Alveolar consonant

Alveolar consonants (Template:IPAc-en;<ref>Template:OED
Template:MW</ref> UK also Template:IPAc-en<ref>Template:Cite web
Template:Cite Collins Dictionary</ref>) 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 upper teeth. Alveolar consonants may be articulated with the tip of the tongue (the 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 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 that are not palatalized like English palato-alveolar sh, or retroflex. To disambiguate, the bridge (Template:IPA, etc.) may be used for a dental consonant, or the under-bar (Template:IPA, etc.) may be used for the postalveolars. Template:IPA differs from dental Template:IPA in that the former is a sibilant and the latter is not. Template:IPA differs from postalveolar Template:IPA in being unpalatalized.

The bare letters Template:IPA, etc. cannot be assumed to specifically represent alveolars. The language may not make such distinctions, such that two or more coronal places of articulation 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: Template:IPA, etc., though that could also mean extra-retracted.<ref>E.g. in Laver (1994) Principles of Phonetics, p. 559–560</ref> The letters Template:Angbr 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 Template:IPA, where the lower lip contacts the alveolar ridge.)

In IPA

Alveolar consonants are transcribed in the IPA as follows:

IPA	Description	Example
		Language	Orthography	IPA	Meaning in English
Template:IPA	voiceless alveolar nasal	BurmeseTemplate:Sfnp	Template:Lang	Template:IPA	'nose'
Template:IPA	voiced alveolar nasal	English	run	Template:IPA
Template:IPA	voiceless alveolar plosive	English	top	Template:IPA
Template:IPA	voiced alveolar plosive	English	debt	Template:IPA
Template:IPA	voiceless alveolar affricate	German	Template:Lang	Template:IPA	time
Template:IPA	voiced alveolar affricate	Italian	Template:Lang	Template:IPA	backpack
Template:IPA	voiceless alveolar fricative	English	suit	Template:IPA
Template:IPA	voiced alveolar fricative	English	zoo	Template:IPA
Template:IPA	voiceless alveolar lateral affricate	Tsez	Template:Lang	Template:IPA	winter
Template:IPA	voiced alveolar lateral affricate	Pa Na<ref>Chen, Qiguang [陈其光]. 2001. "A Brief Introduction of Bana Language [巴那语概况]". Minzu Yuwen.</ref>		Template:IPA	'deep'
Template:IPA	voiceless alveolar lateral fricative	Welsh	Template:Lang	Template:IPA	grey
Template:IPA	voiced alveolar lateral fricative	Zulu	Template:Lang	Template:IPA	to play
Template:IPA	voiceless alveolar non-sibilant fricative	Irish English	Italy	Template:IPA
Template:IPA	voiced alveolar non-sibilant fricative	Scouse English	maid	Template:IPA
Template:IPA	voiced alveolar approximant	English	red	Template:IPA
Template:IPA	alveolar lateral approximant	English	loop	Template:IPA
Template:IPA	velarized alveolar lateral approximant	English	milk	Template:IPA
Template:IPA	voiceless alveolar lateral flap	Karu		Template:IPA	'that'
Template:IPA	voiced alveolar lateral flap	Venda		Template:IPA	'to open'
Template:IPA	voiceless alveolar flap	Icelandic	Template:Lang	Template:IPA	'raven'
Template:IPA	voiced alveolar tap	English	better	Template:IPA
Template:IPA	voiceless alveolar trill	Konda		Template:IPA	'anthill'
Template:IPA	voiced alveolar trill	Spanish	Template:Lang	Template:IPA	'dog'
Template:IPA	alveolar ejective	Georgian	Template:Lang	Template:IPA	'tulip'
Template:IPA	alveolar ejective affricate	Chechen	Template:Lang	Template:IPA	'name'
Template:IPA	alveolar ejective fricative	Amharic	Template:Lang	Template:IPA
Template:IPA	alveolar lateral ejective affricate	Navajo	Template:Lang	Template:IPA	'(at) the outside'
Template:IPA	alveolar lateral ejective fricative	Adyghe	Template:Lang	Template:IPA	'four'
Template:IPA	voiceless alveolar implosive	Mam	Template:Lang	Template:IPA	'finish'
Template:IPA	voiced alveolar implosive	Vietnamese	Template:Lang	Template:IPA	Past tense indicator
Template:IPA	apical alveolar clicks (many distinct consonants)	Nama	Template:Lang	Template:IPA	hollow
Template:IPA	alveolar lateral clicks (many distinct consonants)	Nama	Template:Lang	Template:IPA	discussed

Lack of alveolars

There are no languages that have no alveolars at all. The alveolar or dental consonants Template:IPA and Template:IPA are, along with Template:IPA, the most common consonants in human languages.<ref>Ian Maddieson and Sandra Ferrari Disner, 1984, Patterns of Sounds. Cambridge University Press</ref> Nonetheless, there are a few languages that lack them. A few languages on Bougainville Island and around Puget Sound, such as Makah, lack nasals and therefore Template:IPA but have Template:IPA. Colloquial Samoan, however, lacks both Template:IPA and Template:IPA but has a lateral alveolar approximant Template:IPA. (Samoan words written with t and n are pronounced with Template:IPA and Template:IPA in colloquial speech.) In Standard Hawaiian, Template:IPA is an allophone of Template:IPA, but Template:IPA and Template:IPA exist.

Template:Vanchor consonants

In labioalveolars, the lower lip contacts the alveolar ridge. Such sounds are typically the result of a severe overbite. In the Extensions to the IPA for disordered speech, they are transcribed with the alveolar diacritic on labial letters: Template:Angbr IPA.

See also

• Index of phonetics articles
• Perception of English /r/ and /l/ by Japanese speakers
• Place of articulation

References

• Template:SOWL