Labiodental flap

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Non-rhotic flaps are uncommon, but include a labiodental flap in languages of the Central African Republic and neighboring countries, such as Margi and Kera, as well as in Zimbabwe. It has also been reported from the Austronesian language Sika.

When described in the literature, it is often transcribed with an ad hoc use of the extra-short diacritic, [v̆], and occasionally with a symbol used by Joseph Greenberg. In 2005 the International Phonetics Association, responding to Dr. Kenneth S. Olsen's request for its adoption, voted to include a symbol for this sound, and selected a v with a right hook:

Labiodental flap (file info) — play in browser (beta)
- A labiodental flap between vowels
- Problems listening to the file? See media help.

This symbol is a combination of v + ɾ (the symbols for the voiced labiodental fricative and the alveolar flap). The Unicode character set has not yet been updated to include the character, but the Izhitsa (ѵ) symbol can be used in the meanwhile.

The labiodental flap begins with the lower lip inside the upper teeth, and then flipped outward, striking the upper teeth or upper lip or both. The bilabial flap appears to be an allophone in most if not all languages, so it might be better to speak of a labial flap. In Sika, the flap is heard in careful pronunciation, but it may also be realized as a voiced labiodental plosive, [b̪] or , or an affricate. It contrasts with both a bilabial and a labiodental fricative,

[ѵoːtɛr]	"I stand a pole in the ground"
[βotɛːr]	"I buy"
[voːtɛr]	"We (inclusive) buy"

[edit] External links

A Crosslinguistic Lexicon of the Labial Flap (has video & sound files)
SIL Linguist Successfully Proposes New Phonetic Symbol
Kenneth S. Olson's research website (has information on the labiodental flap)

[edit] Bibliography

Olson, Kenneth S.; & Hajek, John. (1999). The phonetic status of the labial flap. Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 29 (2), 101-114.