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Labial Consonants
Phonetically, there are two kinds of labial consonants in Low Saxon, as in English and other Germanic languages:
bilabial consonants and labiodental consonants.
You will find both kinds introduced on this page.
Bilabial consonants are those that are pronounced
with both lips meeting.
p
p
[p]
as in “price”,
“space”, “supply”, “cap”, “harp”
and “couple” when directly following or
being followed by another consonant (as in English), also in any
syllable without primary stress (as in American English “trumpet”,
“copy” or “carport”)
Note:
Between two vowels, some dialects, such as those in the Lower Elbe area,
have a b where other
dialects have a v (also
written w by some). Both
of them can be traced back to a consonant that in Old Saxon was written
as a barred “b” (ƀ)
and may have been pronounced as a bilabial fricative ([β]),
much like Castilian (Spanish) b and v are pronounced
between vowels and like Modern Greek β is pronounced. (It is
recommended that in either case v be written in the General Orthography, leaving it to the readers to
pronounce it according to their dialects.) Compare with v~wbelow.
Labiodental consonants are those in which one lip
meets with one set of front teeth, usually the upper lip meeting the lower
front teeth.
f
v ~ f
[f]
as
in “fat”, “frog”, “sphere”, “offer” and “of” (In the General Orthography, the letter v is
used for this sound only at the beginning of native words; f may be
used at the beginning of foreign words.)
Note:
Between two vowels, most dialects have a v (also written w by some) where some other dialects, such as those in the Lower Elbe
area, have a b. Both of them can be traced back to a consonant that in
Old Saxon was written as a barred “b” (ƀ) and may have been pronounced as a bilabial fricative ([β]), much like Castilian (Spanish) b and v are pronounced between vowels and like Modern Greek β is pronounced. (It is recommended that in either case v be written in the General Orthography, leaving it to the readers to pronounce
it according to their dialects.) Compare with babove.
baven (baven) ‘above’ geven ~ gäven (geven) ‘to
give’ lever (leyver) ‘dearer’. ‘rather’ œver (oever) ‘over’ Över (oyver) ‘embankment’
Labial