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Information about Postalveolar Consonant

Places of articulation
Labial
Bilabial
Labial-velar
Labial-alveolar
Labiodental
Coronal
Linguolabial
Bidental
Interdental
Dental
Alveolar
Apical
Laminal
Postalveolar
Alveolo-palatal
Retroflex
Dorsal
Palatal
Labial-palatal
Velar
Uvular
Uvular-epiglottal
Radical
Pharyngeal
Epiglotto-pharyngeal
Epiglottal
Glottal
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Postalveolar consonants are consonants articulated with the tongue near or touching the back of the alveolar ridge, placing them a bit further back in the mouth than the alveolar consonants, which are at the ridge itself, but not as far back as the hard palate (the place of articulation for palatal consonants).

Among the fricatives and affricates, a subtype called palato-alveolar consonants (see below) are shown with examples in the table. The alveolo-palatal and retroflex consonants are also postalveolar in their point of articulation, but they are given separate columns in the IPA chart, and illustrated with examples in their own articles.

The palato-alveolar sibilants and postalveolar clicks identified by the International Phonetic Alphabet are:

IPA Description Example
Language Orthography IPA Meaning
Voiceless palato-alveolar fricativeEnglishship[ʃɪp]
Voiced palato-alveolar fricativeEnglishvision[vɪʒən]
Voiceless palato-alveolar affricateEnglishchip[tʃɪp]
Voiced palato-alveolar affricateEnglishjug[dʒʌg]
Apical (post)alveolar click releaseNama!oas[k͡!oas]
Laminal postalveolar click release!Kungǂua[k͡ǂwa]


Note: In IPA tradition, the affricates may also be written with the symbols for the palatal plosives, <c, &#607;>.

Types of postalveolar fricatives and affricates

The difference between palato-alveolar, alveolo-palatal, retroflex, and several other articulations is in the shape of the tongue rather than the location of the contact with the roof of the mouth. All are postalveolar in that sense.

One variable in tongue shape is whether the contact occurs with the very tip of the tongue (an "apical" articulation [ʃ̺]); with the surface just above the tip, called the blade of the tongue (a "laminal" articulation [ʃ̻]); or with the underside of the tip (a "sub-apical" articulation). Laminal articulations are often palatal, but may have postalveolar allophones.

Enlarge picture
palato-alveolar fricative [ʃ, ʒ]
Enlarge picture
alveolo-palatal fricative [ɕ, ʑ]
A second variable is the amount of raising of the tongue behind this point of contact, which amounts to a degree of palatalization. From least to most palatalized, the attested possibilities are flat [s̠], bunched-up or domed palato-alveolar [ʃ], and alveolo-palatal [ɕ]. Of course, these possibilities may all be voiced as well: [z̠, ʒ, ʑ].

There is an additional postalveolar articulation found in Circassian languages such as Ubyx: the tip of the tongue rests against the lower teeth so that there is no sublingual cavity. Ladefoged has called this a "closed laminal postalveolar" articulation; Catford describes the fricatives as "hissing-hushing" sounds, and transcribes them as [ŝ, ẑ] (note: this is not IPA notation). Presumably this "closed" articulation may be combined with the other two as a third variable, but this is not attested.

The attested possibilities, with exemplar languages, are as follows. Note that the IPA diacritics are simplified; some articulations would require two diacritics to be fully specified, but only one is used in order to keep the results legible without the need for OpenType IPA fonts. Also, Ladefoged has resurrected an obsolete IPA symbol, the under dot, to indicate apical postalveolar (normally included in the category of retroflex consonants), and that notation is used here. (Note that the notation s̠, ṣ is sometimes reversed; either may also be called 'retroflex' and written ʂ.)

IPA Place of articulation Exemplifying languages
[s̠ z̠]laminal flat postalveolar (laminal retroflex)Mandarin sh, zh, ch, Polish sz, rz, cz, ż
[ṣ ẓ]apical postalveolar (apical retroflex)Ubyx, Toda
[ʃ ʒ]domed postalveolar (palato-alveolar)English sh, zh (may be either laminal or apical)
[ʃ̻ ʒ̻]laminal domed postalveolarToda
[ɕ ʑ]laminal palatalized postalveolar (alveolo-palatal)Mandarin q, j, x, Polish ć, ś, ź, dź, Ubyx
[ŝ ẑ]laminal closed postalveolarUbyx
[ʂ ʐ]sub-apical postalveolar or palatal (sub-apical retroflex)Toda

Other postalveolars

Some languages which distinguish "dental" vs. "alveolar" stops have something closer to prealveolar and postalveolar. Such is the case for Malayalam speakers who trill both of that language's rhotics: [r̟] vs. [r̠]. Since these are trills and therefore both apical, the latter is usually termed retroflex.

