Voiced alveolar approximant
Consonantal sounds represented by ⟨ɹ⟩ / ⟨ð̠˕⟩ and ⟨ɹ̠⟩ in IPA
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A voiced alveolar approximant is a type of consonantal sound used in some spoken languages. It is familiar to most English-speakers as the "r" sound in "rose" (though typically § postalveolar). The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents it is â¨É¹â©, the lowercase Latin letter r rotated 180 degrees.
| Voiced alveolar approximant | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| ɹ | |||
| IPA number | 151 | ||
| Audio sample | |||
| Encoding | |||
| Entity (decimal) | ɹ | ||
| Unicode (hex) | U+0279 | ||
| X-SAMPA | r\ | ||
| Braille |  | ||
| |||
Features
Features of a voiced alveolar 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 alveolar, which means it is articulated with either the tip or the blade of the tongue at the alveolar ridge, termed respectively apical and laminal.
- Its phonation is voiced, which means the vocal cords vibrate during the articulation.
- It is an oral consonant, which means that air is not allowed to escape through the nose.
- It is a median consonant, which means it is produced by directing the airstream down the midline of the tongue, rather than to the sides.
- Its airstream mechanism is pulmonic, which means it is articulated by pushing air only with the intercostal muscles and abdominal muscles, as in most sounds.
Occurrence
Alveolar
| Language | Word | IPA | Meaning | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Albanian | Standard | gjelbër | [ËÉÊÉlbÉɹ] | 'green' | Allophone of /ɾ/. See Albanian phonology |
| Armenian | Classical | Õ½Õ¸ÖÖÕ³ | [suɹtÊ] | 'coffee' | |
| Assamese | ৰà¦à¦¾ (rônga) | [ɹÉÅa] | 'red' | ||
| Assyrian Neo-Aramaic | Alqosh dialect | ÜªÜ | [ɹÉbÉ] | 'many' | Corresponds to /ɾ/ in most other Assyrian dialects. |
| Tyari dialect | |||||
| Bengali[1] | à¦à¦¬à¦¾à¦° | [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[2][3] | ááááá±á¬á | [pÉɹá¸bÉÌÉ¡aÌ°] | 'furniture' | Occurs only in loanwords, mostly from Pali or English. | |
| Dutch | Central Netherlandic | door | [doËɹ] | 'through' | Allophone of /r/ in the syllable coda for some speakers. See Dutch phonology. |
| Western Netherlandic | |||||
| Leiden | rat | [ɹat] | 'rat' | Corresponds to /r/ in other dialects. | |
| German | Moselle Franconian (Siegerland[4] and Westerwald[5] dialects) | Rebe | [ËɹeËbÉ] | 'vine' | Most other dialects use a voiced uvular fricative [Ê], a uvular trill [Ê] or an alveolar trill [r]. See Standard German phonology. |
| Silesian | |||||
| Upper Lusatian | |||||
| Greek[6] | μÎÏα/méra | [ËmÉɹÉ] | 'day' | Allophone of /ɾ/ in rapid or casual speech and between vowels. See Modern Greek phonology. | |
| Persian | ÙØ§Ø±Ø³Û | â | 'Persian' | Allophone of /ɾ/ before /t/, /d/, /s/, /z/, /Ê/, /Ê/, and /l/. See Persian phonology. | |
| Portuguese | Multiple Brazilian dialects, mostly inland Centro-Sul[7] | amor | [aËmoÉ¹Ë ] | 'love' | Allophone of /ɾ ~ Ê/ in the syllable coda. Velarized, may also be retroflex, post-alveolar and/or a rhotic vowel. See Portuguese phonology. |
| Spanish | Andalusian[8] | doscientos | [doÌ(ɹ)ËθjeÌn̪t̪oÌs] | 'two hundred' | Allophone of /s/ before [θ]. See Spanish phonology. |
| Belizean | invierno | [imËbjeɹno] | 'winter' | Possible realization of /r/ in the syllable coda due to English influence. | |
| Caribbean Colombian | |||||
| Puerto Rican | |||||
| Costa Rican[9] | carro | [Ëkaɹo] | 'car' | Allophone of /r/, and of /ɾ/ before /l/. See Costa Rican Spanish. | |
| Swedish | Central (Stockholm area) | omrÃ¥de | â | 'domain' | Allophone of /r/, especially word-finally[10] and post-vocalically.[citation needed] See Swedish phonology. |
| Tagalog | parang | [paɹaÅ] | '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. | |
| Turkish | Marmara Region | artık | [aɹtɯk] | 'excess, surplus' | Occurs as an allophone of [ɾ] in syllable coda, in free variation with post-alveolar [É¹Ì ]. See Turkish phonology. |
| Vietnamese | Saigon[11] | ra | [ɹa] | 'go out' | In free variation with [ɾ], [r] and [Ê]. See Vietnamese phonology. |
| Zapotec | Tilquiapan[12] | rdɨ | [ɹd̪ɨ] | 'pass' | Allophone of /ɾ/ before consonants. |
Laminal alveolar
| Voiced laminal alveolar approximant | |
|---|---|
| zÌ | |
| Ã°Ì Ë |
Some languages have a voiced (post)alveolar approximant that is acoustically distinct from a typical [ɹ], which has variously been described as being '[z]-like,'[13] 'non-rhotic',[14] or 'non-sulcalized'.[15] Some authors have reported the distinction as one of articulation, with the formerly mentioned sound being classified as laminal, while a typical [ɹ] is distinguished as apical.[16] The distinction may also be made as a phonological classing, between a 'rhotic approximant' and a 'frictionless continuant'.[16][17][18] The International Phonetic Alphabet has no symbol to represent this sound, but possible transcriptions with diacritics include â¨zÌâ© (a lowered [z]) and â¨Ã°Ì Ëâ© (a lowered and retracted [ð]), both of which have been used in literature. Several symbols have been proposed to represent this sound, but none have become widely accepted.
