Labiodental consonant

Labiodental consonant is a type of consonant in phonetics, a branch of linguistics. These consonants are produced by the interaction of the lower lip and the upper teeth.

Production

The production of labiodental consonants involves the lower lip making contact with the upper teeth. This is in contrast to bilabial consonants, which are produced by bringing both lips together. The most common labiodental consonants in the English language are /f/ and /v/, as in the words 'fine' and 'vine' respectively.

Types of Labiodental Consonants

There are two main types of labiodental consonants: voiced and voiceless.

• Voiced labiodental consonant: This is a type of labiodental consonant where the vocal cords vibrate during the articulation of the consonant. An example of a voiced labiodental consonant in English is /v/.

• Voiceless labiodental consonant: This is a type of labiodental consonant where the vocal cords do not vibrate during the articulation of the consonant. An example of a voiceless labiodental consonant in English is /f/.

Occurrence in Languages

Labiodental consonants are found in many languages around the world, including English, French, Spanish, and German. However, they are not universal. Some languages, such as Japanese and many Native American languages, do not have labiodental consonants.

See Also

• Phonetics
• Consonant
• Voiced labiodental consonant
• Voiceless labiodental consonant