Peripheral consonant

In Australian linguistics, the peripheral consonants are a natural class encompassing consonants articulated at the extremes of the mouth: bilabials and velars. In Australian languages, these consonants pattern together both phonotactically and acoustically.

	Bilabial		Velar
Stop	p	b	k	ɡ
Nasal	m		ŋ
Semivowel	w

[edit] Phonotactics

Australian languages typically favour peripheral consonants word- and syllable-initially, while they are not allowed or rare word- and syllable-finally. This is diametrically opposed to the apicals.

[edit] Acoustics

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In Martuthunira, the peripheral stops /p/ and /k/ share similar allophony. While the other stops may be voiced between vowels or following a nasal, the peripherals are usually voiceless.