Nonlabial

Nonlabial refers to sounds produced without the lips coming together. In phonetics, labial sounds specifically involve the lips. These include sounds like /p/, /b/, and /m/, which are bilabial (both lips), and sounds like /f/ and /v/, which are labiodental (lips and teeth).

Therefore, nonlabial sounds encompass all sounds that do not use the lips as the primary point of articulation. This includes a vast majority of speech sounds across languages. Examples of nonlabial consonants include those made with the tongue and the alveolar ridge (like /t/, /d/, /n/, /s/, /z/, /l/, /r/), the palate (like /ʃ/, /ʒ/, /j/, /ɲ/), the velum (like /k/, /g/, /ŋ/), and the glottis (like /h/). Vowels are also generally considered nonlabial, although some vowel sounds can involve lip rounding, which is a labial feature. However, the core articulation of a vowel is typically not dependent on the lips closing.

The classification of sounds as labial or nonlabial is a fundamental aspect of phonetics used to describe the place of articulation of speech sounds. Understanding this distinction helps in analyzing and transcribing speech, as well as in language acquisition and learning.