Voiced dental, alveolar and postalveolar nasals

For consonants followed by superscript ⁿ, see Nasal release.

"Alveolar nasal" redirects here. For the voiceless consonant, see Voiceless alveolar nasal.

The voiced alveolar nasal is a type of consonantal sound used in numerous spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents dental, alveolar, and postalveolar nasals is ⟨n⟩, and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is n.

Voiced alveolar nasal
n
IPA Number	116
Audio sample
source · help
Encoding
Entity (decimal)	n
Unicode (hex)	U+006E
X-SAMPA	n
Braille

The vast majority of languages have either an alveolar or dental nasal.^{[citation needed]} There are a few languages that lack either sound but have [m], such as Yoruba, Palauan, and colloquial Samoan (however, these languages all have [ŋ]. An example of a language without [n] and [ŋ] is Edo). There are some languages (e.g. Rotokas) that lack both [m] and [n].

True dental consonants are relatively uncommon. In the Romance, Dravidian, and Australian languages, n is often called "dental" in the literature. However, the rearmost contact, which gives a consonant its distinctive sound, is actually alveolar or denti-alveolar. The difference between the Romance languages and English is not so much where the tongue contacts the roof of the mouth but the part of the tongue that makes contact. In English, it is the tip of the tongue (such sounds are termed apical), but in the Romance languages, it is the flat of the tongue just above the tip (such sounds are called laminal).

However, there are languages with true apical (or less commonly laminal) dental n. It is found in the Mapuche language of South America, where it is actually interdental. A true dental generally occurs allophonically before /θ/ in the languages that have it, as in English tenth. Similarly, a denti-alveolar allophone occurs in languages that have denti-alveolar stops, as in Spanish cinta.

Some languages contrast laminal denti-alveolar and apical alveolar nasals. For example, in the Malayalam pronunciation of Nārāyanan, the first n is dental, the second is retroflex, and the third alveolar.

A postalveolar nasal occurs in a number of Australian Aboriginal languages, including Djeebbana and Jingulu.^[1]

Features

 

Features of the voiced alveolar nasal:

• Its manner of articulation is occlusive, which means it is produced by obstructing airflow in the vocal tract. Because the consonant is also nasal, the blocked airflow is redirected through the nose.
• There are four specific variants of [n]:
  • Dental, which means it is articulated with either the tip or the blade of the tongue at the upper teeth, termed respectively apical and laminal.
  • Denti-alveolar, which means it is articulated with the blade of the tongue at the alveolar ridge, and the tip of the tongue behind upper teeth.
  • 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.
  • Postalveolar, which means it is articulated with either the tip or the blade of the tongue behind 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 intercostal muscles and abdominal muscles, as in most sounds.

