Alveolar consonant

Places of articulation  • Labial Bilabial Labial-velar Labial-alveolar Labiodental Dentolabial  • Bidental  • Coronal Linguolabial Interdental Dental Denti-alveolar Alveolar Apical Laminal Subapical Postalveolar Alveolo-palatal Retroflex  • Dorsal Palatal Labial-palatal Velar Uvular Uvular-epiglottal  • Radical Pharyngeal Epiglotto-pharyngeal Epiglottal  • Glottal This page contains phonetic information in IPA, which may not display correctly in some browsers. [Help] view · talk · Places of articulation (passive & active): 1. Exo-labial, 2. Endo-labial, 3. Dental, 4. Alveolar, 5. Post-alveolar, 6. Pre-palatal, 7. Palatal, 8. Velar, 9. Uvular, 10. Pharyngeal, 11. Glottal, 12. Epiglottal, 13. Radical, 14. Postero-dorsal, 15. Antero-dorsal, 16. Laminal, 17. Apical, 18. Sub-apical Alveolar consonants are articulated with the tongue against or close to the superior alveolar ridge, which is called that because it contains the alveoli (the sockets) of the superior teeth. Alveolar consonants may be articulated with the tip of the tongue (so-called apical consonants), as in English, or with the flat of the tongue just above the tip (the "blade" of the tongue; called laminal consonants), as in French and Spanish. The laminal alveolar articulation is often mistakenly called dental, because the tip of the tongue can be seen near to or touching the teeth. However, it is the rearmost point of contact that defines the place of articulation; this is where the oral cavity ends, and it is the resonant space of the oral cavity that gives consonants and vowels their characteristic timbre. The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) does not have separate symbols for the alveolar consonants. Rather, the same symbol is used for all coronal places of articulation which aren't palatalized like English palato-alveolar sh, or retroflex. To disambiguate, the bridge ([s̪, t̪, n̪, l̪], etc.) may be used for a dental consonant, or the under-bar ([s̠, t̠, n̠, l̠], etc.) may be used for the postalveolars. Note that [s̪] differs from dental [θ] in being a sibilant, rather than a thibilant. [s̠] differs from postalveolar [ʃ] in being unpalatalized. The bare letters [s, t, n, l], etc. cannot be assumed to specifically represent alveolars. The language may not make such distinctions, such that two or more coronal places are found allophonically, or the transcription may simply be too broad to distinguish dental from alveolar. If it is necessary to specify a consonant as alveolar, a diacritic from the Extended IPA may be used: [s͇, t͇, n͇, l͇], etc.. Nonetheless, the symbols <s, t, n, l> themselves are frequently called 'alveolar', and the language examples below are all alveolar sounds. (The Extended IPA diacritic was devised for speech pathology and is frequently used to mean 'alveolarized', as in the labioalveolar sounds [p͇, b͇, m͇, f͇, v͇], where the lower lip contacts the alveolar ridge.) Contents 1 Alveolar consonants in IPA 2 Lack of alveolars 3 Alveolar Switching 4 See also 5 Notes 6 References // Alveolar consonants in IPA The alveolar/coronal consonants identified by the IPA are: IPA Description Example Language Orthography IPA Meaning in English alveolar nasal English run [ɹʷʌn run voiceless alveolar plosive English tap tʰæp] tap voiced alveolar plosive English debt dɛt] debt voiceless alveolar fricative English suit sjuːt] suit voiced alveolar fricative English zoo zuː] zoo voiceless alveolar affricate German Zeit t͡saɪt] time voiced alveolar affricate Italian zaino [ˈd͡zaino] backpack voiceless