Retroflex 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 |
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Retroflex.png
Retroflex consonants cover two points of articulation. They are articulated in the postalveolar-palatal region, but are either apical or sub-apical, rather than laminal as the postalveolar and palatal consonants are. That is, in a retroflex articulation, either the tip of the tongue touches the postalveolar region (in Mandarin Chinese and Hindi), or it curls back so that the underside of the tip touches the roof of the mouth in the postalveolar-palatal region (in Tamil). Retroflex consonants identified by the International Phonetic Alphabet are:
| IPA | Description | Example | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Language | Orthography | IPA | Meaning | ||
| Missing image Xsampa-n'.png Image:Xsampa-n'.png | retroflex nasal | Swedish | Vänern | [vɛː.neɳ] | Vänern |
| Missing image Xsampa-t'.png Image:Xsampa-t'.png | voiceless retroflex plosive | Vietnamese | Nha Trang | [ɲɑ.ʈɑŋ] | Nha Trang |
| Missing image Xsampa-d'.png Image:Xsampa-d'.png | voiced retroflex plosive | Swedish | nord | [nuːɖ] | north |
| Missing image Xsampa-s'.png Image:Xsampa-s'.png | voiceless retroflex fricative | Mandarin | 上海 (Shànghǎi) | [ʂɑŋ˥˩.xaɪ˨˩˦] | Shanghai |
| Missing image Xsampa-z'.png Image:Xsampa-z'.png | voiced retroflex fricative | Mandarin | 朱镕基 (Zhū Róngjì) | [ɖ̥͡ʐ̥u˥.ʐʊŋ˧˥.d̥͡ʑ̥i˥˩] | Zhu Rongji |
| Missing image Xsampa-rslash'.png Image:Xsampa-rslash'.png | retroflex approximant | Tamil | தமிழ் (Tamil) | [tæmɪɻ] | Tamil |
| Missing image Xsampa-l'.png Image:Xsampa-l'.png | lateral retroflex approximant | Swedish | Karlstad | [kɑːɭ.stɑːd̪] | Karlstad |
| Missing image Xsampa-r'.png Image:Xsampa-r'.png | retroflex flap | Hausa | shaara | [ʃáːɽa] | sweeping |
Note: In the International Phonetic Alphabet, the symbols for retroflex consonants are typically the same as for the alveolar consonants, but with the addition of a right-facing hook to the bottom of the symbol. Some linguists restrict these symbols for the "true" retroflex consonants with sub-apical palatal articulation, and use the alveolar symbols with the obsolete underdot symbol for an apical post-alveolar articulation: [ṭ, ḍ, ṇ, ṣ, ẓ, ḷ, ɾ̣, ɹ̣]. Another solution, more in keeping with the official IPA, would be to use the rhotic diacritic for the apical retroflexes: [t˞, d˞, n˞, s˞, z˞, l˞, ɾ˞, ɹ˞].
Retroflex consonants are common in the Indo-Aryan languages and the Dravidian languages; and can also be found in languages such as Mandarin Chinese, Javanese, Vietnamese, Swedish, Norwegian and some languages of Southern Italy and Sardinia.
There are several other retroflex consonants not yet recognized by the IPA. For example, the Iwaidja language of northwestern Australia has a retroflex lateral flap ([ɺ]) as well as a retroflex tap [ɽ] and retroflex lateral approximant [ɭ]; and the Dravidian language Toda has a retroflex lateral fricative ([ɬ]). Because of the regularity of deriving retroflex symbols from their alveolar counterparts, people will occasionally use a font editor to create the appropriate symbols for these sounds.