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{{short description|Consonants articulated with the tongue against or close to the superior alveolar ridge}}{{Refimprove|date=May 2015}}

factoids

Alveolar ({{IPAc-en|æ|l|ˈ|v|iː|ə|l|ər}};{{OED|alveolar}}{{MW|alveolar}} UK also {{IPAc-en|æ|l||v|i|ˈ|oʊ|l|ər}}WEB, ALVEOLAR {{!, English meaning - Cambridge Dictionary |url=https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/alveolar |website=Cambridge Dictionary}}COLLINS DICTIONARY, alveolar, ) consonants are articulated with the tongue against or close to the superior alveolar ridge, which is called that because it contains the alveoli (the sockets) of the upper teeth. Alveolar consonants may be articulated with the tip of the tongue (the apical consonants), as in English, or with the flat of the tongue just above the tip (the "blade" of the tongue; called laminal consonants), as in French and Spanish.The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) does not have separate symbols for the alveolar consonants. Rather, the same symbol is used for all coronal places of articulation that are not palatalized like English palato-alveolar sh, or retroflex. To disambiguate, the bridge ({{IPA|[s̪, t̪, n̪, l̪]}}, etc.) may be used for a dental consonant, or the under-bar ({{IPA|[s̠, t̠, n̠, l̠]}}, etc.) may be used for the postalveolars. {{IPA|[s̪]}} differs from dental {{IPA|[θ]}} in that the former is a sibilant and the latter is not. {{IPA|[s̠]}} differs from postalveolar {{IPA|[ʃ]}} in being unpalatalized.The bare letters {{IPA|[s, t, n, l]}}, etc. cannot be assumed to specifically represent alveolars. The language may not make such distinctions, such that two or more coronal places of articulation are found allophonically, or the transcription may simply be too broad to distinguish dental from alveolar. If it is necessary to specify a consonant as alveolar, a diacritic from the Extended IPA may be used: {{IPA|[s͇, t͇, n͇, l͇]}}, etc., though that could also mean extra-retracted.E.g. in Laver (1994) Principles of Phonetics, p. 559–560 The letters {{angbr|s, t, n, l}} are frequently called 'alveolar', and the language examples below are all alveolar sounds.(The Extended IPA diacritic was devised for speech pathology and is frequently used to mean "alveolarized", as in the labioalveolar sounds {{IPA|[p͇, b͇, m͇, f͇, v͇]}}, where the lower lip contacts the alveolar ridge.)

In IPA

Alveolar consonants are transcribed in the IPA as follows:{| class="wikitable"! rowspan="2" | IPA! rowspan="2" | Description! colspan="4" | Example! Language! Orthography! IPA! Meaning in English! {{IPA|n̥}}|voiceless alveolar nasal

Burmese language>Burmese{{sfnp	Maddieson	p=111}}		[n̥à]}}| 'nose'

! {{IPA|n}}| voiced alveolar nasal

English language>English| run	[ɹʌn]}}|

! {{IPA|t}}| voiceless alveolar plosive

English language>English| top	[tÉ’p]}}|

! {{IPA|d}}| voiced alveolar plosive

English language>English| debt	[dɛt]}}|

! {{IPA|t͡s}}| voiceless alveolar affricate

German language>German| Zeit	[t͡saɪt]}}| time

! {{IPA|d͡z}}| voiced alveolar affricate

Italian language>Italian| zaino	[ˈd͡zaino]}}| backpack

! {{IPA|s}}| voiceless alveolar fricative

English language>English| suit	[suːt]}}|

! {{IPA|z}}| voiced alveolar fricative

English language>English| zoo	[zuː]}}|

! {{IPA|t͡ɬ}}| voiceless alveolar lateral affricate

Tsez language>Tsez| элIни	[ˈʔe̞t͡ɬni]}}| winter

! {{IPA|d͡ɮ}}| voiced alveolar lateral affricate

Pa Na language>Pa NaChen, Qiguang [陈其光]. 2001. "A Brief Introduction of Bana Language [巴那语概况]". Minzu Yuwen.|	[d͡ɮau˩˧]}}|'deep'

