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Retroflex consonant
*** Shopping-Tip: Retroflex consonant
{{Place of articulation}}
image:retroflex.png thumb|Sub-apical retroflex plosive
In
phonetics, '''retroflex consonants''' are
consonant sounds used in some
languages. (They are sometimes referred to as '''''cerebral''' consonants'', especially in
indology.) The tongue is placed behind the
alveolar ridge, and may even be curled back to touch the
palate: that is, they are articulated in the
postalveolar consonant postalveolar to
palatal consonant palatal region of the mouth.
The consonants commonly called "
postalveolar consonant postalveolar", or more precisely "palato-alveolar", as well as the "
alveolo-palatal consonant alveolo-palatals", are also pronounced in the postalveolar region. However, they have an additional secondary articulation of
palatalization. The consonants commonly called "
palatal consonant palatal" are also pronounced in the palatal region, but are more precisely "dorso-palatal", meaning that they are
dorsal consonant dorsal (articulated with the ''dorsum'' or back of the tongue), rather than
coronal consonant coronal like retroflex consonants.
In other words, '''retroflex consonants''' are coronal consonants articulated behind the alveolar ridge, which do not have the secondary articulation of palatalization.
Retroflex consonants, like other coronals, may involve several shapes of the tongue. The tongue may be flat, with the ''blade'' of the tongue (the top surface of the tongue near the tip) touching the roof of the mouth, as in
Polish language Polish ''cz, sz, ż'' and
Mandarin (linguistics) Mandarin ''ch, zh, sh, r''. This is termed ''
laminal consonant laminal'' (laminal retroflex). Or they may be pronounced with the tip of the tongue, as in
Hindi language Hindi. This is termed ''
apical consonant apical'' (apical retroflex). Finally, the tongue may be curled back so that the underside touches the alveolar or pre-palatal region, as in many of the
Dravidian languages. This is termed ''
sub-apical consonant sub-apical'' (sub-apical retroflex).
Retroflex consonants are common in the
Indo-Aryan languages and the
Dravidian languages; and can also be found in languages such as
Mandarin language Mandarin Chinese,
Javanese language Javanese,
Vietnamese language Vietnamese,
Swedish language Swedish,
Norwegian language Norwegian and some languages of Southern Italy and Sardinia.
There are several retroflex consonants not yet recognized by the IPA. For example, the
Iwaidja language of northwestern
Australian languages Australia has a
retroflex lateral flap {{IPA.html">Dravidian languages
Dravidian language Toda language Toda has a
Voiceless retroflex lateral fricative sub-apical retroflex lateral fricative {{IPA|[ɬ̢]}} and a
Retroflex trill retroflexed trill {{IPA|[ɽ͡r]}}. Because of the regularity of deriving retroflex symbols from their alveolar counterparts, people will occasionally use a
font editor to create the appropriate symbols for such sounds. (Here they were written with diacritics.) The
Ngad'a language of
Flores has been reported to have a
Voiced retroflex implosive retroflex implosive {{Unicode|[ᶑ ]}}, but in this case the expected symbol is coincidentally supported by Unicode.
