verb
- to remove or reduce the rounding or lip involvement in the articulation of a speech sound
Usage: linguistics; phonetics
Examples
- In some dialects, speakers delabialize the rounded vowel /ø/ to produce an unrounded variant.
- The phonological process delabializes certain consonants when they appear in specific contexts.
- Linguists observed that the language delabializes labial stops in word-final position.
- Children acquiring the language may delabialize sounds that require precise lip control.
- The sound change delabializes the original /w/ to a glide without lip rounding.