! {{IPA|ɬ}}| voiceless alveolar lateral fricative

Welsh language>Welsh| llwyd	[ɬʊɪd]}}| grey

! {{IPA|É®}}| voiced alveolar lateral fricative

Zulu language>Zulu| dlala	[ˈɮálà]}}| to play

! {{IPA|θ̠}}| voiceless alveolar non-sibilant fricative| Irish English| Italy

[ˈɪθ̠ɪli]}}|

! {{IPA|ð̠}}| voiced alveolar non-sibilant fricative

Scouse >Scouse English| maid	[meɪð̠]}}|

! {{IPA|ɹ}}| voiced alveolar approximant

English language>English| red	[ɹɛd]}}|

! {{IPA|l}}| alveolar lateral approximant

English language>English| loop	[lup]}}|

! {{IPA|É«}}| velarized alveolar lateral approximant

English language>English| milk	[mɪɫk]}}|

! {{IPA|ɺ̥}}| voiceless alveolar lateral flap

Karu language>Karu|	[ɺ̥je.ˈtɐ̃.hə͂]}}| 'that'

! {{IPA|ɺ}}| voiced alveolar lateral flap

Venda language>Venda|	[vuɺa]}}| 'to open'

! {{IPA|ɾ̥}}| voiceless alveolar flap

Icelandic language>Icelandic| hrafn	[ˈɾ̥apn̪̊]}}| 'raven'

! {{IPA|ɾ}}| voiced alveolar tap

English language>English| better	[ˈbɛɾɚ]}}|

! {{IPA|r̥}}| voiceless alveolar trill

Konda language (Dravidian)>Konda|	[pur̥i]}}| 'anthill'

! {{IPA|r}}| voiced alveolar trill

Spanish language>Spanish| perro	[ˈpero]}}| 'dog'

! {{IPA|tʼ}}| alveolar ejective

Georgian language>Georgian| ტიტა	[tʼitʼa]}}| 'tulip'

! {{IPA|t͡sʼ}}| alveolar ejective affricate

Chechen language>Chechen		[t͡sʼe]}}| 'name'

! {{IPA|sʼ}}| alveolar ejective fricative

Amharic language>Amharic| ጼጋ	[sʼɛɡa]}}|

! {{IPA|t͡ɬʼ}}| alveolar lateral ejective affricate

Navajo language>Navajo | tłʼóoʼdi	[t͡ɬʼóːʔtɪ̀]}}|'(at) the outside'

! {{IPA|ɬ’}}| alveolar lateral ejective fricative

Adyghe language>Adyghe| плӀы	[pɬ’ə]}}| 'four'

! {{IPA|Æ­}}| voiceless alveolar implosive

Mam language>Mam| t'ut'an	[ɗ̥ɯɗ̥aŋ]}}| 'finish'

! {{IPA|É—}}| voiced alveolar implosive

Vietnamese language>Vietnamese| đã	[ɗɐː]}}| Past tense indicator

! {{IPA|k͡ǃ q͡ǃɡ͡ǃ ɢ͡ǃŋ͡ǃ ɴ͡ǃ}}

alveolar click>apical alveolar clicks (many distinct consonants)	Nama language>Nama| !oas	[ᵑ̊ǃˀoas]}}| hollow

! {{IPA|k͡ǁ q͡ǁɡ͡ǁ ɢ͡ǁŋ͡ǁ ɴ͡ǁ}}| alveolar lateral clicks (many distinct consonants)

Khoekhoe language>Nama| ǁî	[ᵑ̊ǁˀĩː]}}| discussed

Lack of alveolars

There are no languages which have no alveolars at all. The alveolar or dental consonants {{IPA|[t]}} and {{IPA|[n]}} are, along with {{IPA|[k]}}, the most common consonants in human languages.Ian Maddieson and Sandra Ferrari Disner, 1984, Patterns of Sounds. Cambridge University Press Nonetheless, there are a few languages that lack them. A few languages on Bougainville Island and around Puget Sound, such as Makah, lack nasals and therefore {{IPA|[n]}}, but have {{IPA|[t]}}. Colloquial Samoan, however, lacks both {{IPA|[t]}} and {{IPA|[n]}}, but it has a lateral alveolar approximant {{IPA|/l/}}. (Samoan words written with t and n are pronounced with {{IPA|[k]}} and {{IPA|[Å‹]}} in colloquial speech.) In Standard Hawaiian, {{IPA|[t]}} is an allophone of {{IPA|/k/}}, but {{IPA|/l/}} and {{IPA|/n/}} exist.

{{vanchor|Labioalveolar}} consonants

In labioalveolars, the lower lip contacts the alveolar ridge. Such sounds are typically the result of a severe overbite. In the Extensions to the IPA for disordered speech, they are transcribed with the alveolar diacritic on labial letters: {{angbr IPA|m͇ p͇ b͇ f͇ v͇}}.

See also

• Index of phonetics articles
• Perception of English /r/ and /l/ by Japanese speakers
• Place of articulation

Notes

{{reflist}}

References

• {{SOWL}}

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