M phoneme /m/

The M phoneme /m/ is a consonant phoneme that occurs in English as one of the standard English phonemes.

Naming

Naming this phoneme, like other consonant phonemes, is somewhat difficult. It could be called the M phoneme after the letter M /em/, or muh after its sound when initial, or mmm /m:/ after its sound when lengthened.

Classification

This can be classified as Consonant phoneme > Nasal consonant phoneme.

Representation

In phonemic notation using the International Phonetic Alphabet, the M phoneme is represented by lowercase M, ⟨m⟩ as its IPA symbol. This has the IPA number 114. In SAMPA and X-SAMPA, m is also used. In IPA Braille, ⠍ (134) is used, which is also used for letter M in standard Braille.

Phonotactics

/m/ is found in some consonant clusters.

The only Initial consonant cluster is initial consonant cluster /sn/. Final consonant clusters include:

• Final consonant cluster /nd/
• Final consonant cluster /ndz/
• Final consonant cluster /nz/
• Final consonant cluster /nʤ/
• Final consonant cluster /nθ/
• Final consonant cluster /nθs/

Pronunciation

The m phoneme /m/ is typically pronounced as a voiced bilabial nasal [m].

Additionally, it is an allophone, voiced labiodental nasal [ɱ], which occurs before labiodental consonants such as /f/ and /v/. For example, in the word comfort, the /m/ may be realised as [ɱ].

Spelling

Spelling may be:

Phonogram	Example words	Notes
⟨m⟩	meat, dream
⟨mm⟩	dimmer, summer.
⟨mb⟩	aplomb, bomb, comb, crumb, climb, crumb, dumb, lamb, limb, numb, thumb, tomb, succumb, womb
⟨mn⟩	autumn, column, condemn, damn, hymn, solemn
⟨me⟩	come, gendarme, some.
⟨mme⟩	programme.
⟨gm⟩	apophthegm, diaphragm, epiphragm, paradigm, phlegm