Dental, alveolar and postalveolar flaps

Alveolar tap
ɾ
IPA number	124
Encoding
Entity (decimal)	ɾ
Unicode (hex)	U+027E
X-SAMPA	4
Kirshenbaum	*
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The alveolar tap or flap is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents dental, alveolar, and postalveolar flaps is [ɾ].

The terms tap and flap may be used interchangeably. Peter Ladefoged proposed for a while that it may be useful to distinguish between them; however, his usage has been inconsistent, contradicting itself even between different editions of the same text.^[1] The last proposed distinction was that a tap strikes its point of contact directly, as a very brief stop, whereas a flap strikes the point of contact tangentially: "Flaps are most typically made by retracting the tongue tip behind the alveolar ridge and moving it forward so that it strikes the ridge in passing."^[2] However, later on, he no longer felt this was a useful distinction to make, and preferred to use the word flap in all cases.

For linguists who do make the distinction, the coronal tap is transcribed as a fish-hook "r", [ɾ], while the flap is transcribed as a small capital "d", [ᴅ], which is not recognized by the IPA. Otherwise, alveolars and dentals are typically called taps, and other articulations flaps. No language contrasts a tap and a flap at the same place of articulation.

This sound is often analyzed (and therefore transcribed) by native English speakers as an 'R-sound' in many foreign languages. For example, the 'Japanese R' in hara, akira, tora, etc. is actually an alveolar tap. In languages where this segment is present but not phonemic, it is often an allophone of either an alveolar stop ([t], [d] or both) or a rhotic consonant like the alveolar trill or alveolar approximant.

When the alveolar tap is the only rhotic consonant in the language, it may for simplicity be transcribed /r/, i.e. the symbol technically representing the trill.

Voiced alveolar flap

Features

Features of the alveolar tap:

• Its manner of articulation is flap, which means it is produced with a single contraction of the muscles so that the tongue makes very brief contact.
• Its place of articulation is dental, alveolar or post-alveolar, which means it is articulated behind upper front teeth, at the alveolar ridge or behind the alveolar ridge. It is most often apical, which means that it is pronounced with the tip of the tongue.

• Its phonation is voiced, which means the vocal cords vibrate during the articulation.

• It is an oral consonant, which means air is allowed to escape through the mouth only.

• It is a central consonant, which means it is produced by directing the airstream along the center of the tongue, rather than to the sides.

• The airstream mechanism is pulmonic, which means it is articulated by pushing air solely with the lungs and diaphragm, as in most sounds.

Occurrence

Dental or denti-alveolar

Language		Word	IPA	Meaning	Notes
Russian[3]		рьяный	[ˈɾ̪ʲjän̪ɨ̞j]	'zealous'	Apical; palatalized. More common than a dental trill.[3] It contrasts with a post-alveolar trill. See Russian phonology
Uzbek[4]		ёмғир/yomg‘ir	[ʝɒ̜mˈʁ̟ɨɾ̪]	'rain'	Denti-alveolar.[4]

