Bilabiaalisiin

Bilabiaalisiin is a Finnish term used in linguistics to refer to bilabial sounds, i.e., consonants produced with both lips. The base adjective bilabiaalinen means bilabial, and bilabiaalisiin is the plural form used in grammatical constructions to discuss these sounds in context.

A bilabial articulation involves contact or constriction between the upper and lower lips. The most common bilabials are the stops p (voiceless) and b (voiced), together with the nasal m. These sounds are widespread across languages and are typically among the first consonants children learn. Some languages also have other bilabial consonants, such as bilabial fricatives or approximants, though these are less common than stops and nasals. For example, in some languages a bilabial fricative [β] or a bilabial approximant can occur as an allophonic realization or as a separate phoneme.

Finnish native bilabials prominently include p and m, while /b/ and other bilabials appear mainly in loanwords. In other languages, the bilabial class can be expanded to include a wider range of manners of articulation, and the exact phonetic realization can shift by context, allophony, or phonological analysis. A well-known cross-linguistic example is the Spanish phoneme that alternates with a bilabial fricative [β] in certain environments, illustrating how bilabial sounds can exhibit variation across languages.

In linguistic description, bilabiaalisiin denotes the discussion of this place of articulation—how lips are used to shape sound, how contrasts among bilabials function, and how these sounds interact with surrounding phonemes.