Voiced retroflex approximant
| Voiced retroflex approximant | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| ɻ | |||
| IPA Number | 152 | ||
| Encoding | |||
| Entity (decimal) | ɻ | ||
| Unicode (hex) | U+027B | ||
| X-SAMPA | r\` | ||
| Braille |   | ||
| |||
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The retroflex approximant is a type of consonant used in some languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is ⟨ɻ⟩, and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is r\`. The IPA symbol is a turned lowercase letter r with a rightward hook protruding from the lower right of the letter.
Features
Features of the retroflex 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 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 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
The retroflex approximant occurs in American English, Hiberno-English, West Country English, Mandarin Chinese, Pashto, a few Brazilian Portuguese dialects and some languages of India such as Tamil and Malayalam, as well as several Australian Aboriginal and Indigenous South American languages.
| Language | Word | IPA | Meaning | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Arrernte | [example needed] | — | — | ||
| Chinese | Mandarin | [[[Chinese characters|肉]]] Error: {{Lang}}: unrecognized language tag: zh-cmn-Hani (help) [[[pinyin|ròu]]] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) | 'meat' | Can be a fricative [ʐ] for some speakers. See Standard Chinese phonology | |
| Dutch | Some Netherlandic speakers[1] | [[[Dutch orthography|eerst]]] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) | [ɪːɻst] | 'first' | Tongue bunched and root retracted. Only occurs in the syllable coda. See Dutch phonology |
| English | Some American dialects | [[[English orthography|red]]] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) | [ɻʷɛd] | 'red' | See English phonology |
| Some Hiberno-English dialects | |||||
| Some West Country English | |||||
| Enindhilyagwa | angwura | [aŋwuɻa] | 'fire' | ||
| Faroese[2] | [[[Faroese orthography|hoyrdi]]] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) | [hɔiɻʈɛ] | 'heard' | Allophone of /r/.[2] Sometimes voiceless [ɻ̊].[2] See Faroese phonology | |
| Greek | Cretan Greek (Sfakia and Mylopotamos variations) region[3] | [[[Greek alphabet|γάλα]] gála] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) | [ˈɣaɻa] | 'milk' | Intervocalic allophone of /l/ before /a o u/. Recessive. See Modern Greek phonology |
| Kannada | Some dialects | [[[Kannada alphabet|ಕೊೞೆ]]] Error: {{Lang}}: unrecognized script: kanl for code: ka (help) | [kɒɻe] | 'to rot' | |
| Malayalam | വഴി | [ʋɐɻi] | 'way' | ||
| Mapudungun[4] | [[[Mapudungun alphabet|'rayen]]] Error: {{Lang}}: text has malformed markup (help) | [ɻɜˈjën] | 'flower' | Possible realization of /ʐ/; may be [ʐ] or [ɭ] instead.[4] | |
| Pashto | سوړ | [soɻ] | 'cold' | Allophone of retroflex lateral flap /ɭ̆/. See Pashto phonology | |
| Portuguese | Many Centro-Sul registers | [cartas] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) | [ˈkaɻtə̥̆s] | 'letters' | Allophone of rhotic consonants (and sometimes /l/) in the syllable coda. Mainly[5] found in rural São Paulo, Paraná, south of Minas Gerais and surrounding areas, with the more common and prestigious realization in metropolitan areas being [ɹ] and/or rhotic vowel instead. As with [ɽ], it appeared as a mutation of [ɾ].[6][7][8] See Portuguese phonology. |
| Caipira | [[[Portuguese orthography|temporal]]] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) | [tẽɪ̯̃pʊˈɾaɻ] | 'rainstorm' | ||
| Conservative piracicabano | [[[Portuguese orthography|grato]]] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) | [ˈgɻatʊ̥] | 'thankful' (m.) | ||
| Tamil[9] | தமிழ் Tamiḻ | 'Tamil' | See Tamil phonology | ||
| Western Desert | Pitjantjatjara dialect | Uluṟu | [ʊlʊɻʊ] | 'Uluru' | |
| Yaghan | wárho | [ˈwaɻo] | 'cave' | ||
See also
References
- ^ [1]
- ^ a b c Árnason (2011:115)
- ^ Trudgill (1989:18–19)
- ^ a b Sadowsky et al. (2013), p. 90.
- ^ Nas trilhas do -r retroflexo Silvia Figueiredo Brandão. December 2007. Retrieved June 19, 2015.
- ^ Template:Pt icon Acoustic-phonetic characteristics of the Brazilian Portuguese's retroflex /r/: data from respondents in Pato Branco, Paraná. Irineu da Silva Ferraz. Pages 19–21
- ^ Template:Pt icon Syllable coda /r/ in the "capital" of the paulista hinterland: sociolinguistic analisis. Cândida Mara Britto LEITE. Page 111 (page 2 in the attached PDF)
- ^ Template:Pt icon Callou, Dinah. Leite, Yonne. "Iniciação à Fonética e à Fonologia". Jorge Zahar Editora 2001, p. 24
- ^ Keane (2004:111)
Bibliography
- Árnason, Kristján (2011), The Phonology of Icelandic and Faroese, Oxford University Press, ISBN 978-0-19-922931-4
- Keane, Elinor (2004), "Tamil", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 34 (1): 111–116, doi:10.1017/S0025100304001549
- Sadowsky, Scott; Painequeo, Héctor; Salamanca, Gastón; Avelino, Heriberto (2013), "Mapudungun", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 43 (1): 87–96, doi:10.1017/S0025100312000369
- Trudgill, Peter (1989), "The Sociophonetics of /l/ in the Greek of Sphakiá", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 15 (2): 18–22, doi:10.1017/S0025100300002942