alveolar lateral fricative Welsh Llwyd ɬʊɪd] the name Lloyd or Floyd voiced alveolar lateral fricative Zulu dlala [ˈɮálà] to play t͡ɬ voiceless alveolar lateral affricate Tsez элIни [ˈʔɛ̝t͡ɬni] winter d͡ɮ voiced alveolar lateral affricate Oowekyala example needed alveolar approximant English red ɹʷɛd] red alveolar lateral approximant English loop lup] loop alveolar flap Spanish pero [peɾo] but alveolar lateral flap Venda [vuɺa] to open alveolar trill Spanish perro [pero] dog alveolar ejective Georgian ტიტა tʼitʼa] tulip alveolar ejective fricative Amharic sʼɛɡa] grace voiced alveolar implosive Vietnamese đã ɗɐː] Past tense indicator alveolar lateral click Nama ǁî [kǁĩĩ] discussed Lack of alveolars The alveolar or dental consonants [t] and [n] are, along with [k], the most common consonants in human languages.1 Nonetheless, there are a few languages which lack them. A few languages on Bougainville Island and around Puget Sound, such as Makah, lack nasals and therefore [n], but have [t]. Colloquial Samoan, however, lacks both [t] and [n], though it has a lateral alveolar approximant [l]. (Samoan words written with the letters t and n are pronounced with [k] and [ŋ] except in formal speech.) Alveolar Switching Japanese speakers often mix alveolar lateral approximant sounds in other languages with alveolar approximant sounds due to a lack of alveolar lateral approximants in their own language.citation needed See also Place of articulation List of phonetics topics Notes ^ Ian Maddieson and Sandra Ferrari Disner, 1984, Patterns of Sounds. Cambridge University Press References Ladefoged, Peter; Maddieson, Ian (1996). The Sounds of the World's Languages. Oxford: Blackwell. ISBN 0-631-19814-8.  v · d · e International Phonetic Alphabet  IPA topics IPA International Phonetic Association · History of the IPA · Kiel convention (1989) · Journal of the IPA (JIPA) · Naming conventions Phonetics Diacritics · Segments · Tone letter · Place of articulation · Manner of articulation Special topics Extensions to the IPA · Obsolete and nonstandard symbols · IPA chart for English dialects Technical SAMPA · X-SAMPA · Conlang X-SAMPA · Kirshenbaum · TIPA · Phonetic symbols in Unicode  Consonants v · d · eIPA pulmonic consonants chartchart image • audio Place → Labial Coronal Dorsal Radical Glottal ↓ Manner Bila​bial Labio​dental Den​tal Alve​olar Post​alv. Retro​flex Pal​a​tal Ve​lar Uvu​lar Pha​ryn​geal Epi​glot​tal Glot​tal Nasal m ɱ n̪ n ɳ ɲ ŋ ɴ Plosive p b p̪ b̪ t̪ d̪ t d ʈ ɖ c ɟ k ɡ q ɢ ʡ ʔ Fricative ɸ β f v θ ð s z ʃ ʒ ʂ ʐ ç ʝ x ɣ χ ʁ ħ ʕ ʜ ʢ h ɦ Approximant ʋ ɹ ɻ j ɰ Trill ʙ r • * ʀ я * Flap or tap ⱱ̟ ⱱ ɾ ɽ ɢ̆ ʡ̯ Lateral Fric. ɬ ɮ ɭ˔̊ ʎ̥˔ ʟ̝̊ Lateral Appr. l ɭ ʎ ʟ Lateral flap ɺ ɺ̢ * ʎ̯ Non-pulmonic consonants Clicks ʘ ǀ ǃ ǂ ǁ Implosives ɓ ɗ ʄ ɠ ʛ Ejectives pʼ tʼ kʼ qʼ sʼ tsʼ tɬʼ tʃʼ kxʼ kʼ Affricates p̪f ts dz tʃ dʒ tɕ dʑ ʈʂ ɖʐ tɬ dɮ cç ɟʝ Co-articulated consonants Fricatives ɕ ʑ ɧ Approximants ʍ w ɥ ɫ Stops k͡p ɡ͡b ŋ͡m These tables contain phonetic symbols, which may not display correctly in some browsers. [Help] Where symbols appear in pairs, left—right represent the voiceless—voiced consonants. Shaded areas denote pulmonic articulations judged to be impossible. * Symbol not defined in IPA. Chart image Pulmonics · Non-pulmonics  · Affricates · Co-articulated  Vowels v · d · e IPA vowel chartimage •  audio Front Near-​front Central Near-​back Back Close •iy •ɨʉ •ɯu •ɪʏ •ɪ̈ʊ̈ •ʊ •eø •ɘɵ •ɤo •e̞ø̞ ə •ɤ̞o̞ •ɛœ •ɜɞ •ʌɔ •æ ɐ •aɶ •ä •ɑɒ Near-close Close-mid Mid Open-mid Near-open Open Paired vowels are: unrounded • rounded.