Voiceless alveolar and postalveolar approximants
| Voiceless alveolar approximant | |
|---|---|
| ɹ̥ | |
| θ̠˕ | |
| IPA Number | 151 402A |
| Audio sample | |
| Encoding | |
| X-SAMPA | r\_0 |
The voiceless alveolar approximant is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents the alveolar and postalveolar voiceless approximants is ⟨ɹ̥⟩, and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is r\_0.
Features
Features of the voiceless alveolar approximant:
- Its manner of articulation is approximant, which means it is produced by narrowing the vocal tract at the place of articulation, but not enough to produce a turbulent airstream.
- Its place of articulation is alveolar, which means it is articulated with either the tip or the blade of the tongue at the alveolar ridge, termed respectively apical and laminal.
- Its phonation is voiceless, which means it is produced without vibrations of the vocal cords. In some languages the vocal cords are actively separated, so it is always voiceless; in others the cords are lax, so that it may take on the voicing of adjacent sounds.
- It is an oral consonant, which means air is allowed to escape through the mouth only.
- 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
Alveolar
| Language | Word | IPA | Meaning | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| English | Various | cream | [ˈkʰɹ̥iːm] | ˈcreamˈ | Laminal; allophone of /ɹ/ after aspirated consonants, as other approximants /l, w, j/ do. May be a post-alveolar fricative ɹ̠̊˔ instead. See English phonology.
|
| Faroese[1] | okkurt | [ˈɔʰkʊɹ̥t] | 'around' | Allophone of /r/.[1] See Faroese phonology | |
Postalveolar
| Language | Word | IPA | Meaning | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bengali[2] | আবার | [ˈäbäɹ̠̊] | 'again' | Apical; possible allophone of /ɹ/ in the syllable coda.[3] See Bengali phonology | |
Notes
- ^ a b Árnason (2011), p. 115.
- ^ Khan (2010), p. 224.
- ^ Khan (2010), pp. 223–224.
References
- Árnason, Kristján (2011), The Phonology of Icelandic and Faroese, Oxford University Press, ISBN 978-0-19-922931-4
- Khan, Sameer ud Dowla (2010), "Bengali (Bangladeshi Standard)" (PDF), Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 40 (2): 221–225, doi:10.1017/S0025100310000071
