Wikipedia
Voiced retroflex approximant
The voiced retroflex approximant is a type of consonant used in some languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is ⟨ɻ⟩, and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is r\`. The IPA symbol is a turned lowercase letter r with a rightward hook protruding from the lower right of the letter.
| Voiced retroflex approximant | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| ɻ | |||
| IPA Number | 152 | ||
| Audio sample | |||
source · help | |||
| Encoding | |||
| Entity (decimal) | ɻ | ||
| Unicode (hex) | U+027B | ||
| X-SAMPA | r\` | ||
| Braille | |||
| |||
| Labialised voiced retroflex approximant | |
|---|---|
| ɻʷ | |
| Audio sample | |
source · help |
The velar bunched approximant found in some varieties of Dutch and American English sounds similar to the retroflex approximant but it has a very different articulation.
Features
A schematic mid-sagittal section of an articulation of a voiced retroflex approximant [ɻ]
Features of the voiced retroflex approximant:
- Its manner of articulation is approximant, which means it is produced by narrowing the vocal tract at the place of articulation, but not enough to produce a turbulent airstream.
- Its place of articulation is retroflex, which prototypically means it is articulated subapical (with the tip of the tongue curled up), but more generally, it means that it is postalveolar without being palatalized. That is, besides the prototypical subapical articulation, the tongue contact can be apical (pointed) or laminal (flat).
- 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 intercostal muscles and diaphragm, as in most sounds.
Occurrence
| Language | Word | IPA | Meaning | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chinese | Mandarin | 肉 ròu | [ɻ̺oʊ̯˥˩] | 'meat' | Apical.[1] Can be transcribed as fricative [ʐ]. See Standard Chinese phonology |
| Derung | Tvrung | [tə˧˩ɻuŋ˥˧] | 'Derung' | ||
| English | Some American dialects | red | [ɻ(ʷ)ɛd] | 'red' | Labialized (pronounced with lips rounded). See Pronunciation of English /r/ |
| Some Hiberno-English dialects | |||||
| Some West Country English | |||||
| Enindhilyagwa | angwura | [aŋwuɻa] | 'fire' | ||
| Faroese[2] | hoyrdi | [hɔiɻʈɛ] | 'heard' | Allophone of /ɹ/.[2] Sometimes voiceless [ɻ̊].[2] See Faroese phonology | |
| Greek | Cretan (Sfakia and Mylopotamos variations) region[3] | γάλα gála | [ˈɣaɻa] | 'milk' | Intervocalic allophone of /l/ before /a o u/. Recessive. See Modern Greek phonology |
| Old Kannada | ಕೊೞೆ | [kɒɻe] | 'to rot' | ||
| Malayalam | ആഴം | [aːɻɐm] | 'Depth' | ||
| Mapudungun[4] | rayen | [ɻɜˈjën] | 'flower' | Possible realization of /ʐ/; may be [ʐ] or [ɭ] instead.[4] | |
| Pashto | سوړ | [soɻ] | 'cold' | Allophone of retroflex lateral flap /ɭ̆/. See Pashto phonology | |
| Portuguese | Many Centro-Sul registers | cartas | [ˈkaɻtə̥̆s] | 'letters' | Allophone of rhotic consonants (and sometimes /l/) in the syllable coda. Mainly[5] found in rural São Paulo, Paraná, south of Minas Gerais and surrounding areas, with the more common and prestigious realization in metropolitan areas being [ɹ] and/or rhotic vowel instead. As with [ɽ], it appeared as a mutation of [ɾ].[6][7][8] See Portuguese phonology. |
| Caipira | temporal | [tẽɪ̯̃pʊˈɾaɻ] | 'rainstorm' | ||
| Conservative Piracicabano | grato | [ˈgɻatʊ̥] | 'thankful' (m.) | ||
| Sanskrit | कृपया | [ˈkɻ̍pɐjaː] | 'please' | ||
| Tamil[9] | தமிழ் | [t̪əˈmɨɻ] (help·info) | 'Tamil' | See Tamil phonology. May be merged with [ɭ] for many modern speakers. | |
| Telugu | తమిఴ్ | [t̪əˈmɨɻ] | 'Tamil' | Might be rarely used to transliterate Tamil or Malayalam or to write proper nouns of Tamil or Malayalam. Usage is practically non existent and almost always merged with [ɭ], in both written and spoken forms, by modern speakers. | |
| Western Desert | Pitjantjatjara dialect | Uluṟu | [ʊlʊɻʊ] | 'Uluru' | |
| Yaghan | wárho | [ˈwaɻo] | 'cave' | ||
See also
Notes
- ^ Lee, Wai-Sum (1999). An articulatory and acoustical analysis of the syllable-initial sibilants and approximant in Beijing Mandarin (PDF). Proceedings of the 14th International Congress of Phonetic Sciences. S2CID 51828449.
- ^ a b c Árnason (2011), p. 115.
- ^ Trudgill (1989), pp. 18–19.
- ^ a b Sadowsky et al. (2013), p. 90.
- ^ Brandão, Silvia Figueiredo (15 December 2007). "Nas trilhas do -R retroflexo". Signum: Estudos da Linguagem. 10 (2): 265. doi:10.5433/2237-4876.2007v10n2p265.
- ^ Ferraz, Irineu da Silva (2005). Características fonético-acústicas do /r/ retroflexo do portugues brasileiro : dados de informantes de Pato Branco (PR) (Thesis). hdl:1884/3955.
- ^ (in Portuguese) Syllable coda /r/ in the "capital" of the paulista hinterland: sociolinguistic analisis. 2013-09-26 at the Wayback Machine Cândida Mara Britto LEITE. Page 111 (page 2 in the attached PDF)
- ^ (in Portuguese) Callou, Dinah. Leite, Yonne. "Iniciação à Fonética e à Fonologia". Jorge Zahar Editora 2001, p. 24
- ^ Keane (2004), p. 111.
References
- Árnason, Kristján (2011), The Phonology of Icelandic and Faroese, Oxford University Press, ISBN 978-0-19-922931-4
- Keane, Elinor (2004), "Tamil", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 34 (1): 111–116, doi:10.1017/S0025100304001549
- Sadowsky, Scott; Painequeo, Héctor; Salamanca, Gastón; Avelino, Heriberto (2013), "Mapudungun", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 43 (1): 87–96, doi:10.1017/S0025100312000369
- Trudgill, Peter (1989), "The Sociophonetics of /l/ in the Greek of Sphakiá", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 15 (2): 18–22, doi:10.1017/S0025100300002942
External links
- List of languages with [ɻ] on PHOIBLE