Definition

1. Verb:
   • To pronounce a sound with the lips rounded: In phonetics, to articulate a speech sound, typically a consonant, by bringing the lips together or rounding them, thereby modifying the sound's quality.

Usage

• The primary use of 'labialize' is in the technical field of phonetics and linguistics. It describes a specific articulatory gesture where the lips are rounded during the production of a sound. This action can be a primary feature of a sound (e.g., the [w] sound) or a secondary articulation added to another sound (e.g., a labialized velar consonant like [kʷ]).

Examples

• Verb:
  • Some speakers unconsciously labialize the 's' sound.
  • To produce the sound [ʃ] (as in "she"), you must labialize it slightly.
  • The phonetician asked the student to labialize the velar stop.

Advanced Usage

• Linguistic Context: 'Labialize' often appears in discussions of co-articulation, where a sound is produced with two points of articulation. For example, a labialized consonant has its primary place of articulation (e.g., the velum for [k]) and a secondary labial (lip-rounding) articulation.
  • The term "labialized" is used to transcribe sounds with the superscript [ʷ], as in [tʷ].

Variants and Related Words

• Labialization (n): The act or result of labializing a sound; the state of being labialized.
  • Labialization is a common feature in many West African languages.
• Labialized (adj): Describing a sound that is pronounced with lip-rounding.
  • The labialized velar plosive is written as [kʷ].
• Delabialize (v): To remove or lose labialization from a sound.
  • Over centuries, some sounds delabialize.

Synonyms

• Round (one's lips): A less technical phrase for the articulatory action.
  • You need to round your lips to labialize that vowel.

Antonyms

• Spread (the lips): To articulate a sound with the lips stretched, as in a smile (e.g., for the vowel [i:] in "see").
• Delabialize: To pronounce a sound without lip-rounding.

Verb

1. pronounce with rounded lips