I think it based on voicing and place of articulation. However, i'm not sure if the 'place of articulation' is correct since /m/,/p/,/b/ are all bilabial.
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So maybe it's just about voicing? You've already figured out that it's not about place of articulation. I'm unclear how this is a question about learning English, and not about English phonology in general. – gotube Nov 10 '23 at 05:32
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Oh my bad, this is the first time I've used it. This is a question from my linguistic teacher, and he gives me some cues, but I'm not sure if the 'place of articulation' is correct or not. – Emerald Ngo Nov 18 '23 at 13:22
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It seems you are confused between "can't pronounce" and "don't pronounce". Native speakers can pronounce /mb/ But we don't pronounce /mb/ except in borrowed words like mbira or iamb; or when it crosses a syllable like "am.ber" – James K Nov 18 '23 at 13:30
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Because the word "climb" is pronounced /klaim/. There is no particular articulation difficulty with /mb/. There are words like "Amber", "bombastic", and "crumble" that have /mb/.
It is true, however, that /mb/ doesn't come at the end of any words in modern English (except borrowed words from other languages). So in any words that end "mb" the b is silent. Examples include "bomb", lamb, dumb, crumb and "tomb". The spelling is not phonetic.
So we are able to pronounce /mb/, but in English we don't pronounce it at the end of words (nor even at the end of syllables).
James K
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2It's a whole can of worms, one that opens rather illogically. Bombing, lambing etc it stays silent, but given little excuse it's back again, Bombastic, crumble. Limb - limber, limbic. – DoneWithThis. Nov 09 '23 at 07:43
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