View source for Alveolar consonant

{{short description|Consonants articulated with the tongue against or close to the superior alveolar ridge}}
{{Refimprove|date=May 2015}}
{{Infobox IPA
| above = Alveolar
| ipa symbol = ◌͇ 
}}

'''Alveolar consonants''' ({{IPAc-en|æ|l|ˈ|v|iː|ə|l|ər|audio=LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-Alveolar consonant.wav}};<ref>{{OED|alveolar}}<br />{{MW|alveolar}}</ref> UK also {{IPAc-en|æ|l||v|i|ˈ|oʊ|l|ər}}<ref>{{Cite web |title=ALVEOLAR {{!}} English meaning - Cambridge Dictionary |url=https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/alveolar |website=[[Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary|Cambridge Dictionary]]}}<br />{{Cite Collins Dictionary|alveolar}}</ref>) are [[place of articulation|articulated]] with the tongue against or close to the superior [[alveolar ridge]], which is called that because it contains the [[Dental alveolus|alveoli]] (the sockets) of the upper teeth. Alveolar consonants may be articulated with the tip of the tongue (the [[apical consonant]]s), as in [[English language|English]], or with the flat of the tongue just above the tip (the "blade" of the tongue; called [[laminal consonant]]s), as in [[French language|French]] and [[Spanish language|Spanish]].

The [[International Phonetic Alphabet]] (IPA) does not have separate symbols for the alveolar consonants. Rather, the same symbol is used for all [[Coronal consonant|coronal]] places of articulation that are not [[Palatalization (phonetics)|palatalized]] like English [[Palato-alveolar consonant|palato-alveolar]] ''sh'', or [[retroflex]]. To disambiguate, the ''bridge'' ({{IPA|[s̪, t̪, n̪, l̪]}}, ''etc.'') may be used for a dental consonant, or the [[retracted (phonetics)|under-bar]] ({{IPA|[s̠, t̠, n̠, l̠]}}, ''etc.'') may be used for the [[postalveolar consonant|postalveolars]]. {{IPA|[s̪]}} differs from dental {{IPA|[θ]}} in that the former is a [[sibilant consonant|sibilant]] and the latter is not. {{IPA|[s̠]}} differs from postalveolar {{IPA|[ʃ]}} in being unpalatalized.

The bare letters {{IPA|[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 [[Place of articulation|places of articulation]] are found [[Allophone|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 [[Extensions to the International Phonetic Alphabet|Extended IPA]] may be used: {{IPA|[s͇, t͇, n͇, l͇]}}, ''etc.'', though that could also mean extra-retracted.<ref>E.g. in Laver (1994) ''Principles of Phonetics'', p. 559–560</ref> The letters {{angbr|s, t, n, l}} 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 {{IPA|[p͇, b͇, m͇, f͇, v͇]}}, where the lower lip contacts the alveolar ridge.)

== In IPA ==
Alveolar consonants are transcribed in the IPA as follows:

