On the Bilabial Sound /m/

A common mistake Taiwanese students make in English pronunciation is leaving their lips open when pronouncing the bilabial sound /m/. For example, they would say /tɑn/ when they mean Tom /tɑm/, and /sen/ instead of /sem/ (same). Just ask students to say the simple sentence, "What is your name?" and you can find quite a few do not close their lips at the end. This is because in Mandarin there exists no final /m/ sound after a vowel.

One way to help students say the final /m/ sound right is to remind them by demonstrating the position of the lips when the sound is pronounced. Moreover, when this bilabial sound is followed by a vowel, a liaison occurs; that is, there is no pause between these two sounds. For example, when saying "My name is Ted," it should sound like /maɪ nemɪz 'tɛd/.  More attention should be paid to the /m/ sound.