ɓ̥ vs b

Voiceless Bilabial Stop vs Voiced Bilabial Stop

How these sounds differ

ɓ̥

Voiceless Bilabial Stop

Voicing: voiceless
Place: bilabial
Manner: stop
Class: consonant
In languages: 2 / 500

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Voiced Bilabial Stop

Voicing: voiced
Place: bilabial
Manner: stop
Class: consonant
In languages: 339 / 500

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Cross-linguistic distribution

Languages with ɓ̥

Languages with both

339

Languages with b

2 languages in our database contrast both sounds as distinct phonemes. Languages that have one but not the other tend to merge them into a single phoneme — meaning speakers of those languages often struggle to hear the distinction when learning a language that contrasts them.

Has b, not ɓ̥ (20)

Adzera Austronesian Iai Austronesian Chamorro Austronesian Sa'ban Austronesian Toba-Batak Austronesian Malagasy Austronesian Cham Austronesian Yay Tai-Kadai Garo Sino-Tibetan Lahu Sino-Tibetan Dafla Sino-Tibetan Yao Hmong-Mien Kharia Austroasiatic Bhumij Austroasiatic Kota Dravidian Burushaski Language isolate Kabardian Abkhaz-Adyge Lak Nakh-Daghestanian Ket Yeniseian Telefol Nuclear Trans New Guinea