Alveolar consonant

Alveolar
◌̳

Places of articulation (passive & active):
1. Exo-labial, 2. Endo-labial, 3. Dental, 4. Alveolar, 5. Post-alveolar, 6. Pre-palatal, 7. Palatal, 8. Velar, 9. Uvular, 10. Pharyngeal, 11. Glottal, 12. Epiglottal, 13. Radical, 14. Postero-dorsal, 15. Antero-dorsal, 16. Laminal, 17. Apical, 18. Sub-apical

Alveolar consonants are articulated with the tongue against or close to the superior alveolar ridge, which is called that because it contains the alveoli (the sockets) of the superior teeth. Alveolar consonants may be articulated with the tip of the tongue (so-called apical consonants), as in English, or with the flat of the tongue just above the tip (the "blade" of the tongue; called laminal consonants), as in French and Spanish. The laminal alveolar articulation is often mistakenly called dental, because the tip of the tongue can be seen near to or touching the teeth. However, it is the rearmost point of contact that defines the place of articulation; this is where the oral cavity ends, and it is the resonant space of the oral cavity that gives consonants and vowels their characteristic timbre.

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

The bare letters [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 places of articulation are found 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 Extended IPA may be used: [s͇, t͇, n͇, l͇], etc., though that could also mean extra-retracted. The letters ⟨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 [p͇, b͇, m͇, f͇, v͇], where the lower lip contacts the alveolar ridge.)

Alveolar consonants in IPA

Alveolar consonants are transcribed in the IPA as follows:

IPA	Description	Example
		Language	Orthography	IPA	Meaning in English
	alveolar nasal	English	run	[ɹʌn]	run
	voiceless alveolar stop	English	stop	[stɑp]	stop
	voiced alveolar stop	English	debt	[dɛt]	debt
	voiceless alveolar fricative	English	suit	[suːt]	suit
	voiced alveolar fricative	English	zoo	[zuː]	zoo
	voiceless alveolar affricate	German	Zeit	[t͡saɪt]	time
	voiced alveolar affricate	Italian	zaino	[ˈd͡zaino]	backpack
	voiceless alveolar lateral fricative	Welsh	llwyd	[ɬʊɪd]	grey
	voiced alveolar lateral fricative	Zulu	dlala	[ˈɮálà]	to play
t͡ɬ	voiceless alveolar lateral affricate	Tsez	элIни	[ˈʔe̞t͡ɬni]	winter
d͡ɮ	voiced alveolar lateral affricate	Oowekyala
	alveolar approximant	English	red	[ɹɛd]	red
	alveolar lateral approximant	English	loop	[lup]	loop
	velarized alveolar lateral approximant	English	milk	[mɪɫk]	milk
	alveolar flap	English	better	[bɛɾɚ]	better
	alveolar lateral flap	Venda		[vuɺa]	to open
	alveolar trill	Spanish	perro	[pero]	dog
	alveolar ejective	Georgian	ტიტა	[tʼitʼa]	tulip
	alveolar ejective fricative	Amharic	ጼጋ	[sʼɛɡa]	grace
	alveolar lateral ejective fricative	Adyghe	плӀы	[pɬ’ə]	four
	voiced alveolar implosive	Vietnamese	đã	[ɗɐː]	Past tense indicator
	alveolar lateral click release (many distinct consonants)	Nama	ǁî	[ǁĩː]	discussed

Lack of alveolars

The alveolar or dental consonants [t] and [n] are, along with [k], the most common consonants in human languages. Nonetheless, there are a few languages that lack them. A few languages on Bougainville Island and around Puget Sound, such as Makah, lack nasals and therefore [n], but have [t]. Colloquial Samoan, however, lacks both [t] and [n], though it has a lateral alveolar approximant /l/. (Samoan words written with the letters t and n are pronounced with [k] and [ŋ] except in formal speech.) In Standard Hawaiian, [t] is an allophone of /k/, but /l/ and /n/ are present.

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: ⟨m͇ p͇ b͇ f͇ v͇⟩.

See also

• Place of articulation
• Perception of /r/ and /l/ by Japanese speakers
• List of phonetics topics