Retroflex consonants identified by the
International Phonetic Alphabet are:
{| cellspacing="0" cellpadding="4" style="border-collapse:collapse"
|-
! rowspan="2" style="border:1px solid black; background: gray; color: white"| IPA
! rowspan="2" style="border:1px solid black; background: gray; color: white"| Description
! style="border:1px solid black; background: gray; color: white" colspan="4"| Example
|-
! style="border:1px solid black; background: gray; color: white"|Language
! style="border:1px solid black; background: gray; color: white"|Orthography
! style="border:1px solid black; background: gray; color: white"|IPA
! style="border:1px solid black; background: gray; color: white"|Meaning
|- style="height:4em"
! style="border:1px solid black"|
Image:Xsampa-n'.png
| style="border:1px solid black"|
retroflex nasal
| style="border:1px solid black"|
Swedish language Swedish
| style="border:1px solid black"|Väne
rn
| style="border:1px solid black"|[{{IPA|vɛː.ne}}
{{IPA|ɳ}}]
| style="border:1px solid black"|
Vänern
|- style="height:4em"
! style="border:1px solid black"|
Image:Xsampa-t'.png
| style="border:1px solid black"|
voiceless retroflex plosive
| style="border:1px solid black"|
Hindi language Hindi
| style="border:1px solid black"|टापू (
ṭāpū)
| style="border:1px solid black"|[
{{IPA|ʈ}}{{IPA|ɑpu}}]
| style="border:1px solid black"|
island
|- style="height:4em"
! style="border:1px solid black"|
Image:Xsampa-d'.png
| style="border:1px solid black"|
voiced retroflex plosive
| style="border:1px solid black"|
Swedish language Swedish
| style="border:1px solid black"|no
rd
| style="border:1px solid black"|[{{IPA|nuː}}
{{IPA|ɖ}}]
| style="border:1px solid black"|
north
|- style="height:4em"
! style="border:1px solid black"|
Image:Xsampa-s'.png
| style="border:1px solid black"|
voiceless retroflex fricative
| style="border:1px solid black"|
Mandarin language Mandarin
| style="border:1px solid black"|上海 (
Shà nghǎi)
| style="border:1px solid black"|[
{{IPA|ʂ}}{{IPA|ɑ̂ŋ.xà ɪ}}]
| style="border:1px solid black"|
Shanghai
|- style="height:4em"
! style="border:1px solid black"|
Image:Xsampa-z'.png
| style="border:1px solid black"|
voiced retroflex fricative
| style="border:1px solid black"|
Russian language RussianPolish language Polish
| style="border:1px solid black"|
жаба
żaba
| style="border:1px solid black"|[
{{IPA|Ê?}}{{IPA|aË‘ba}}]
| style="border:1px solid black"|frog
|- style="height:4em"
! style="border:1px solid black"|
Image:Xsampa-rslash'.png
| style="border:1px solid black"|
retroflex approximant
| style="border:1px solid black"|
Tamil language Tamil
| style="border:1px solid black"|தமிழ் (Tami
l)
| style="border:1px solid black"|[{{IPA|tæmɪ}}
{{IPA|ɻ}}]
| style="border:1px solid black"|
Tamil language Tamil
|- style="height:4em"
! style="border:1px solid black"|
Image:Xsampa-l'.png
| style="border:1px solid black"|
lateral retroflex approximant
| style="border:1px solid black"|
Swedish language Swedish
| style="border:1px solid black"|Ka
rlstad
| style="border:1px solid black"|[{{IPA|kɑː}}
{{IPA|ɭ}}{{IPA|.stɑːd̪}}]
| style="border:1px solid black"|
Karlstad
|- style="height:4em"
! style="border:1px solid black"|
Image:Xsampa-r'.png
| style="border:1px solid black"|
retroflex flap
| style="border:1px solid black"|
Hausa language Hausa
| style="border:1px solid black"|shaa
ra
| style="border:1px solid black"|[{{IPA|ʃáː}}
{{IPA|ɽ}}{{IPA|a}}]
| style="border:1px solid black"|sweeping
|}
''Note:'' In the
International Phonetic Alphabet, the symbols for retroflex consonants are typically the same as for the
alveolar consonants, but with the addition of a right-facing hook to the bottom of the symbol. Some linguists restrict these symbols for the "true" retroflex consonants with sub-apical palatal articulation, and use the alveolar symbols with the obsolete IPA underdot symbol for an apical post-alveolar articulation: {{IPA|[ṭ, ḍ, ṇ, ṣ, ẓ, ḷ, ɾ̣, ɹ̣]}}. Another solution, more in keeping with the official IPA, would be to use the rhotic diacritic for the apical retroflexes: {{IPA|[t˞, d˞, n˞, s˞, z˞, l˞, ɾ˞, ɹ˞]}}. Laminal retroflexes, as in Polish and Russian, are often transcribed with a retraction diacritic, as {{IPA|[s̱]}}, ''etc.'' Otherwise they are typically but inaccurately transcribed as if they were palato-alveolar, as *{{IPA|[ʃ]}}, ''etc.''
See also
*
Retroflex approximant
*
Place of articulation
*
List of phonetics topics
Reference
*Peter Ladefoged and Ian Maddieson, ''The Sounds of the World's Languages.'' Blackwell Publishers, 1996. ISBN 0631198156
{{Consonants}}
Category:Consonants
ar:ارتدادي
de:Retroflex
fr:Consonne rétroflexe
ko:권설�
he:עיצורי×? מהופכי×?
ja:ã??り舌音
pl:Retrofleksja (fonetyka)
sv:Retroflex konsonant
*** Shopping-Tip: Retroflex consonant