Occurrence

Dental or denti-alveolar

Language		Word	IPA	Meaning	Notes
Belarusian^[2]		новы/novy	[ˈn̪ovɨ]	'new'	Laminal denti-alveolar. Contrasts with palatalized form. See Belarusian phonology
Bulgarian^[3]		жена/žena	[ʒɛˈn̪a]	'woman'	Laminal denti-alveolar.
Catalan^[4]		cantar	[kɐ̃n̪ˈt̪ɑ(ɾ)]	'to sing'	Laminal denti-alveolar. Allophone of /n/ before /t, d/.^[4] See Catalan phonology
Chuvash		шăна/šăna	[ʃɒn̪a]	'a fly'
Dutch	Belgian	nicht	[n̻ɪxt̻]	'niece'	Laminal denti-alveolar, sometimes simply alveolar. See Dutch phonology
English		month	[mʌn̪θ]	'month'	Interdental. Allophone of /n/ before /θ, ð/.
Esperanto		Esperanto	[espeˈran̪t̪o]	'one who hopes'	See Esperanto phonology
Finnish^[5]		ranta	[ˈran̪t̪a]	'beach'	Allophone of /n/ before /t̪/.
French^[6]		connexion	[kɔn̻ɛksjɔ̃]	'connection'	Laminal denti-alveolar, sometimes simply alveolar. See French phonology
Greek^[7]		άνθος/ánthos	[ˈɐn̪θo̞s]	'flower'	Interdental. Allophone of /n/. See Modern Greek phonology
Hindustani	Hindi	नया / najā	[n̪əjaː]	'new'	See Hindi–Urdu phonology
	Urdu	نیا / najā
Hungarian^[8]		nagyi	[ˈn̪ɒɟi]	'grandma'	Laminal denti-alveolar. See Hungarian phonology
Italian^[9]^[10]		cantare	[kän̪ˈt̪äːre]	'to sing'	Laminal denti-alveolar.^[10] Allophone of /n/ before /t, d, s, z, t͡s, d͡z/.^[9]^[10] See Italian phonology
Irish		naoi	[n̪ˠɰiː]	'nine'	Velarized.
Japanese		涙/namida	[n̪ämʲid̪ä]	'tear'	Laminal denti-alveolar. See Japanese phonology
Kashubian		naprësk	[n̪aprəsk]	'shower'	Laminal denti-alveolar.^[11]
Kazakh		көрінді/körindi	[kœɾɪn̪d̪ɪ]	'it seemed'	Laminal denti-alveolar. Allophone of /n/ before /t, d/.
Kyrgyz		беделинде/bedelinde	[be̞d̪e̞lin̪d̪e̞]	'in the authority'	Laminal denti-alveolar. Allophone of /n/ before /t, d/.
Latvian^[12]		nakts	[n̪äkt̪s̪]	'night'	Laminal denti-alveolar. See Latvian phonology
Macedonian^[13]		нос/nos	[n̪o̞s̪]	'nose'	Laminal denti-alveolar. See Macedonian phonology
Malayalam		പന്നി/panni	[pɐn̪ːi]	'pig'	Interdental for some speakers. See Malayalam phonology
Mapudungun^[14]		müṉa	[mɘ̝ˈn̪ɐ̝]	'male cousin on father's side'	Interdental.^[14]
Marathi		नख/nakh	[n̪əkʰ]	'fingernail'	See Marathi phonology
Nepali		सुगन्ध	[suˈɡʌn̪d̪ʱʌ]	'fraɡrance'	Allophone of /n/ in neighbourhood of /t̪, t̪ʰ, d̪, d̪ʱ/.
Polish^[15]		nos	[n̪ɔs̪]	'nose'	Laminal denti-alveolar. Alveolar before /t͡ʂ, d͡ʐ/. See Polish phonology
Portuguese	General^[16]^[17]	narina	[n̻ɐˈɾin̻ɐ]	'nostril'	Laminal denti-alveolar. May nasalize preceding vowel (especially if stressed). Has [ɲ̟] as allophone, forming from clusters with [j], and before /i/.
	Vernacular Paulista^[18]^[19]	percebendo	[pe̞ʁse̞ˈbẽn̻u]	'perceiving'	Laminal denti-alveolar. Allophone of /d/ after a stressed nasal vowel in more stigmatized varieties. See Portuguese phonology
Romanian^[20]		alună	[äˈl̪un̪ə]	'hazelnut'	Laminal denti-alveolar. See Romanian phonology
Russian		наш/nash	[n̪aʂ]	'our'	Laminal denti-alveolar, contrasts with palatalized form. See Russian phonology
Serbo-Croatian		студент / student	[s̪t̪ǔd̪e̞n̪t̪]	'student'	Laminal denti-alveolar. Allophone of /n/ before /t, d, s, z, t͡s/. See Serbo-Croatian phonology
Slovene		prevarant	[pɾeʋaˈɾǎːn̪t̪]	'con artist'	Laminal denti-alveolar. Allophone of /n/ before /t, d, s, z, t͡s/. See Slovene phonology
Spanish	Most dialects	cantar	[kän̪ˈt̪är]	'to sing'	Laminal denti-alveolar. Allophone of /n/ before /t, d/. See Spanish phonology
Tamil		நாடு/nāḍu	[n̪ɑːɖɯ]	'country'	See Tamil phonology
Telugu		నములుట	[n̪amu]	'To chew'	Occurs as an allophone of anuswara when followed by dental stops.
Ukrainian^[21]		наш/nash	[n̪ɑʃ]	'our'	Laminal denti-alveolar, contrasts with palatalized form. See Ukrainian phonology
Uzbek^[22]		^[example needed]			Laminal denti-alveolar.

