Voiced alveolar approximant
Consonantal sounds represented by ⟨ɹ⟩ / ⟨ð̠˕⟩ and ⟨ɹ̠⟩ in IPA
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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 ⟨ɹ⟩, 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 | [ˈɟʑɛlbəɹ] | 'green' | Allophone of /ɾ/. See Albanian phonology |
| Armenian | Classical | սուրճ | [suɹtʃ] | 'coffee' | |
| Assamese | ৰঙা (rônga) | [ɹɔŋa] | 'red' | ||
| Assyrian Neo-Aramaic | Alqosh dialect | ܪܒ | [ɹɑbɑ] | 'many' | Corresponds to /ɾ/ in most other Assyrian dialects. |
| Tyari dialect | |||||
| Bengali[1] | আবার | [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] | ပရိဘောဂ | [pəɹḭbɔ́ɡa̰] | 'furniture' | Occurs only in loanwords, mostly from Pali or English. | |
| Dutch | Central Netherlandic | door | [doːɹ] | '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 | [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[6] | μέρα/méra | [ˈmɛɹɐ] | 'day' | Allophone of /ɾ/ in rapid or casual speech and between vowels. See Modern Greek phonology. | |
| Persian | فارسی | ⓘ | 'Persian' | Allophone of /ɾ/ before /t/, /d/, /s/, /z/, /ʃ/, /ʒ/, and /l/. See Persian phonology. | |
| Portuguese | Multiple Brazilian dialects, mostly inland Centro-Sul[7] | 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. |
| Spanish | Andalusian[8] | doscientos | [do̞(ɹ)ˈθje̞n̪t̪o̞s] | 'two hundred' | Allophone of /s/ before [θ]. See Spanish phonology. |
| Belizean | invierno | [imˈbjeɹno] | 'winter' | Possible realization of /r/ in the syllable coda due to English influence. | |
| Caribbean Colombian | |||||
| Puerto Rican | |||||
| Costa Rican[9] | carro | [ˈkaɹo] | 'car' | Allophone of /r/, and of /ɾ/ before /l/. See Costa Rican Spanish. | |
| Swedish | Central (Stockholm area) | område | ⓘ | 'domain' | Allophone of /r/, especially word-finally[10] and post-vocalically.[citation needed] See Swedish phonology. |
| Tagalog | parang | [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. | |
| Turkish | Marmara Region | artık | [aɹtɯk] | 'excess, surplus' | Occurs as an allophone of [ɾ] in syllable coda, in free variation with post-alveolar [ɹ̠]. See Turkish phonology. |
| Vietnamese | Saigon[11] | ra | [ɹa] | 'go out' | In free variation with [ɾ], [r] and [ʐ]. See Vietnamese phonology. |
| Zapotec | Tilquiapan[12] | rdɨ | [ɹd̪ɨ] | 'pass' | Allophone of /ɾ/ before consonants. |
Laminal alveolar
| Voiced laminal alveolar approximant | |
|---|---|
| z̞ | |
| ð̠˕ |
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'.[17][18] The International Phonetic Alphabet has no symbol to represent this sound, but possible transcriptions with diacritics include ⟨z̞⟩ (a lowered [z]) and ⟨ð̠˕⟩ (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 | [ve̝ð̠˕ˠ] | '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 | [z̞aːɾo] | 'rare' | Corresponds to /rr/ in standard Italian, as well as word-initial /r/. Can be alveolar [z̞] or postalveolar [ʒ̞], 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 | ⓘ | 'a wallpaper' | Usually apical.[22] In free variation with a weak fricative [ð̠];[23] variably removed from the front teeth, up to (nearly) spot on [ð̞].[24] See Icelandic phonology. | |
| Miyakoan | Irabu[13] | [z̞zä] | 'father' | Realized as [z̞z] when word initial, geminate [z̞ː] when presyllabic, variable when medial, and plain [z̞] when word final. Phonemically transcribed as /ž/ or /žž/. Devoiced to [s̞] 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 ⟨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.
| Language | Word | IPA | Meaning | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| English | Australian | red | [ˈɹ̠ʷed] | '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/. |
| Received Pronunciation | ⓘ | ||||
| Most American dialects[25] | |||||
| car | [ˈkʰɑɹ̠] | 'car' | Not labialized. | ||
| Faroese[26] | rørar | [ˈɹ̠øːɹ̠ɐɹ̠] | 'a groin' | Ranges from post-alveolar to retroflex.[27] More often realised as a fricative.[28] See Faroese phonology. | |
| Igbo[29] | rí | [ɹ̠í] | 'eat' | ||
| Malay | راتوس / ratus | [ɹ̠ä.tos] | 'hundred' | More commonly trill [r] or flap [ɾ]. See Malay phonology | |
| Maltese | Some dialects[30] | malajr | [mɐˈlɐjɹ̠] | 'quickly' | Corresponds to [ɾ ~ r] in other dialects.[30] |
| Shipibo[31] | roro | [ˈd̠ɹ̠o̽ɾ̠o̽] | '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]