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Retroflex consonant

In phonetics, retroflex consonants are consonant sounds used in some language Language

A language is a system [i] of [i]s, such as voice sounds, gestures or written symbol [i] ... 

s. The tongue is placed behind the alveolar ridge, and may even be curled back to touch the palate: that is, they are articulated in the postalveolar Postalveolar consonant

Postalveolar consonants are consonant [i]s articulated with the tongue near or touching the back of ... 

 to palatal Palatal consonant

Palatal consonants are consonant [i]s articulated with the body of the tongue raised against the hard palate [i] ... 

 region of the mouth. The consonants commonly called "postalveolar Postalveolar consonant

Postalveolar consonants are consonant [i]s articulated with the tongue near or touching the back of ... 

", or more precisely "palato-alveolar", as well as the "alveolo-palatals Alveolo-palatal consonant

In phonetics [i], alveolo-palatal consonant [i]s are palatalized [i] postalveolar [i] ... 

", are also pronounced in the postalveolar region. However, they have an additional secondary articulation of palatalization.

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In phonetics, retroflex consonants are consonant sounds used in some language Language

A language is a system [i] of [i]s, such as voice sounds, gestures or written symbol [i]... 

s. The tongue is placed behind the alveolar ridge, and may even be curled back to touch the palate: that is, they are articulated in the postalveolar Postalveolar consonant

Postalveolar consonants are consonant [i]s articulated with the tongue near or touching the back of ... 

 to palatal Palatal consonant

Palatal consonants are consonant [i]s articulated with the body of the tongue raised against the hard palate [i] ... 

 region of the mouth.

The consonants commonly called "postalveolar Postalveolar consonant

Postalveolar consonants are consonant [i]s articulated with the tongue near or touching the back of ... 

", or more precisely "palato-alveolar", as well as the "alveolo-palatals Alveolo-palatal consonant

In phonetics [i], alveolo-palatal consonant [i]s are palatalized [i] postalveolar [i] ... 

", are also pronounced in the postalveolar region. However, they have an additional secondary articulation of palatalization. The consonants commonly called "palatal Palatal consonant

Palatal consonants are consonant [i]s articulated with the body of the tongue raised against the hard palate [i] ... 

" are also pronounced in the palatal region, but are more precisely "dorso-palatal", meaning that they are dorsal , rather than coronal like retroflex consonants.

In other words, retroflex consonants are coronal consonants articulated behind the alveolar ridge, which do not have the secondary articulation of palatalization.

Retroflex consonants, like other coronals, may involve several shapes of the tongue. The tongue may be flat, with the blade of the tongue touching the roof of the mouth, as in Polish cz, sz, z and Mandarin ch, zh, sh, r. This is termed laminal . Or they may be pronounced with the tip of the tongue, as in Hindi Hindi

Hindi , an Indo-European language [i] spoken mainly in northern [i] ... 

. This is termed apical . Finally, the tongue may be curled back so that the underside touches the alveolar or pre-palatal region, as in many of the Dravidian languages. This is termed sub-apical .

Retroflex consonants are common in the Indo-Aryan languages and the Dravidian languages; and can also be found in languages such as Mandarin Chinese Mandarin (linguistics)

Mandarin, or Beifanghua , or Guanhua , or Mandarin Chinese is a category of related Chinese dialect [i]... 

, Javanese Javanese language

The Javanese language is the spoken language [i] of the people in the central and eastern part of the is ... 

, Vietnamese Vietnamese language

Vietnamese , formerly known under the French colonization as Annamese , is the national [i] ... 

, Swedish Swedish language

Swedish is a North Germanic language [i] spoken predominantly in Sweden [i] a ... 

, Norwegian Norwegian language

Norwegian is a Germanic language [i] spoken in Norway [i]. ... 

 and some languages of Southern Italy and Sardinia.

