Alveolar consonant
Alveolar consonants are articulated with the tongue against or close to the superior alveolar ridge, which is called that because it contains the
alveoli of the superior teeth. Alveolar consonants may be articulated with the tip of the tongue , as in English, or with the flat of the tongue just above the tip , 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.
Encyclopedia
Alveolar consonants are articulated with the tongue against or close to the superior alveolar ridge, which is called that because it contains the
alveoli of the superior teeth. Alveolar consonants may be articulated with the tip of the tongue , as in English, or with the flat of the tongue just above the tip , 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 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 The bare letters
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:
etc. Nontheless, the symbols
themselves are frequently called 'alveolar', and the language examples below are all alveolar sounds.
The alveolar/coronal consonants identified by the IPA are:
See also
