Alveolar lateral flap

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IPA – number 181
IPA – text ɺ
IPA – image Image:Xsampa-lslash.png
Entity ɺ
X-SAMPA l\
Kirshenbaum *<lat>
Sound sample 

The alveolar lateral flap is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is ɺ.

[edit] Features

Features of the alveolar lateral flap:

  • Its manner of articulation is flap, which means it is produced with a single contraction of the muscles so that one articulator is thrown against another.
  • Its place of articulation is alveolar, which means it is articulated with the tip of the tongue against the alveolar ridge.
  • 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 lateral consonant, which means it is produced by allowing the airstream to flow over the sides of the tongue, rather than the middle of the tongue.
  • 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] Found in

The lateral flap appears to be under-reported because European-language speaking linguists often fail to recognize it.

In Japanese, the r may be a lateral flap, or may be a flap indeterminate in its centrality. Both possibilities are quite common in languages which do not distinguish [l] from [ɾ], especially when these sounds are claimed to be in free variation.

The Iwaidja language of Australia has both an alveolar and a retroflex lateral flap, and (perhaps) a palatal lateral flap as well.

[edit] See also

  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 
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.
In other languages