There are several retroflex consonants not yet recognized by the IPA. For example, the Iwaidja language of northwestern Australia has a retroflex lateral flap Retroflex lateral flap

The Iwaidja language [i] of Australia has both alveolar and retroflex [i] lateral flaps, a ... 

  as well as a retroflex tap and retroflex lateral approximant ; and the Dravidian language Toda Toda language

Toda is a Dravidian language [i] well known for its many fricatives [i] ... 

 has a sub-apical retroflex lateral fricative Voiceless retroflex lateral fricative

The Toda language [i] has a voiceless retroflex lateral fricative that contrasts with both a voiceless alveolar lateral fricative [i] ... 

  and a retroflexed trill . Because of the regularity of deriving retroflex symbols from their alveolar counterparts, people will occasionally use a font editor to create the appropriate symbols for such sounds. The Ngad'a language of Flores Flores

Flores is one of the Lesser Sunda Islands [i], an island arc [i] with an estimated area of 14,300 km ex ... 

 has been reported to have a retroflex implosive , but in this case the expected symbol is coincidentally supported by Unicode.

Retroflex consonants identified by the International Phonetic Alphabet International Phonetic Alphabet

The International Phonetic Alphabet is a system of phonetic notation [i] devised ... 

 are:

IPA Description    Example
Language    Orthography  IPA                     Meaning      
retroflex nasalSwedish Swedish language

Swedish is a North Germanic language [i] spoken predominantly in Sweden [i] a ... 

Vänern[]Vänern Vänern

Vnern is the largest lake [i] in Sweden [i] and the third largest lake in Europe [i] located in the counties [i] ... 

voiceless retroflex plosiveHindi Hindi

Hindi , an Indo-European language [i] spoken mainly in northern [i] ... 

????[]island Island

An island or isle is any piece of land that is completely surrounded by water.... 

voiced retroflex plosiveSwedish Swedish language

Swedish is a North Germanic language [i] spoken predominantly in Sweden [i] a ... 

nord[]north North

North is one of the four [i] cardinal directions [i], specifically the direction that, in Western culture [i] ... 

voiceless retroflex fricativeMandarin Mandarin (linguistics)

Mandarin, or Beifanghua , or Guanhua , or Mandarin Chinese is a category of related Chinese dialect [i]... 

??[]Shanghai Shanghai

Shanghai , situated on the banks of the Yangtze River Delta [i] in East China [i], is the largest city o ... 

voiced retroflex fricativeRussian Russian language

Russian is the most widely spoken language of Eurasia [i] and the most widespread of the Slavic languages [i] ... 


Polish
????
zaba
[]toad
retroflex approximantTamil Tamil language

Tamil is a classical language [i] and one of the major language [i]s of the Dravidian language [i] ... 

?????[]Tamil Tamil language

Tamil is a classical language [i] and one of the major language [i]s of the Dravidian language [i] ... 

lateral retroflex approximantSwedish Swedish language

Swedish is a North Germanic language [i] spoken predominantly in Sweden [i] a ... 

Karlstad[]Karlstad Karlstad Municipality

Karlstad Municipality is a municipality [i] in mid-western Sweden [i] with the... 

retroflex flapHausashaara[]sweeping


Note: In the International Phonetic Alphabet International Phonetic Alphabet

The International Phonetic Alphabet is a system of phonetic notation [i] devised ... 

, the symbols for retroflex consonants are typically the same as for the alveolar consonant Alveolar consonant

Alveolar consonants are articulated with the tongue against or close to the superior alveolar ridge [i], ... 

s, but with the addition of a right-facing hook to the bottom of the symbol. Some linguists restrict these symbols for the "true" retroflex consonants with sub-apical palatal articulation, and use the alveolar symbols with the obsolete IPA underdot symbol for an apical post-alveolar articulation: . Another solution, more in keeping with the official IPA, would be to use the rhotic diacritic for the apical retroflexes: . Laminal retroflexes, as in Polish and Russian, are often transcribed with a retraction diacritic, as , etc. Otherwise they are typically but inaccurately transcribed as if they were palato-alveolar, as *, etc.

See also

  • Retroflex approximant
  • Place of articulation Place of articulation

    In articulatory phonetics [i], the place of articulation of a consonant [i] is the point of contact, wh ... 

  • List of phonetics topics

Reference

  • Peter Ladefoged and Ian Maddieson, The Sounds of the World's Languages. Blackwell Publishers, 1996. ISBN 0-631-19815-6


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