Retroflex flap

Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Email
Top
Retroflex flap
ɽ
IPA number 125
Encoding
Entity (decimal) ɽ
Unicode (hex) U+027D
X-SAMPA r`
Kirshenbaum *.
Sound
Retroflex flap.ogg

 

The retroflex flap is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is ⟨ɽ⟩, and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is ⟨r`⟩.

Toda has a retroflex trill, which is transcribed with the same IPA symbol.

Contents

Features

Features of the retroflex flap:

  • Its manner of articulation is flap, which means it is produced with a single contraction of the muscles so that one articulator (usually the tongue) is thrown against another.
  • Its place of articulation is retroflex, which prototypically means it is articulated sub-apical - 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 sub-apical 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 lungs and diaphragm, as in most sounds.

Occurrence

Language Word IPA Meaning Notes
Enga la [jɑɽɑ] 'shame'
Hausa bara/? [bəɽa] 'servant' represented in Arabic alphabet with a ⟨ر⟩
Hindi बड़ा [bəɽɑː] 'big' represented by ⟨ड़⟩. Hindi contrasts unaspirated and aspirated forms. See Hindi-Urdu phonology
Nepali[1] ? [bʱaɽa] 'rent' See Nepali phonology
Norwegian blad [bɽɑː] 'leaf' Used in many dialects. See Norwegian phonology
Portuguese Some countryside
Central-Southern
Brazilian dialects[citation needed]
cara [ˈkaɽɐ] 'face' Allophone of /ɾ/. See Portuguese phonology
Swedish blad [bɽɑː] 'blade' Used in some dialects. See Swedish phonology
Urdu بڑا [bəɽɑː] 'big' represented by ⟨ڑ⟩. Urdu contrasts unaspirated and aspirated forms. See Hindi-Urdu phonology

See also

References

Bibliography

  • Khatiwada, Rajesh (2009), "Nepali", Journal of International Phonetic Association 39 (3): 337–380 

Post a question - any question - to the WikiAnswers community:

Copyrights: