Alveolar approximant

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IPA – number	151
IPA – text	ɹ
IPA – image
Entity	ɹ
X-SAMPA	r\
Kirshenbaum	r
Sound sample (help·info)

The alveolar approximant is a type of consonantal sound used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents dental, alveolar, and postalveolar approximants is ɹ, and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is r\. The IPA symbol is a turned lowercase letter r.

Contents 1 Features 2 In English 3 In other languages 4 See also

[edit] Features

Features of the alveolar approximant:

• Its manner of articulation is approximant, which means it is produced by bringing one articulator close to another but without the vocal tract being narrowed to such an extent that a turbulent airstream is produced.
• Its place of articulation is alveolar, which means it is articulated with either the tip or the blade of the tongue against the alveolar ridge, termed respectively apical and laminal.
• Its phonation type is voiced, which means the vocal cords are vibrating during the articulation.
• It is an oral consonant, which means air is allowed to escape through the mouth.
• It is a central consonant, which means it is produced by allowing the airstream to flow over the middle of the tongue, rather than the sides.
• The airstream mechanism is pulmonic egressive, which means it is articulated by pushing air out of the lungs and through the vocal tract, rather than from the glottis or the mouth.

[edit] In English

Most English dialects use this sound for the letter r and the digraph wr, though many speakers of these dialects have a retroflex rather than alveolar approximant. Originally the wr sound was labialized and the r sound was not, but the distinction has been lost from English, and now both r and wr are labialized at the start of a syllable, as in red [ɹʷɛd].

Some phonemic transcriptions use the /r/ symbol instead of /ɹ/ for the 'r' sound for ease of typesetting, even though that technically represents the alveolar trill.

[edit] In other languages

• In Dutch this sound is used as the allophonic pronunciation of the phoneme /r/. The alveolar approximant realisation is becoming increasingly more common and accepted preceding consonants and at the end of a phrase.

• In Swedish us is among the most common pronunciations of the /r/-phoneme, especially in the dialects spoken around the capital of Stockholm. It is also among the most common /r/-variants in national broadcast media.

• In Armenian, it is a separate phoneme, written with the letter ր (reh) as opposed to trilled /r/, written with ռ (rra).

• Albanian also makes a distinction between ɹ, written "r" and an alveolar trill, written "rr".

• In Georgian and Yoruba, it is an allophone of the /r/ phoneme.

• In the Caipira dialect of Brazilian Portuguese, /ɾ/ is pronounced [ɹ]. The same sound replaces [w] as the allophone of /l/ at the end of syllables.

• This sound is used in Malayam.

[edit] See also

• List of phonetic topics

Consonants (List, table)	See also: IPA, Vowels
Pulmonics Bilabial Lab'den. Dental Alveolar Postalv. Retroflex Palatal Velar Uvular Pharyn. Epiglottal Glottal Non-pulmonics and other symbols Nasals m ɱ n ɳ ɲ ŋ ɴ Clicks  ʘ ǀ ǃ ǂ ǁ Plosives p b • • t d ʈ ɖ c ɟ k ɡ q ɢ ʡ ʔ Implo­­sives  ɓ ɗ ʄ ɠ ʛ Fricatives ɸ β f v θ ð s z ʃ ʒ ʂ ʐ ç ʝ x ɣ χ ʁ ħ ʕ ʜ ʢ h ɦ Ejec­­tives  pʼ tʼ kʼ qʼ sʼ Approximants β̞ ʋ ɹ ɻ j ɰ Other laterals  ɺ ɫ Trills ʙ r • ʀ • Co-articulated approximants  ʍ w ɥ Flaps & Taps ѵ̟ ѵ ɾ ɽ • Co-articulated fricatives  ɕ ʑ ɧ Lat. Fricatives ɬ ɮ • • • Affricates  ʦ ʣ ʧ ʤ Lat. Appr'mants l ɭ ʎ ʟ Co-articulated stops  k͡p ɡ͡b ŋ͡m
This page contains phonetic information in IPA, which may not display correctly in some browsers. [Help] Where symbols appear in pairs, the one to the right represents a voiced consonant. Shaded areas denote pulmonic articulations judged impossible.