Voiced retroflex nasal
| Voiced retroflex nasal | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| ɳ | |||
| IPA Number | 117 | ||
| Audio sample | |||
| Encoding | |||
| Entity (decimal) | ɳ | ||
| Unicode (hex) | U+0273 | ||
| X-SAMPA | n` | ||
| Braille |   | ||
| |||
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The voiced retroflex nasal is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is ⟨ɳ⟩, and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is n`.
Like all the retroflex consonants, the IPA symbol is formed by adding a rightward-pointing hook extending from the bottom of an en (the letter used for the corresponding alveolar consonant). It is similar to ⟨ɲ⟩, the letter for the palatal nasal, which has a leftward-pointing hook extending from the bottom of the left stem, and to ⟨ŋ⟩, the letter for the velar nasal, which has a leftward-pointing hook extending from the bottom of the right stem.
Features
Features of the voiced retroflex nasal:
- Its manner of articulation is occlusive, which means it is produced by obstructing airflow in the vocal tract. Because the consonant is also nasal, the blocked airflow is redirected through the nose.
- Its place of articulation is retroflex, which prototypically means it is articulated subapical (with the tip of the tongue curled up), but more generally, it means that it is postalveolar without being palatalized. That is, besides the prototypical subapical articulation, the tongue can be apical (pointed) or, in some fricatives, laminal (flat).
- Its phonation is voiced, which means the vocal cords vibrate during the articulation.
- It is a nasal consonant, which means air is allowed to escape through the nose, either exclusively (nasal stops) or in addition to through the mouth.
- It is a central consonant, which means it is produced by directing the airstream along the center of the tongue, rather than to the sides.
- Its airstream mechanism is pulmonic, which means it is articulated by pushing air solely with the intercostal muscles and abdominal muscles, as in most sounds.
Occurrence
| Language | Word | IPA | Meaning | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bengali[1] | Rare; occurs in the extreme western dialects | ||||
| Enindhilyagwa | yingarna | [jiŋaɳa] | 'snake' | ||
| Faroese | ørn | [œɻɳ] | 'eagle' | ||
| Hindustani | Hindi | ठंडा/ṭhaṇḍā | [ʈʰəɳɖaː] | 'cold' | See Hindustani phonology |
| Urdu | ٹھنڈا/ṭhaṇḍā | ||||
| Kannada | ಅಣೆ/uṇe | [ʌɳe] | 'dam' | ||
| Khanty | Eastern dialects | еңә/eṇẹ | [eɳə] | 'large' | |
| Some northern dialects | |||||
| Malayalam[2] | അണ/āṇa | [aɳə] | 'jaw' | ||
| Marathi | बाण/bāṇa | [baːɳə] | 'arrow' | See Marathi phonology | |
| Nepali | अण्डा/aṇḍā | [ʌɳɖä] | 'egg' | See Nepali phonology | |
| Marshallese | Ņadikdik | [nˠɑːrʲiɡ(i)rʲik] | 'Knox Atoll' | ||
| Norwegian | garn | 'yarn' | See Norwegian phonology | ||
| Odia | ବଣି/baṇi | [bɔɳi] | 'old' | ||
| Pashto | اتڼ/Ataṇ | 'Attan' | |||
| Punjabi | Gurmukhi | ਪੁਰਾਣਾ/purāṇā | [puraːɳaː] | 'old' | |
| Shahmukhi | پُراݨا/purāṇā | ||||
| Swedish[3] | garn | 'yarn' | See Swedish phonology | ||
| Tamil[4] | அணல்/aṇal | [aɳal] | 'neck' | See Tamil phonology | |
| Telugu | గొణుగు/goṇugu | [goɳugu] | 'murmur' | ||
| Vietnamese[5] | anh trả | [aɳ˧ ʈa˨˩˦] | 'you pay' | Allophone of /n/ before /ʈ/ in Saigon dialect. See Vietnamese phonology | |
See also
Notes
- ^ Chatterji, Suniti Kumar (1926). The Origin and Development of the Bengali Language (PDF). Vol. 1. Calcutta: Calcutta University Press. p. 269.
- ^ Ladefoged (2005:165)
- ^ Eliasson (1986:278–279)
- ^ Keane (2004:111)
- ^ Thompson (1959:458–461)
References
- Eliasson, Stig (1986), "Sandhi in Peninsular Scandinavian", in Anderson, Henning (ed.), Sandhi Phenomena in the Languages of Europe, Berlin: de Gruyter, pp. 271–300
- Keane, Elinor (2004), "Tamil", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 34 (1): 111–116, doi:10.1017/S0025100304001549
- Ladefoged, Peter (2005), Vowels and Consonants (Second ed.), Blackwell
- Thompson, Laurence (1959), "Saigon phonemics", Language, 35 (3): 454–476, doi:10.2307/411232, JSTOR 411232
