Alveolar consonant

An alveolar consonant is a consonant with the tongue close to the alveolar ridge, which is the part just behind our teeth. Alveolar consonants that are pronounced with the tip of the tongue, like in English, are called apical consonants while those pronounced using the blade of the tongue which is the flat part of the tongue behind the tip, are called laminal consonants. Alveolar consonants in English are [n], [t], [d], [s], and [l]. The alveolar consonants [n], the alveolar nasal, and [t], the voiceless alveolar plosive, are the most common sounds in human languages.

Alveolar consonants in IPA

The alveolar/coronal consonants identified by the IPA are:

IPA	Description	Example
IPA	Description	Language	Orthography	IPA	Meaning in English
	alveolar nasal	English	run	[ɹʷʌn]	run
	voiceless alveolar plosive	English	tap	[tʰæp]	tap
	voiced alveolar plosive	English	debt	[dɛt]	debt
	voiceless alveolar fricative	English	suit	[sjuːt]	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]	the name Lloyd or Floyd
	voiced alveolar lateral fricative	Zulu	dlala	[ˈɮálà]	to play
t͡ɬ	voiceless alveolar lateral affricate	Tsez	элIни	[ˈʔɛ̝t͡ɬni]	winter
d͡ɮ	voiced alveolar lateral affricate	Oowekyala
	alveolar approximant	English	red	[ɹʷɛd]	red
	alveolar lateral approximant	English	loop	[lup]	loop
	alveolar tap or flap	Spanish	pero	[peɾo]	but
	alveolar lateral flap	Venda		[vuɺa]	to open
	alveolar trill	Spanish	perro	[pero]	dog
	alveolar ejective stop	Georgian	ტიტა	[tʼitʼa]	tulip
	alveolar ejective fricative	Amharic		[sʼɛɡa]	grace
	voiced alveolar implosive	Vietnamese	đã	[ɗɐː]	Past tense indicator
	alveolar lateral click	Nama	ǁî	[kǁĩĩ]	discussed