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! rowspan="2" | IPA
! rowspan="2" | Description
! colspan="4" | Example
|-
! Language
! Orthography
! IPA
! Meaning in English
|-
! {{IPA|n̥}}
|[[voiceless alveolar nasal]]
|[[Burmese language|Burmese]]{{sfnp|Ladefoged|Maddieson|1996|p=111}}
| {{lang|my|နှာ}}
| {{IPA|['''n̥'''à]}}
| 'nose'
|-
! {{IPA|n}}
| [[voiced alveolar nasal]]
| [[English language|English]]
| ru'''n'''
| {{IPA|[ɹʌ'''n''']}}
| 
|-
! {{IPA|t}}
| [[voiceless alveolar plosive]]
| [[English language|English]]
| '''t'''op
| {{IPA|['''t'''ɒp]}}
| 
|-
! {{IPA|d}}
| [[voiced alveolar plosive]]
| [[English language|English]]
| '''d'''ebt
| {{IPA|['''d'''ɛt]}}
| 
|-
! {{IPA|t͜s}}
| [[voiceless alveolar affricate]]
| [[German language|German]]
| {{lang|de|'''Z'''eit}}
| {{IPA|['''t͜s'''aɪt]}}
| time
|-
! {{IPA|d͜z}}
| [[voiced alveolar affricate]]
| [[Italian language|Italian]]
| {{lang|it|'''z'''aino}}
| {{IPA|[ˈ'''d͜z'''aino]}}
| backpack
|-
! {{IPA|s}}
| [[voiceless alveolar fricative]]
| [[English language|English]]
| '''s'''uit
| {{IPA|['''s'''uːt]}}
| 
|-
! {{IPA|z}}
| [[voiced alveolar fricative]]
| [[English language|English]]
| '''z'''oo
| {{IPA|['''z'''uː]}}
|
|-
! {{IPA|t͜ɬ}}
| [[voiceless alveolar lateral affricate]]
| [[Tsez language|Tsez]]
| {{lang|ddo|э'лI'ни|italic=no}}
| {{IPA|[ˈʔe̞'''t͜ɬ'''ni]}}
| winter
|-
! {{IPA|d͜ɮ}}
| [[voiced alveolar lateral affricate]]
| [[Pa Na language|Pa Na]]<ref>Chen, Qiguang [陈其光]. 2001. "A Brief Introduction of Bana Language [巴那语概况]". Minzu Yuwen.</ref>
|
| {{IPA|['''d͜ɮ'''au˩˧]}}
|'deep'
|-
! {{IPA|ɬ}}
| [[voiceless alveolar lateral fricative]]
| [[Welsh language|Welsh]]
| {{lang|cy|'''ll'''wyd}}
| {{IPA|['''ɬ'''ʊɪd]}}
| grey
|-
! {{IPA|ɮ}}
| [[voiced alveolar lateral fricative]]
| [[Zulu language|Zulu]]
| {{lang|zu|'''dl'''ala}}
| {{IPA|[ˈ'''ɮ'''álà]}}
| to play
|- 
! {{IPA|θ̠}}
| [[voiceless alveolar non-sibilant fricative]]
| [[Irish English]]
| I'''t'''aly
| {{IPA|[ˈɪ'''θ̠'''ɪli]}}
|
|-
! {{IPA|ð̠}}
| [[voiced alveolar non-sibilant fricative]]
| [[Scouse |Scouse English]]
| mai'''d'''
| {{IPA|[meɪ'''ð̠''']}}
| 
|-
! {{IPA|ɹ}}
| [[voiced alveolar approximant]]
| [[English language|English]]
| '''r'''ed
| {{IPA|['''ɹ'''ɛd]}}
|
|-
! {{IPA|l}}
| [[alveolar lateral approximant]]
| [[English language|English]]
| '''l'''oop
| {{IPA|['''l'''up]}}
| 
|-
! {{IPA|ɫ}}
| [[velarized alveolar lateral approximant]]
| [[English language|English]]
| mi'''l'''k
| {{IPA|[mɪ'''ɫ'''k]}}
|
|-
! {{IPA|ɺ̥}}
| [[voiceless alveolar lateral flap]]
| [[Karu language|Karu]]
|
| {{IPA|['''ɺ̥'''je.ˈtɐ̃.hə͂]}}
| 'that'
|-
! {{IPA|ɺ}}
| [[voiced alveolar lateral flap]]
| [[Venda language|Venda]]
|
| {{IPA|[vu'''ɺ'''a]}}
| 'to open'
|-
! {{IPA|ɾ̥}}
| [[voiceless alveolar flap]]
| [[Icelandic language|Icelandic]]
| {{lang|is|'''hr'''afn}}
| {{IPA|[ˈ'''ɾ̥'''apn̪̊]}}
| 'raven'
|-
! {{IPA|ɾ}}
| [[voiced alveolar tap]]
| [[English language|English]]
| be'''tt'''er
| {{IPA|[ˈbɛ'''ɾ'''ɚ]}}
|
|-
! {{IPA|r̥}}
| [[voiceless alveolar trill]]
| [[Konda language (Dravidian)|Konda]]
|
| {{IPA|[pu'''r̥'''i]}}
| 'anthill'
|-
! {{IPA|r}}
| [[voiced alveolar trill]]
| [[Spanish language|Spanish]]
| {{lang|es|pe'''rr'''o}}
| {{IPA|[ˈpe'''r'''o]}}
| 'dog'
|-
! {{IPA|tʼ}}
| [[alveolar ejective]]
| [[Georgian language|Georgian]]
| {{lang|ka|'''ტ'''ი'''ტ'''ა|italic=no}}
| {{IPA|['''tʼ'''i'''tʼ'''a]}}
| 'tulip'
|-
! {{IPA|t͜sʼ}}
| [[alveolar ejective affricate]]
| [[Chechen language|Chechen]]
| {{lang|ce|[[Cyrillic script|'''цI'''е]]}}
| {{IPA|[t͜sʼe]}}
| 'name'
|-
! {{IPA|sʼ}}
| [[alveolar ejective fricative]]
| [[Amharic language|Amharic]]
| {{lang|am|'''ጼ'''ጋ|italic=no}}
| {{IPA|['''sʼ'''ɛɡa]}}
| 
|-
! {{IPA|t͜ɬʼ}}
| [[alveolar lateral ejective affricate]]
| [[Navajo language|Navajo]] 
| {{lang|nv|'''tłʼ'''óoʼdi }}
| {{IPA|[t͜ɬʼóːʔtɪ̀]}}
|'(at) the outside'
|-
! {{IPA|ɬ’}}
| [[alveolar lateral ejective fricative]]
| [[Adyghe language|Adyghe]]
| {{lang|am|п'''лӀ'''ы|italic=no}}
| {{IPA|[p'''ɬ’'''ə]}}
| 'four'
|-
! {{IPA|ƭ}}
| [[voiceless alveolar implosive]]
| [[Mam language|Mam]]
| {{lang|mam|'''t{{'}}'''u'''t{{'}}'''an}}
| {{IPA|[ɗ̥ɯɗ̥aŋ]}}
| 'finish'
|-
! {{IPA|ɗ}}
| [[voiced alveolar implosive]]
| [[Vietnamese language|Vietnamese]]
| {{lang|vi|'''đ'''ã}}
| {{IPA|['''ɗ'''ɐː]}}
| Past tense indicator
|-
! {{IPA|k͡ǃ q͡ǃ<br>ɡ͡ǃ ɢ͡ǃ<br>ŋ͡ǃ ɴ͡ǃ}}
| [[alveolar click|apical alveolar click]]s (many distinct consonants)
| [[Nama language|Nama]]
| {{lang|naq|'''!'''oas}}
| {{IPA|[ᵑ̊'''ǃ'''ˀoas]}}
| hollow
|-
! {{IPA|k͡ǁ q͡ǁ<br>ɡ͡ǁ ɢ͡ǁ<br>ŋ͡ǁ ɴ͡ǁ}}
| [[alveolar lateral click]]s (many distinct consonants)
| [[Khoekhoe language|Nama]]
| {{lang|naq|'''ǁ'''î}}
| {{IPA|[ᵑ̊'''ǁ'''ˀĩː]}}
| discussed
|}

