Languages missing the sound P?

Question

I've found that Arabic doesn't have the sound P - and they use B instead of it (when they pronounce non-Arabic words that contain the sound P, obviously).Is there any other language not having the sound/phoneme P?

Answer 1

Usually when we print/write a text for Arabic readers we leave the letter BAA with one DOT under for B in English, and we put 3 DOTS under the shape of the letter BAA so the reader can read it as P.

Same thing with the letters F and V in English. We have only FAA with 1 DOT above in Arabic and it is for F. So to read V we put 3 DOTS above the shape.

It is really an issue mixing between P & B especially in many Arabic dialects.

When we write a non Arabic name I advise my student to write it using both languages one beside the other so they can read correctly as the origin. Ex: It should be Victor and not Fictor. Peter and not BETER!!!!

Hope it helps.

Answer 2

If you mean "lack voiceless bilabial stops", there are a number. In Afro-Asiatic I know of Somali, Tigre, Soqotri, Berber languages in general (there may be specific exceptions), Beja. Proto-Athabaskan has no bilabials so this carries over to many daughter languages (Tanaina, Tutchone, Tanacross, Tagish, Sarcee), and they are also lacking in Tlingit, Eyak and Ket (related) and Tillamook (not related except maybe areally, with Athabascan influence). Most Irooquoian languages lack it (Cherokee does) -- e.g. Mohawk, Oneida, Seneca, Cayuga, Tuscarora; add in Yoruba, Efik and a number of Grassfield languages.