Alveolar

Language		Word	IPA	Meaning	Notes
Adyghe		нэфнэ/nėfnė	[nafna]	'light'
Arabic	Standard	نور/nūr	[nuːr]	'light'	See Arabic phonology
Assyrian		ܢܘܪܐ/nōra	[noːɾaː]	'mirror'
Basque		ni	[ni]	'I'
Bengali		নাক/naak/nāk	[naːk]	'nose'	See Bengali phonology
Cantonese		年/nìhn	[ni:n˨˩]	'year'	See Cantonese phonology
Catalan^[23]		neu	[ˈneʊ̯]	'snow'	See Catalan phonology
Czech		na	[na]	'on'	See Czech phonology
Dutch^[24]		nacht	[nɑxt]	'night'	See Dutch phonology
English		nice	[naɪs]^ⓘ	'nice'	See English phonology
Finnish		annan	[ˈɑnːɑn]	'I give'	See Finnish phonology
German		fünf	[fʏnf]	'five'	See German phonology
Georgian^[25]		კანი/k'ani	[ˈkʼɑni]	'skin'
Greek		νάμα/náma	[ˈnama]	'communion wine'	See Modern Greek phonology
Gujarati		નહી/nahi	[nəhi]	'no'	See Gujarati phonology
Hawaiian^[26]		naka	[naka]	'to shake'	See Hawaiian phonology
Hebrew		נבון/navon	[navon]	'wise'	See Modern Hebrew phonology
Italian^[27]		nano	[ˈnäːno]	'dwarf'	See Italian phonology
Irish		binn	[bʲiːnʲ]	'peak'	Palatalized.
Khmer		នគរ nôkôr	[nɔkɔː]	'kingdom'	See Khmer phonology
Korean		나라/nara	[nɐɾɐ]	'Country'	See Korean phonology
Kurdish	Northern	giyanewer	[ˈgʲɪjä:ˈnɛwɛˈɾ]	'animal'	See Kurdish phonology
	Central	گیانلەبەر/gîyânlabar	[ˈgʲiːäːnˈlæbæˈɾ]
	Southern		[ˈgʲiːäːnˈlabaˈɾ]
Kyrgyz^[28]		банан/banan	[baˈnan]	'banana'
Malay		nasi	[näsi]	'cooked rice'
Malayalam		ആന	[äːn]	'elephant'	See Malayalam phonology
Maltese		lenbuba	[lenbuˈba]	'truncheon'
Mandarin		難/难/nán	[nan˧˥]	'difficult'	See Mandarin phonology
Mapudungun^[14]		müna	[mɘ̝ˈnɐ̝]	'enough'
Ngwe	Mmockngie dialect	[nøɣə̀]		'sun'
Nepali		नक्कल/nakkal	[nʌkːʌl]	'imitation'	See Nepali phonology
Odia		ନାକ/nāka	[näkɔ]	'nose'
Okinawan		ʻnmu	[ʔn̩mu]	'potato'	Can occur as onset, nucleus, or coda. Allophone of [m], [ŋ], and [ɴ] in coda, but phonemic elsewhere.
Persian		نون/nun	[nun]	'bread'
Pirahã		gíxai	[níˈʔàì̯]	'you'
Polish^[15]		poncz	[ˈpɔn̥t͡ʂ]	'punch'	Allophone of /n/ (which is normally laminal denti-alveolar [n̪]) before /t͡ʂ, d͡ʐ/. See Polish phonology
Punjabi		ਨੱਕ/nakk	[nəkː]	'nose'
Slovak		na	[nä]	'on'
Slovene^[29]	Common	novice	[noˈʋìːt̪͡s̪ɛ́]	'news'
	Some speakers	konj	[ˈkɔ̂nː]	'horse'	See Slovene phonology
Spanish^[30]		nada	[ˈnäð̞ä]	'nothing'	See Spanish phonology
Swahili		ndizi	[n̩dizi]	'banana'
Tagalog		nipis	[nipis]	'thin'	Tagalog phonology
Thai		นอน/non	[nɔːn]	'sleep'	See Thai phonology
Toki Pona		noka	[noka]	'foot'
Turkish		neden	[ne̞d̪æn]	'reason'	See Turkish phonology
Tamil		மனசு/manasu	[mʌnʌsɯ]	'mind', 'heart'	See Tamil phonology
Vietnamese^[31]		bạn đi	[ɓanˀ˧˨ʔ ɗi]	'you're going'	Occurs only before alveolar consonants. See Vietnamese phonology
Welsh		nain	[nain]	'grandmother'	See Welsh phonology
Western Apache		non	[nòn]^ⓘ	'cache'
West Frisian		nekke	[ˈnɛkə]	'neck'
Yi		ꆅ/na	[na˧ ]	'hurt'
Zapotec	Tilquiapan^[32]	nanɨɨ	[nanɨˀɨ]	'lady'	contrasts with a fortis alveolar nasal that is not represented in the orthography.

