Alveolar consonant
| Places of articulation |
| Labial |
| Bilabial |
| Labiodental |
| Linguolabial |
| Labial-velar |
| Coronal |
| Interdental |
| Dental |
| Retroflex |
| Alveolar |
| Postalveolar |
| Alveolo-palatal |
| Dorsal |
| Palatal |
| Labial-palatal |
| Velar |
| Uvular |
| Pharyngeal |
| Epiglottal |
| Glottal |
| Apical |
| Laminal |
| This page contains phonetic information in IPA, which may not display correctly in some browsers. [Help] |
| [Edit] |
Alveolar consonants are articulated with the tongue against or close to the superior alveolar ridge, which is called that because it contains the alveoli (the sockets) of the superior teeth. Alveolar consonants may be articulated with the tip of the tongue (so-called apical consonants), as in English, or with the flat of the tongue just above the tip (the "blade" of the tongue; called laminal consonants), as in French and Spanish. The laminal alveolar articulation is often mistakenly called dental, because the tip of the tongue can be seen near to or touching the teeth. However, it is the rearmost point of contact that defines the place of articulation; this is where the oral cavity ends, and it is the resonant space of the oral cavity that gives consonants and vowels their characteristic timbre.
The alveolar consonants identified by the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) are:
| IPA | Description | Example | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Language | Orthography | IPA | Meaning | ||
| Missing image Xsampa-n.png Image:Xsampa-n.png | alveolar nasal | English | run | [ɹʷɐn] | run |
| Missing image Xsampa-t.png Image:Xsampa-t.png | voiceless alveolar plosive | English | tap | [tʰæp] | tap |
| Missing image Xsampa-d.png Image:Xsampa-d.png | voiced alveolar plosive | English | debt | [dɛt] | debt |
| Missing image Xsampa-s.png Image:Xsampa-s.png | voiceless alveolar fricative | English | suit | [sut] | suit |
| Missing image Xsampa-z.png Image:Xsampa-z.png | voiced alveolar fricative | English | zoo | [zu] | zoo |
| Missing image Xsampa-K2.png Image:Xsampa-K2.png | voiceless alveolar lateral fricative | Mishnaic Hebrew | שׂין (śîn) | [ɬiːn̪] | The letter śîn |
| Missing image Xsampa-Kslash.png Image:Xsampa-Kslash.png | voiced alveolar lateral fricative | Mishnaic Hebrew | למד (lāmedh) | [ˈɮɔː.mɛð] | The letter lāmedh |
| Missing image Xsampa-rslash2.png Image:Xsampa-rslash2.png | alveolar approximant | English | red | [ɹʷɛd] | red |
| Missing image Xsampa-l.png Image:Xsampa-l.png | alveolar lateral approximant | English | loop | [lup] | loop |
| Missing image Xsampa-4.png Image:Xsampa-4.png | alveolar flap | Spanish | pero | [peɾo] | but |
| Missing image Xsampa-lslash.png Image:Xsampa-lslash.png | alveolar lateral flap | Venda | [vuɺa] | to open | |
| Missing image Xsampa-r.png Image:Xsampa-r.png | alveolar trill | Spanish | perro | [pero] | dog |
| Missing image IPA_alveolar_ejective.png Image:IPA alveolar ejective.png | alveolar ejective | ||||
| Missing image IPA_alveolar_ejective_fricative.png Image:IPA alveolar ejective fricative.png | alveolar ejective fricative | ||||
| Missing image Xsampa-d_lessthan.png Image:Xsampa-d lessthan.png | voiced alveolar implosive | Vietnamese | đã | [ɗɐː] | Past tense indicator |
| Missing image Xsampa-doublebarslash.png Image:Xsampa-doublebarslash.png | lateral alveolar click | Nama | ǁî | [ǁĩĩ] | discussed |