Bha

[Arnold Zwicky]

benjamin barrett:
  >A couple years ago, I started noticing males saying bha(i) to me
  >for (good) bye on the phone. The initial sound sounds like an
  >aspirated b.  I've heard this from Kansans, Seattlites and
  >Californians. Has anyone else noticed this? Also, is it used
  >to/between females?

there are several variants to be heard in american english.
especially in the south, you can hear an ingressive b.  all over the
place, you can hear a prenasalized mb (similarly, prenasalized Nk in
"o.k.").  i've never heard an aspirated (that is, murmured) b in
"bye".

arnold (zwicky at csli.stanford.edu)