==Lack of alveolars==
[[Mekeo language|Northwest Mekeo]] lacks coronal consonants entirely.<ref name="u749">{{cite journal | last=Blevins | first=Juliette | title=Another Universal Bites the Dust: Northwest Mekeo Lacks Coronal Phonemes | journal=Oceanic Linguistics | volume=48 | issue=1 | date=2009 | issn=1527-9421 | doi=10.1353/ol.0.0033 | pages=264–273 | url=https://julietteblevins.ws.gc.cuny.edu/files/2016/10/Blevins2009e-UniversalBitesDustMekeo.pdf | access-date=2025-07-07}}</ref> A few languages on [[Bougainville Island]] and around [[Puget Sound]], such as [[Makah language|Makah]], lack nasals and therefore {{IPA|[n]}} but have {{IPA|[t]}}. Colloquial [[Samoan language|Samoan]], however, lacks both {{IPA|[t]}} and {{IPA|[n]}} but has a [[lateral alveolar approximant]] {{IPA|/l/}}. (Samoan words written with ''t'' and ''n'' are pronounced with {{IPA|[k]}} and {{IPA|[ŋ]}} in colloquial speech.) In Standard [[Hawaiian language|Hawaiian]], {{IPA|[t]}} is an allophone of {{IPA|/k/}}, but {{IPA|/l/}} and {{IPA|/n/}} exist.

=={{vanchor|Labioalveolar}} consonants==
In labioalveolars, the lower lip contacts the alveolar ridge. Such sounds are typically the result of a severe overbite. In the [[Extensions to the IPA]] for disordered speech, they are transcribed with the alveolar diacritic on labial letters: {{angbr IPA|m͇ p͇ b͇ f͇ v͇}}.

==See also==
* [[Index of phonetics articles]]
* [[Perception of English /r/ and /l/ by Japanese speakers]]
* [[Place of articulation]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Further reading==
* {{SOWL}}

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