Alveolar

Language		Word	IPA	Meaning	Notes
Afrikaans	Standard[5]	rooi	[ɾoːi̯]	'red'	May be a trill [r] instead.[5] See Afrikaans phonology
Arabic	Egyptian[6]	رجل	[ɾeɡl]	'foot'	Contrasts with emphatic form. See Egyptian Arabic phonology
Armenian	Eastern[7]	րոպե	[ɾopɛ]	'minute'	Contrasts with /r/ in all positions.
Catalan[8]		mira	[ˈmiɾə]	'look'	Contrasts with /r/. See Catalan phonology
Danish[9][10]		Vil du med?	[ʋe̝ ɾu ˈme]	'Are you coming too?'	Possible realization of intervocalic /d/ when it occurs between two unstressed vowels.[9][10] See Danish phonology
English	Received Pronunciation[11]	better	[ˈbe̞ɾə]	'better'	Intervocalic allophone of /t/ for some speakers. See English phonology and flapping
	Cockney[12]				Intervocalic allophone of /t/. In free variation with [ʔ ~ tʰ ~ tˢ]. See flapping
	Australian[13]		[ˈbeɾə]		Intervocalic allophone of /t/, and also /d/ among few Australians. Used more often in Australia than in New Zealand. See Australian English phonology and flapping
	New Zealand[14]		[ˈbeɾɘ]
	Dublin		[ˈbɛɾɚ]		Intervocalic allophone of /t/ and /d/, present in many dialects. In Local Dublin it can be [ɹ] instead, unlike New and Mainstream. See English phonology and flapping
	North America[15]
	Ulster
	West Country
	Irish	three	[θɾiː]	'three'	Conservative accents. Corresponds to [ɹ ~ ɻ ~ ʁ] in other accents.
	Scottish[16]				Most speakers. Others use [ɹ ~ r].
	Older Received Pronunciation[17]				Allophone of /ɹ/
	Scouse[16]
	South African[16]				Broad speakers. Can be [ɹ ~ r] instead
Greek[18]		μηρός/mirós	[miˈɾ̠o̞s]	'thigh'	Somewhat retracted. Most common realization of /r/. See Modern Greek phonology
Hindustani		अर्थ/ارتھ	[əɾt̪ʰ]	'meaning, definition'	See Hindustani phonology
Limburgish	Hasselt dialect[19]	weuren	[ˈβ̞ø̠ːɾən]	'(they) were'	Possible intervocalic allophone of /r/; may be uvular [ʀ̆] instead.[19]
Portuguese[20]		prato	[ˈpɾatu]	'dish'	Dental to retroflex allophones, varying by dialect. Contrasts with /ʁ/, with its guttural allophones and, in all positions, with its archaic form [r]. See Portuguese phonology
Scottish Gaelic		mòr	[moːɾ]	'big'	Both the lenited and non-initial broad form of r. Often transcribed simply as /r/. The initial unlenited broad form is /rˠ/ (also transcribed as /r/ or /R/) while the slender form is /ɾʲ/ ([ð] in some dialects). See Scottish Gaelic phonology.
Slovene[21]		amarant	[amaˈɾaːn̪t̪]	'amaranth'	Also described as trill [r],[22] and variable between trill [r] and tap [ɾ].[23] See Slovene phonology
Spanish[24]		caro	[ˈkaɾo̞]	'expensive'	Contrasts with /r/. See Spanish phonology
Turkish[25]		ara	[ˈäɾä]	'interval'	Intervocalic realization of /ɾ/.[25] See Turkish phonology
Yiddish	Standard[26]	בריק	[bɾɪk]	'bridge'	Less commonly a trill [r]; can be uvular [ʀ̆ ~ ʀ] instead.[26] See Yiddish phonology
Zapotec	Tilquiapan[27]	ran	[ɾaŋ]	'to see'

Postalveolar

Language		Word	IPA	Meaning	Notes
Gokana[28]		bele	[bēɾ̠ē]	'we'	Allophone of /l/, medially between vowels within the morpheme, and finally in the morpheme before a following vowel in the same word. It can be a post-alveolar trill or simply [l] instead.[28]
Japanese[29]		心/kokoro	[kokoɾo]	'heart'	Allophone of /ɺ/. See Japanese phonology
Shipibo[30]		?	[ˈɾ̠o̽ɾ̠o̽]	'to break into pieces'	Possible realization of /r/.[30]

Variable

Voiced alveolar tapped fricative

A tapped fricative is in effect a very brief fricative, with the tongue making the gesture for a tapped stop but not making full contact. This can be indicated in the IPA with the lowering diacritic to show full occlusion did not occur. Flapped fricatives are theoretically possible but are not attested.^[32]

Features

Features of the voiced alveolar tapped fricative:

• Its manner of articulation is tapped fricative, which means the tongue makes a brief obstruction sufficient to create frication.
• Its place of articulation is apical alveolar, which means it is articulated with the tip of the tongue at the alveolar ridge.

• Its phonation is voiced, which means the vocal cords vibrate during the articulation.

• It is an oral consonant, which means air is allowed to escape through the mouth only.

• It is a central consonant, which means it is produced by directing the airstream along the center of the tongue, rather than to the sides.

• The airstream mechanism is pulmonic, which means it is articulated by pushing air solely with the lungs and diaphragm, as in most sounds.

Occurrence

Reported from Turkish in a single source.^[25] In Tacana per UPSID.

Alveolar nasal flap

Features

Features of the alveolar nasal flap:

• Its manner of articulation is flap, which means it is produced with a single contraction of the muscles so that the tongue makes very brief contact.

• 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 a nasal consonant, which means air is allowed to escape through the nose, either exclusively (nasal stops) or in addition to through the mouth.

• It is a central consonant, which means it is produced by directing the airstream along the center of the tongue, rather than to the sides.

• The airstream mechanism is pulmonic, which means it is articulated by pushing air solely with the lungs and diaphragm, as in most sounds.

