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Voiceless alveolar tap and flap

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Consonantal sound represented by ⟨ɾ̥⟩ in IPA
Voiceless alveolar tap
ɾ̥
IPA number124 402A
Audio sample
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Encoding
X-SAMPA4_0

The voiceless alveolar tap or flap is rare as a phoneme. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is ⟨ɾ̥⟩, a combination of the letter for the voiced alveolar tap/flap and a diacritic indicating voicelessness. The equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is 4_0.

The voiceless alveolar tapped fricative reported from some languages is actually a very brief voiceless alveolar non-sibilant fricative.

Features

Features of the voiceless alveolar tap or flap:

  • Its manner of articulation is tap or 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 or alveolar, which means it is articulated behind upper front teeth or at the alveolar ridge. It is most often apical, which means that it is pronounced with the tip of the tongue.
  • Its phonation is voiceless, which means it is produced without vibrations of the vocal cords. In some languages the vocal cords are actively separated, so it is always voiceless; in others the cords are lax, so that it may take on the voicing of adjacent sounds.
  • 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.
  • Its airstream mechanism is pulmonic, which means it is articulated by pushing air solely with the intercostal muscles and abdominal muscles, as in most sounds.

Occurrence

Alveolar

Language Word IPA Meaning Notes
Bengali আবার 'again' Possible allophone of /ɹ/ in the syllable coda. See Bengali phonology
English throw 'throw' Allophone of /ɹ/ after /θ/.
Greek Cypriot αρφός 'brother' Allophone of /ɾ/ before voiceless consonants. May be a voiceless alveolar trill instead
Icelandic hrafn 'raven' Realization of /r̥/ for some speakers. Also illustrates /n̥/. See Icelandic phonology
Portuguese European assar 'to bake' Apparent allophone of /ɾ/; distribution unclear, but common in the coda in Jesus (2001)'s corpus. See Portuguese phonology
Turkish bir 'one' /ɾ/ is frequently devoiced word-finally and before a voiceless consonant. See Turkish phonology

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Khan (2010:224)
  2. Jesus (2001)

References

External links

International Phonetic Alphabet (chart)
IPA topics
IPA
Special topics
Encodings
Consonants
Pulmonic consonants
Place Labial Coronal Dorsal Laryngeal
Manner Bi­labial Labio­dental Linguo­labial Dental Alveolar Post­alveolar Retro­flex Palatal Velar Uvular Pharyn­geal/epi­glottal Glottal
Nasal m ɱ̊ ɱ n ɳ̊ ɳ ɲ̊ ɲ ŋ̊ ŋ ɴ̥ ɴ
Plosive p b t d ʈ ɖ c ɟ k ɡ q ɢ ʡ ʔ
Sibilant affricate ts dz t̠ʃ d̠ʒ
Non-sibilant affricate p̪f b̪v t̪θ d̪ð tɹ̝̊ dɹ̝ t̠ɹ̠̊˔ d̠ɹ̠˔ ɟʝ kx ɡɣ ɢʁ ʡʜ ʡʢ ʔh
Sibilant fricative s z ʃ ʒ ʂ ʐ ɕ ʑ
Non-sibilant fricative ɸ β f v θ̼ ð̼ θ ð θ̠ ð̠ ɹ̠̊˔ ɹ̠˔ ɻ̊˔ ɻ˔ ç ʝ x ɣ χ ʁ ħ ʕ h ɦ
Approximant ʋ ɹ ɻ j ɰ ʔ̞
Tap/flap ⱱ̟ ɾ̼ ɾ̥ ɾ ɽ̊ ɽ ɢ̆ ʡ̆
Trill ʙ̥ ʙ r ɽ̊r̥ ɽr ʀ̥ ʀ ʜ ʢ
Lateral affricate tꞎ d𝼅 c𝼆 ɟʎ̝ k𝼄 ɡʟ̝
Lateral fricative ɬ ɮ 𝼅 𝼆 ʎ̝ 𝼄 ʟ̝
Lateral approximant l ɭ ʎ ʟ ʟ̠
Lateral tap/flap ɺ̥ ɺ 𝼈̥ 𝼈 ʎ̆ ʟ̆

Symbols to the right in a cell are voiced, to the left are voiceless. Shaded areas denote articulations judged impossible.

Non-pulmonic consonants
BL LD D A PA RF P V U EG
Ejective Stop ʈʼ ʡʼ
Affricate p̪fʼ t̪θʼ tsʼ t̠ʃʼ tʂʼ tɕʼ kxʼ qχʼ
Fricative ɸʼ θʼ ʃʼ ʂʼ ɕʼ χʼ
Lateral affricate tɬʼ c𝼆ʼ k𝼄ʼ q𝼄ʼ
Lateral fricative ɬʼ
Click
(top: velar;
bottom: uvular)
Tenuis


k𝼊
q𝼊

Voiced ɡʘ
ɢʘ
ɡǀ
ɢǀ
ɡǃ
ɢǃ
ɡ𝼊
ɢ𝼊
ɡǂ
ɢǂ
Nasal ŋʘ
ɴʘ
ŋǀ
ɴǀ
ŋǃ
ɴǃ
ŋ𝼊
ɴ𝼊
ŋǂ
ɴǂ
ʞ
 
Tenuis lateral
Voiced lateral ɡǁ
ɢǁ
Nasal lateral ŋǁ
ɴǁ
Implosive Voiced ɓ ɗ ʄ ɠ ʛ
Voiceless ɓ̥ ɗ̥ ᶑ̊ ʄ̊ ɠ̊ ʛ̥
Co-articulated consonants
Nasal n͡m Labial–alveolar ɳ͡m Labial–retroflex ŋ͡m Labial–velar Plosive t͡pd͡b Labial–alveolar ʈ͡pɖ͡b Labial–retroflex k͡pɡ͡b Labial–velar q͡ʡ Uvular–epiglottal q͡p Labial–uvular Fricative/approximant ɥ̊ɥ Labial–palatal ʍw Labial–velar ɧ Sj-sound (variable) Lateral approximant ɫ Velarized alveolar Implosive ɠ̊͜ɓ̥ ɠ͡ɓ Labial–velar Ejective t͡pʼ Labial–alveolar
Other
Vowels
Front Central Back
Close i • y ɨ • ʉ ɯ • u
Near-close ɪ • ʏ • ʊ
Close-mid e • ø ɘ • ɵ ɤ • o
Mid • ø̞ ə ɤ̞ •
Open-mid ɛ • œ ɜ • ɞ ʌ • ɔ
Near-open æ • ɐ
Open a • ɶ ä • ɑ • ɒ

Legend: unrounded • rounded

The letter R
General
Pronunciations
Variations
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