All Topics  
Apical consonant

 

 
   Email Print
   Bookmark   Link
 

 

Apical consonant
 
 
  Topics Apical consonant Topic Home

An apical consonant is a phone (speech sound) produced by obstructing the air passage with the apex of the tongue (i.e. the tip of the tongue). This contrasts with laminal consonant
Laminal consonant

A laminal consonant is a Phone produced by obstructing the air passage with the blade of the tongue, which is the flat top front surface just behind the tip of the tongue on the top....
s, which are produced by creating an obstruction with the blade of the tongue (which is just behind the apex).

This is not a very common distinction, and typically applied only to fricatives and affricates. Thus many varieties of English have either apical or laminal pairs of [t]/[d].






Discussion
Ask a question about 'Apical consonant'
Start a new discussion about 'Apical consonant'
Answer questions from other users
Full Discussion Forum



Encyclopedia


An apical consonant is a phone (speech sound) produced by obstructing the air passage with the apex of the tongue (i.e. the tip of the tongue). This contrasts with laminal consonant
Laminal consonant

A laminal consonant is a Phone produced by obstructing the air passage with the blade of the tongue, which is the flat top front surface just behind the tip of the tongue on the top....
s, which are produced by creating an obstruction with the blade of the tongue (which is just behind the apex).

This is not a very common distinction, and typically applied only to fricatives and affricates. Thus many varieties of English have either apical or laminal pairs of [t]/[d]. However, some varieties of Arabic, including Hadhrami Arabic
Hadhrami Arabic

Hadhrami Arabic is a Varieties of Arabic of Arabic language spoken by the people living in the region of Yemen. It is also spoken by many Yemeni emigrants who migrated from to East Africa , South-east Asia and, recently, to the Arabian Peninsula....
 (also spelt Hadrami
Hadrami

Hadrami Sheikdom pronounced "Sheikdom of Al-Hadharem" was one of the five sheikdoms of Upper Yafa. The Hadrami sheikdom is divided into four quarters they are; Sinaani , Bal Hay , Thuluthi , and Marfadi ....
), realizes [t] as laminal but [d] as apical.

The Basque language
Basque language

Basque is the language spoken by the Basque people who inhabit the Pyrenees in North-Central Spain and the adjoining region of South-Western France....
 uses this distinction for alveolar
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 Dental alveolus of the superior teeth....
 fricatives, as does Serbo-Croatian. Mandarin Chinese uses it for postalveolar
Postalveolar consonant

Postalveolar consonants are consonants articulated with the tongue near or touching the back of the alveolar ridge, placing them a bit further back in the mouth than the alveolar consonants, which are at the ridge itself, but not as far back as the hard palate ....
 fricatives (the "alveolo-palatal" and "retroflex" series). St'at'imcets
St'at'imcets language

St'at'imcets is an Interior Salishan language spoken in southern British Columbia, Canada around the middle Fraser River and Lillooet River rivers by the St'at'imc people....
 uses this as a secondary feature in contrasting velarized and non-velarized affricates. A distinction between apical and laminal is common in Australian languages for the nasals, plosives and usually also the lateral approximants.

See also

  • Coronal consonant
    Coronal consonant

    Coronal consonants are articulated with the flexible front part of the tongue. Only the coronal consonants can be divided into apical consonant , laminal consonant , domed consonant , or sub-apical consonant , as well as a few rarer orientations, because only the front of the tongue has such dexterity....
  • Laminal consonant
    Laminal consonant

    A laminal consonant is a Phone produced by obstructing the air passage with the blade of the tongue, which is the flat top front surface just behind the tip of the tongue on the top....
  • List of phonetic topics
  • Voiceless apicoalveolar fricative
  • Voiced apicoalveolar fricative