Occurrence

Language		Word	IPA	Meaning	Notes
English[36]	Estuary	twenty	[ˈtw̥ɛɾ̃i]	'twenty'	Allophone of unstressed intervocallic /nt/ for some speakers. See English phonology, North American English regional phonology and flapping
	North American[37]

See also

• Intervocalic alveolar flapping
• Index of phonetics articles
• Voiceless alveolar flap

References

Bibliography

International Phonetic Alphabet   IPA topics IPA International Phonetic Association History of the IPA Extensions to the IPA Kiel convention (1989) Journal of the IPA (JIPA) Naming conventions Phonetics Diacritics Segments Tone letter Place of articulation Manner of articulation Special topics Case variants of IPA letters Handwritten IPA Obsolete and nonstandard symbols IPA chart for English dialects Encodings SAMPA X-SAMPA Kirshenbaum TIPA Phonetic symbols in Unicode WorldBet IPA Braille   Consonants IPA pulmonic consonantschart image • audio Place → Labial Coronal Dorsal Laryngeal ↓ Manner Bilabial Labio­dental Linguo­labial Dental Alveolar Palato- alveolar Retroflex Alveolo- palatal Palatal Velar Uvular Pharyngeal / Epiglottal Glottal Nasal m̥ m ɱ n̼̊ n̼ n̥ n ɳ̊ ɳ ɲ̊ ɲ ŋ̊ ŋ ɴ̥ ɴ Stop p b p̪ b̪ t̼ d̼ t d ʈ ɖ c ɟ k ɡ q ɢ ʡ ʔ Sibilant affricate ts dz tʃ dʒ ʈʂ ɖʐ tɕ dʑ Non-sibilant affricate pɸ bβ p̪f b̪v tθ dð tθ̠ dð̠ t̠ɹ̠̊˔ d̠ɹ̠˔ cç ɟʝ kx ɡɣ qχ ɢʁ ʡħ ʡʕ ʔh Sibilant fricative s z ʃ ʒ ʂ ʐ ɕ ʑ Non-sibilant fricative ɸ β f v θ̼ ð̼ θ ð θ̱ ð̠ ɹ̠̊˔ ɹ̠˔ ç ʝ x ɣ χ ʁ ħ ʕ h ɦ ʔ̞ Approximant ɸ˕ ʋ θ̞ ɹ̥ ɹ ɻ̊ ɻ j̊ j ɰ̊ ɰ Flap or tap ⱱ̟ ⱱ ɾ̼ ɾ̥ ɾ ɽ̊ ɽ ɢ̆ ʡ̮ Trill ʙ r̼ r̥ r ɽr̥ ɽr ʀ̥ ʀ ʜ ʢ Lateral affricate tɬ dɮ ʈɭ̊˔ cʎ̥˔ kʟ̝̊ ɡʟ̝ Lateral fricative ɬ ɮ ɭ̊˔ ʎ̥˔ ʎ̝ ʟ̝̊ ʟ̝ Lateral approximant l̼ l̥ l ɭ̊ ɭ ʎ̥ ʎ ʟ ʟ̠ Lateral flap ɺ̼ ɺ ɭ̆ ʎ̮ ʟ̆ Non-pulmonic consonants Simple clicks ʘ ʘ̬ ʘ̃ ǀ ǀ̬ ǀ̃ ǃ ǃ̬ ǃ̃ ǂ ǂ̬ ǂ̃ ǁ ǁ̬ ǁ̃ ǃ˞ ǃ̬˞ ǃ̃˞ Other clicks ʘ̃ˀ ʘˀ ˀʘ̃ ʘ͡q ʘ͡qχ ʘ͡qʼ ʘ͡qχʼ ¡ ʞ Implosives ɓ ɗ ᶑ ʄ ɠ ʛ ɓ̥ ɗ̥ ᶑ̥ ʄ̊ ɠ̊ ʛ̥  Ejectives pʼ tʼ ʈʼ cʼ kʼ qʼ ʡʼ fʼ θʼ sʼ ɬʼ ʃʼ ʂʼ ɕʼ xʼ χʼ tsʼ tɬʼ tʃʼ ʈʂʼ tɕʼ cʎ̝̥ʼ kxʼ kʟ̝̊ʼ qχʼ Co-articulated consonants Continuants ʍ w ɥ̊ ɥ ɫ Occlusives k͡p ɡ͡b ŋ͡m ɧ t͡p d͡b n͡m q͡ʡ — These tables contain phonetic symbols, which may not display correctly in some browsers. [Help] — Where symbols appear in pairs, left–right represent the voiceless–voiced consonants. — Shaded areas denote pulmonic articulations judged to be impossible or not distinctive. Chart image Pulmonics Non-pulmonics Affricates Co-articulated   Vowels Front Near-​front Central Near-​back Back Close •iy •ɨʉ •ɯu •ɪʏ •ɪ̈ʊ̈ •ɯ̽ʊ •eø •ɘɵ •ɤo •e̞ø̞ •əɵ̞ •ɤ̞o̞ •ɛœ •ɜɞ •ʌɔ •æ •ɐɞ̞ •aɶ •äɒ̈ •ɑɒ Near-close Close-mid Mid Open-mid Near-open Open IPA help • chart •  chart with audio • view