Alveolar consonants 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 superior teeth. Alveolar consonants may be articulated with the tip of the tongue (so-called 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 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 (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
alveolar nasal English run [ɹʷʌn] run
voiceless alveolar plosive English tap [tʰæp] tap
voiced alveolar plosive English debt [dɛt] debt
voiceless alveolar fricative English suit [sjuːt] suit
voiced alveolar fricative English zoo [zuː] zoo
voiceless alveolar affricate German Zeit [t͡saɪt] time
voiced alveolar affricate Italian zucchero [ˈd͡zukkero] sugar
voiceless alveolar lateral fricative Welsh Llwyd [ɬʊɪd] the name Lloyd or Floyd
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]}
alveolar approximant English red [ɹʷɛd] red
alveolar lateral approximant English loop [lup] loop
alveolar flap Spanish pero [peɾo] but
alveolar lateral flap Venda [vuɺa] to open
alveolar trill Spanish perro [pero] dog
alveolar ejective Georgian ტიტა [tʼitʼa] tulip
alveolar ejective fricative Amharic [sʼɛɡa] grace
voiced alveolar implosive Vietnamese đã [ɗɐː] Past tense indicator
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.[1] 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

• Place of articulation
• List of phonetics topics

Notes

References

• Ladefoged, Peter; Ian Maddieson (1996). The Sounds of the World's Languages. Oxford: Blackwell. ISBN 0-631-19814-8. 

Consonants
List · Table