| Language | Word | IPA | Meaning | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Danish | Standard[19][20][21] | ved | [veÌÃ°Ì ËË ] | 'at' | Velarized; allophone of /d/ in the syllable coda.[19][20][21] For a minority of speakers, it may be a non-sibilant fricative instead.[21] See Danish phonology. |
| Extreme Southern Italian[15] | Sicilian | raro | [zÌaËɾo] | 'rare' | Corresponds to /rr/ in standard Italian, as well as word-initial /r/. Can be alveolar [zÌ] or postalveolar [ÊÌ], depending on the speaker, both of which may also be geminated. Described as 'non-sulcalized sonorants', articulated without contact, though may retain some degree of frication; may be closer to a non-sibilant fricative, depending on the speaker.[15] |
| Calabro | |||||
| Salentino | |||||
| Icelandic | veggfóður | â | 'a wallpaper' | Usually apical.[22] In free variation with a weak fricative [Ã°Ì ];[23] variably removed from the front teeth, up to (nearly) spot on [ðÌ].[24] See Icelandic phonology. | |
| Miyakoan | Irabu[13] | [zÌzä] | 'father' | Realized as [zÌz] when word initial, geminate [zÌË] when presyllabic, variable when medial, and plain [zÌ] when word final. Phonemically transcribed as /ž/ or /žž/. Devoiced to [sÌ] following a voiceless bilabial plosive /p/.[13] See Miyakoan language § Phonology | |
Postalveolar
The most common sound represented by the letter r in English is the voiced postalveolar approximant, pronounced further back than a typical [ɹ] and transcribed more precisely in IPA as â¨É¹Ì â©, but â¨É¹â© is often used for convenience in its place. For further ease of typesetting, English phonemic transcriptions might use the symbol â¨râ© 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.
| Language | Word | IPA | Meaning | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| English | Australian | red | [ËÉ¹Ì Ê·ed] | 'red' | Often labialized. May also be a labialized retroflex approximant. For convenience it is often transcribed â¨râ©. See Australian English phonology, English phonology, Rhoticity in English and Pronunciation of English /r/. |
| Received Pronunciation | â | ||||
| Most American dialects[25] | |||||
| car | [ËkÊ°ÉÉ¹Ì ] | 'car' | Not labialized. | ||
| Faroese[26] | rørar | [ËÉ¹Ì Ã¸ËÉ¹Ì ÉÉ¹Ì ] | 'a groin' | Ranges from post-alveolar to retroflex.[27] More often realised as a fricative.[28] See Faroese phonology. | |
| Igbo[29] | rà | [É¹Ì Ã] | 'eat' | ||
| Malay | راتÙس / ratus | [É¹Ì Ã¤.tos] | 'hundred' | More commonly trill [r] or flap [ɾ]. See Malay phonology | |
| Maltese | Some dialects[30] | malajr | [mÉËlÉjÉ¹Ì ] | 'quickly' | Corresponds to [ɾ ~ r] in other dialects.[30] |
| Shipibo[31] | roro | [ËdÌ É¹Ì oÌ½É¾Ì o̽] | 'to break into pieces' | Pre-stopped. Possible word-initial realization of /r/.[31] | |
As an allophone of other rhotic sounds, [ɹ] occurs in Edo, Fula, Murrinh-patha, and Palauan.[32]