Routledge Dictionary of Language and Linguistics
labialization (also rounding)
1 Articulation with rounded lips, as in the vowels [u, o, y, ø], as opposed to the unrounded [i, e]. Labialization can also refer to a secondary articulation (
articulatory phonetics), involving any noticeable lip-rounding, as in the initial [k] or [∫] in [ku] coo and [∫u] shoe, as opposed to [k] and [∫] in [ki] key, [∫i] she.
There are also labialized consonants in some languages, in which the labialization of the consonant has phonemic status, such as the labiovelar kw in Indo-European, as well as labialized consonants in many native languages of the northwest coast of America or in Caucasian languages.
References
phonetics
2 Diachronic ( synchrony vs diachrony) sound change through which an originally unrounded sound is rounded in assimilation to a labial sound, e.g. MHG leffel>NHG Löffel ‘spoon.’ The opposite process is called delabialization. ( unrounding)
References
sound change
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