Jump to bottom

Alveolar consonant

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.)

Alveolar consonants in IPA

The alveolar/coronal consonants identified by the IPA are:

IPA Description Example
Language Orthography IPA Meaning in English
Xsampa-n.png alveolar nasal English run [ɹʷʌn] run
Xsampa-t.png voiceless alveolar plosive English tap [tʰæp] tap
Xsampa-d.png voiced alveolar plosive English debt [dɛt] debt
Xsampa-s.png voiceless alveolar fricative English suit [sjuːt] suit
Xsampa-z.png voiced alveolar fricative English zoo [zuː] zoo
Xsampa-ts.png voiceless alveolar affricate German Zeit [t͡saɪt] time
Xsampa-dz.png voiced alveolar affricate Italian zaino [ˈd͡zaino] backpack
Xsampa-K2.png voiceless alveolar lateral fricative Welsh Llwyd [ɬʊɪd] the name Lloyd or Floyd
Xsampa-Kslash.png 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]
Xsampa-rslash2.png alveolar approximant English red [ɹʷɛd] red
Xsampa-l.png alveolar lateral approximant English loop [lup] loop
Xsampa-4.png alveolar flap Spanish pero [peɾo] but
Xsampa-lslash.png alveolar lateral flap Venda [vuɺa] to open
Xsampa-r.png alveolar trill Spanish perro [pero] dog
IPA alveolar ejective.png alveolar ejective Georgian ა [ia] tulip
IPA alveolar ejective fricative.png alveolar ejective fricative Amharic [ɛɡa] grace
Xsampa-d lessthan.png voiced alveolar implosive Vietnamese đã [ɗɐː] Past tense indicator
Xsampa-doublebarslash.png 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. 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

Notes

  1. ^ Ian Maddieson and Sandra Ferrari Disner, 1984, Patterns of Sounds. Cambridge University Press

References

 
International Phonetic Alphabet

 
IPA topics

IPA
International Phonetic Association · History of the IPA · Kiel convention (1989) · Journal of the IPA (JIPA) · Naming conventions


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  e IPA Pulmonic consonants chart
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 n ɳ ɲ ŋ ɴ
Plosive p b 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 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
tsʼ tɬʼ tʃʼ kxʼ kʼ

Affricates p̪f b̪v ts dz ʈʂ ɖʐ
t̪θ d̪ð ɟʝ kx

Co-articulated consonants Fricatives ɕ ʑ ɧ
Approximants ʍ w ɥ ɫ
Stops k͡p ɡ͡b ŋ͡m