consonants (List, table)	See also: IPA, Vowels
Pulmonics Bilabial Lab'den. Dental Alveolar Postalv. Retroflex Palatal Velar Uvular Pharyn. Epiglottal Glottal Non-pulmonics and other symbols Nasals m ɱ n ɳ ɲ ŋ ɴ Clicks  ʘ ǀ ǃ ǂ ǁ Plosives p b • • t d ʈ ɖ c ɟ k ɡ q ɢ ʡ ʔ Implo­­sives  ɓ ɗ ʄ ɠ ʛ Fricatives ɸ β f v θ ð s z ʃ ʒ ʂ ʐ ç ʝ x ɣ χ ʁ ħ ʕ ʜ ʢ h ɦ Ejec­­tives  pʼ tʼ kʼ qʼ sʼ Approximants β̞ ʋ ɹ ɻ j ɰ Other laterals  ɺ ɫ Trills ʙ r • ʀ • Co-articulated approximants  ʍ w ɥ Flaps & Taps ѵ̟ ѵ ɾ ɽ • Co-articulated fricatives  ɕ ʑ ɧ Lat. Fricatives ɬ ɮ • • • Affricates  ʦ ʣ ʧ ʤ Lat. Appr'mants l ɭ ʎ ʟ Co-articulated stops  k͡p ɡ͡b ŋ͡m
This page contains phonetic information in IPA, which may not display correctly in some browsers. [Help] Where symbols appear in pairs, the one to the right represents a voiced consonant. Shaded areas denote pulmonic articulations judged impossible.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Oro Win recordings