[m]→[b]Certainty: 5/5Commonality: 2/5

Bilabial nasal to Voiced bilabial plosive

The shift from the bilabial nasal [m] to the voiced bilabial stop [b] is a process known as denasalization or stop-burst. It occurs when the velum (soft palate) is raised, blocking airflow through the nose and forcing the sound to be released entirely through the mouth.

Phonetic Effects

Denasalization, Fortition, Domain-Initial Strengthening

Language Examples

Modern Korean (Seoul Dialect) Koreanic

mul [m] (water)→[bul] / [m͊ul]— Word-initial nasals in Korean are frequently denasalized, sounding like voiced stops to many listeners.

meori (head)→[bʌɾi]

Related Transformations

Alveolar equivalent: Denasalization Inverse: Nasalization

More Koreanic Shifts

[ei] → [e] — Monophthongization [j] → [dʒ] — Fortition [j] → [dʑ] — Fortition [j] → [z] — Fortition [j] → [ʑ] — Fortition

Sources & References

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