labialization

Alternative forms

• labialisation

Etymology

labialize +‎ -ation or labial +‎ -ization

Noun

labialization (countable and uncountable, plural labializations)

1. (phonology) A secondary articulatory feature of usually consonants that involves the contraction or rounding of the labia during pronunciation.
   • 1935, Bernard Bloch, American Speech:

     These labialized stops are of course nothing but positionally determined allophones of the [t] and the [k] phoneme, and their labialization is non-distinctive