Postalveolar

See also: Retroflex nasal

Language		Word	IPA	Meaning	Notes
Catalan^[4]		panxa	['pän̠ɕə]^[33]	'belly'	Allophone of /n/ before /ʃ, ʒ, t͡ʃ, d͡ʒ/, may be alveolo-palatal instead.^[4] See Catalan phonology
Djeebbana^[34]		barnmarramarlón̠a	[ban̠maramal̠ɔn̪a]	'they two swam'	Result of rhotic plus alveolar [n].^[34]
English	Australian^[35]	enrol	[əṉˈɹ̠ɔo̯ɫ]	'enrol'	Allophone of /n/ before /r/.^[35] See Australian English phonology
Italian^[36]		angelo	[ˈän̠ʲːd͡ʒelo]	'angel'	Palatalized laminal; allophone of /n/ before /ʃ, t͡ʃ, d͡ʒ/.^[36] See Italian phonology

Variable

Language		Word	IPA	Meaning	Notes
English	Scottish^[37]	nice	[nəis]	'nice'	Laminal denti-alveolar for some speakers, alveolar for other speakers.^[37]^[38]
	Welsh^[38]
German	Standard^[39]	Lanze	[ˈlant͡sə]	'lance'	Varies between laminal denti-alveolar, laminal alveolar and apical alveolar.^[39] See Standard German phonology
Norwegian	Urban East^[40]	mann	[mɑn̻ː]	'man'	Varies between laminal denti-alveolar and laminal alveolar.^[40] See Norwegian phonology
Swedish	Central Standard^[41]	nu	[nʉ̟ː]	'now'	Varies between laminal denti-alveolar and alveolar, with the former being predominant.^[41] See Swedish phonology

See also

• Index of phonetics articles

Notes

1. Chadwick, Neil J. (1975). A descriptive study of the Djingili language. Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies.
2. Padluzhny (1989), pp. 49–50.
3. Klagstad (1958), p. 46.
4. Rafel (1999), p. 14.
5. Suomi, Toivanen & Ylitalo (2008), p. 29.
6. Fougeron & Smith (1993), p. 73.
7. Arvaniti (2007), p. 15.
8. Siptár & Törkenczy (2000), pp. 75–76.
9. Bertinetto & Loporcaro (2005), p. 133.
10. Canepari (1992), p. 58.
11. Jerzy Treder. . Archived from the original on 2016-03-04.
12. Nau (1998), p. 6.
13. Lunt (1952), p. 1.
14. Sadowsky et al. (2013), pp. 88–89.
15. Rocławski (1976), p. 136.
16. Cruz-Ferreira (1995), p. 91.
17. Barbosa & Albano (2004), p. 230.
18. (in Portuguese) Unesp's digital collection – The deleting of /d/ in the morpheme of the gerund in São José do Rio Preto's accent Archived 2012-12-31 at archive.today
19. (in Portuguese) The deletting of /d/ in the morpheme of the gerund in São José do Rio Preto's accent – PDF
20. Chițoran (2001), p. 10.
21. Danyenko & Vakulenko (1995), p. 10.
22. Sjoberg (1963), p. 12.
23. Carbonell & Llisterri (1992), p. 53.
24. Gussenhoven (1992), p. 45.
25. Shosted & Chikovani (2006), p. 255.
26. Ladefoged (2005), p. 139. sfnp error: no target: CITEREFLadefoged2005 (help)
27. Rogers & d'Arcangeli (2004), p. 117.
28. Kara (2003), p. 11.
29. Pretnar & Tokarz (1980), p. 21.
30. Martínez-Celdrán, Fernández-Planas & Carrera-Sabaté (2003), p. 255.
31. Thompson (1959), pp. 458–461.
32. Merrill (2008), p. 108.
33. Valencian pronunciation: ['pän̠t͡ɕä]. What are transcribed /ʃ, ʒ, t͡ʃ, d͡ʒ/ in Catalan are actually alveolo-palatal sibilants [ɕ, ʑ, t͡ɕ, d͡ʑ].
34. Dixon (2002), p. 585.
35. Mannell, Cox & Harrington (2009).
36. Canepari (1992), pp. 58–59.
37. Scobbie, Gordeeva & Matthews (2006), p. 4.
38. Wells (1982), p. 388.
39. Mangold (2005), p. 49.
40. Kristoffersen (2000), p. 22.
41. Riad (2014), p. 46.

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External links

• List of languages with [n] on PHOIBLE