Coronal consonant
Coronal consonants are consonants articulated with the flexible front part of the tongue. Only the coronal consonants can be divided into apical (using the tip of the tongue), laminal (using the blade of the tongue), domed (with the tongue bunched up), or subapical (using the underside of the tongue), as well as a few rarer orientations,[1] because only the front of the tongue has such dexterity. Coronals have another dimension, grooved, that is used to make sibilants in combination with the orientations above.
Places of articulation
Coronal places of articulation include the dental consonants at the upper teeth, the alveolar consonants at the upper gum (the alveolar ridge), the various postalveolar consonants (domed palato-alveolar, laminal alveolo-palatal, and apical retroflex) just behind that, the true retroflex consonants curled back against the hard palate, and linguolabial consonants with the tongue against the upper lip. Alveolo-palatal and linguolabial consonants sometimes behave as dorsal and labial consonants, respectively, rather than as coronals.
| IPA symbol |
meaning | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| place of articulation |
passive (mouth) |
⟨s̪⟩ | dental |
| ⟨s̟⟩ | advanced (denti-alveolar) | ||
| ⟨s͇⟩ | alveolar | ||
| ⟨s̠⟩ | retracted (postalveolar) | ||
| ⟨ʂ⟩ | retroflex | ||
| active (tongue) |
⟨s̺⟩ | apical | |
| ⟨s̻⟩ | laminal | ||
| secondary | ⟨sʲ⟩ | palatalized coronal | |
| ⟨ɕ⟩ | alveolo-palatal | ||
| ⟨ʃ⟩ | palato-alveolar | ||
| ⟨sʷ⟩ | labialized coronal | ||
| ⟨sˠ⟩ | velarized coronal | ||
| ⟨sˤ⟩ | pharyngealized coronal | ||
| voice-onset time | ⟨sʰ⟩ | aspirated coronal | |
Examples
In Arabic and Maltese philology, the sun letters represent coronal consonants.
Familiar
| IPA symbol |
Name of the consonant | Language | Example | IPA |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ⟨z⟩ | Voiced alveolar sibilant | English | zoo | /zuː/ |
| ⟨s⟩ | Voiceless alveolar sibilant | sea | /siː/ | |
| ⟨ð⟩ | Voiced dental fricative | that | /ðæt/ | |
| ⟨θ⟩ | Voiceless dental fricative | thud | /θʌd/ | |
| ⟨ʒ⟩ | Voiced alveolo-palatal sibilant | vision | /ˈvɪʒən/ | |
| ⟨ʃ⟩ | Voiceless alveolo-palatal sibilant | she | /ʃiː/ | |
| ⟨n⟩ | Alveolar nasal | name | /neɪm/ | |
| ⟨d⟩ | Voiced alveolar stop | day | /deɪ/ | |
| ⟨t⟩ | Voiceless alveolar stop | tea | /tiː/ | |
| ⟨ɹ⟩ | Alveolar approximant | reef | /ɹiːf/ | |
| ⟨l⟩ | Alveolar lateral approximant | lift | /lɪft/ | |
| ⟨r⟩ | Alveolar trill | Spanish | perro | /ˈpero/ |
| ⟨ɾ⟩ | Alveolar flap | pero | /ˈpeɾo/ |
Australian Aboriginal
In Australian Aboriginal languages, coronals contrast with peripheral consonants.
| Laminal | Apical | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alveopalatal | Dental | Alveolar | Retroflex | |
| Stop | c ~ t̠ʲ | t̪ | t | ʈ |
| Nasal | ɲ ~ n̠ʲ | n̪ | n | ɳ |
| Lateral | ʎ ~ l̠ʲ | l̪ | l | ɭ |
See also
- Peripheral consonants, the set of non-coronal consonants
- Apical consonant
- Laminal consonant
- Subapical consonant
- Place of articulation
- List of phonetics topics
References
- Ladefoged, Peter; Maddieson, Ian (1996). The Sounds of the World's Languages. Oxford: Blackwell. ISBN 0-631-19815-6.
