Voiced alveolar and postalveolar approximants

(Redirected from Voiced alveolar approximant)

The voiced 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 approximants is ɹ, a lowercase letter r rotated 180 degrees. The equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is r\.

Voiced alveolar approximant
ɹ
ð̠˕
IPA Number151
Audio sample
Encoding
Entity (decimal)ɹ
Unicode (hex)U+0279
X-SAMPAr\
Braille⠼ (braille pattern dots-3456)
Voiced postalveolar approximant
ɹ̠
Audio sample

The most common sound represented by the letter r in English is the voiced postalveolar approximant, pronounced a little more back and transcribed more precisely in IPA as ɹ̠, but ɹ is often used for convenience in its place. For further ease of typesetting, English phonemic transcriptions might use the symbol r even though this symbol represents the alveolar trill in phonetic transcription.

The bunched or molar r sounds remarkably similar to the postalveolar approximant and can be described as a voiced labial pre-velar approximant with tongue-tip retraction. It can be transcribed in IPA as ψ[1] or ɹ̈.

Features

A schematic mid-sagittal section of an articulation of a voiced alveolar approximant [ɹ].
A schematic mid-sagittal section of an articulation of a voiced postalveolar approximant [ɹ̠].

Features of the voiced alveolar approximant:

Occurrence

Alveolar

LanguageWordIPAMeaningNotes
Albanianunknowngjelbër[ˈɟʑɛlbəɹ]'green'
ArmenianClassicalսուրճ[suɹtʃ]'coffee'
Assameseঙা (rônga)[ɹɔŋa]'red'
Assyrian Neo-AramaicAlqosh dialectܪܒ[ɹɑbɑ]'many'Corresponds to /ɾ/ in most other Assyrian dialects.
Tyari dialect
Bengali[2]Especially Eastern dialectsআবা[abaɹ]'again'Phonetic realisation of /r/, especially in some Eastern Dialects and sometimes in conjunct before consonants. Corresponds to [r ~ ɾ] in others. See Bengali phonology
Burmese[3][4]ရိဘောဂ[pəɹḭbɔ́ɡa̰]'furniture'Occurs only in loanwords, mostly from Pali or English.
Chukchi[citation needed]ңирэк[ŋiɹek]'two'
Dahalo[5][káð̠˕i]'work'Apical. It is a common intervocalic allophone of /d̠/, and may be a weak fricative [ð̠] or simply a plosive [d] instead.[6]
DanishStandard[7][8][9]ved[ve̝ð̠˕ˠ]'at'Velarized and laminal; allophone of /d/ in the syllable coda.[7][8][9] For a minority of speakers, it may be a non-sibilant fricative instead.[9] See Danish phonology.
DutchCentral Netherlandicdoor[doːɹ]'through'Allophone of /r/ in the syllable coda for some speakers. See Dutch phonology.
Western Netherlandic
Leidenrat[ɹat]'rat'Corresponds to /r/ in other dialects.
Faroeseróður[ɹɔuwʊɹ]'rudder'See Faroese phonology.
GermanMoselle Franconian (Siegerland[10] and Westerwald[11] dialects)Rebe[ˈɹeːbə]'vine'Most other dialects use a voiced uvular fricative [ʁ], a uvular trill [ʀ] or an alveolar trill [r]. See Standard German phonology.
Silesian
Upper Lusatian
Greek[12]μέρα ra[ˈmɛɹɐ]'day'Allophone of /ɾ/ in rapid or casual speech and between vowels. See Modern Greek phonology.
Icelandicbróðir[ˈprou̯ð̠˕ir]'brother'Usually apical. See Icelandic phonology.
LimburgishMontfortian dialect[13]maintenant[ˈmæ̃ːn˦ð̠˕ənɑ̃ː˨]'now'
Persianفارسی[fɒːɹˈsiː]'Persian'Allophone of /ɾ/ before /t/, /d/, /s/, /z/, /ʃ/, /ʒ/, and /l/. See Persian phonology.
PortugueseMultiple Brazilian dialects, mostly inland Centro-Sul[14]amor[aˈmoɹˠ]'love'Allophone of /ɾ ~ ʁ/ in the syllable coda. Velarized, may also be retroflex, post-alveolar and/or a rhotic vowel. See Portuguese phonology.
SpanishAndalusian[15]doscientos[do̞(ɹ)ˈθje̞n̪t̪o̞s]'two hundred'Allophone of /s/ before [θ]. See Spanish phonology.
Belizeaninvierno[imˈbjeɹno]'winter'Possible realization of /r/ in the syllable coda due to English influence.
Caribbean Colombian
Puerto Rican
SwedishCentral Standard[16]starkast[ˈs̪t̪äɹːkäs̪t̪]'strongest'Allophone of /r/. Some speakers have [ɾ] ([r] when geminated) in all positions. See Swedish phonology.
Tagalogparang[paɹaŋ]'like-'Allophone of the more usual and traditional flap or trill [ɾ ~ r] and is sometimes thus pronounced by some younger speakers due to exposure to mainstream English.
TurkishMarmara Regionartık[aɹtɯk]'excess, surplus'Occurs as an allophone of [ɾ] in syllable coda, in free variation with post-alveolar [ɹ̠]. See Turkish phonology.
VietnameseSaigon[17]ra[ɹa]'go out'In free variation with [ɾ], [r] and [ʐ]. See Vietnamese phonology.
ZapotecTilquiapan[18]r[ɹd̪ɨ]'pass'Allophone of /ɾ/ before consonants.

Postalveolar

LanguageWordIPAMeaningNotes
EnglishAustralianred[ɹ̠ʷed]'red'Often labialized. May also be a labialized retroflex approximant. For convenience it is often transcribed ⟨r⟩. See Australian English phonology, English phonology, Rhoticity in English and Pronunciation of English /r/.
Most American dialects[19]
Received Pronunciation
Igbo[20]rí[ɹ̠í]'eat'
Malayراتوس / ratus[ɹ̠ä.tos]'hundred'More commonly trill [r] or flap [ɾ]. See Malay phonology
MalteseSome dialects[21]malajr[mɐˈlɐjɹ̠]'quickly'Corresponds to [ɾ ~ r] in other dialects.[21]
Shipibo[22]roro[ˈd̠ɹ̠o̽ɾ̠o̽]'to break into pieces'Pre-stopped. Possible word-initial realization of /r/.[22]

As an allophone of other rhotic sounds, [ɹ] occurs in Edo, Fula, Murrinh-patha, and Palauan.[23]

See also

Notes

References

External links