However, in some non-standard forms of Malayalam, there is a laminal postalveolar nasal that contrasts with apical alveolar, palatal, and subapical retroflex nasals: m n̟ n͇ n̠ ɳ ɲ ŋ.

See also

References

  • Peter Ladefoged and Ian Maddieson, The Sounds of the World's Languages. Blackwell Publishers, 1996. ISBN 0-631-19815-6
  Consonants (List, table)See also: IPA, Vowels  
PulmonicsBilabialLab'den.DentalAlveolarPostalv.RetroflexPalatalVelarUvularPharyn.EpiglottalGlottalNon-pulmonics and other symbols
Nasalsmɱn̪nɳɲŋɴClicks ʘǀǃǂǁ
Plosivespbp̪b̪t̪d̪tdʈɖcɟkɡqɢʡʔImplo­sives ɓɗʄɠʛ
Fricatives ɸβfvθszʃʒʂʐʝxɣχʁħʕʜʢhɦEjec­tives pʼtʼkʼqʼsʼ
Approximants β̞ʋ̞ɹɻjɰOther laterals ɺɫ
Trillsʙr•ʀ•Co-articulated approximantsʍwɥ
Flaps & Taps•ѵɾɽ•Co-articulated fricativesɕʑɧ
Lat. Fricativesɬɮ•••Affricates ʦʣʧʤ
Lat. Appr'mantslɭʎʟCo-articulated stops k͡pɡ͡bŋ͡m
This page contains phonetic information in IPA, which may not display correctly in some browsers. [Help]
Where symbols appear in pairs, the one to the right represents a voiced consonant. Shaded areas denote pulmonic articulations judged impossible.
place of articulation (also point of articulation) of a consonant is the point of contact, where an obstruction occurs in the vocal tract between an active (moving) articulator (typically some part of the tongue) and a passive (stationary) articulator (typically some part of
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Labials are consonants articulated either with both lips (bilabial articulation) or with the lower lip and the upper teeth (labiodental articulation). English [m]
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In phonetics, a bilabial consonant is a consonant articulated with both lips. The bilabial consonants identified by the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) are:

IPA Description Example
Language Orthography IPA Meaning
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Labial-velar consonants are doubly articulated at the velum and the lips. They are sometimes called "labiovelar consonants", a term which can also refer to labialized velars, such as the approximant [w].
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A labial-alveolar consonant is a consonant produced with two simultaneous places of articulation: At the lips ('labial'; a p, b, or m sound), and at the gums ('alveolar'; a t, d, or n sound).
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In phonetics, labiodentals are consonants articulated with the lower lip and the upper teeth. The labiodental consonants identified by the International Phonetic Alphabet are:

IPA Description Example
Language Orthography IPA Meaning

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Coronal consonants are articulated with the flexible front part of the tongue. Only the coronal consonants can be divided into apical (using the tongue tip), laminal (using the tongue blade), domed (with the tongue bunched up), or sub-apical (with the tongue curled back), as well
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Linguolabials or apicolabials are consonants articulated by placing the tongue tip or blade against the upper lip, which is drawn downward to meet the tongue.
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Bidental consonants, pronounced with both the lower and upper teeth, are normally found only in speech pathology. The Extended IPA symbol is both a superscript and a subscript bridge, [  ̪͆].
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Interdental consonants are produced by placing the blade of the tongue against the upper incisors. This differs from a dental consonant in that the tip of the tongue is placed between
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In linguistics, a dental consonant or dental is a consonant that is articulated with the tongue against the upper teeth, such as /t/, /d/
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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.
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An apical consonant is a phone (speech sound) produced by obstructing the air passage with the apex of the tongue (i.e. the tip of the tongue). This contrasts with laminal consonants, which are produced by creating an obstruction with the blade of the tongue (which is just behind
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A laminal consonant is a phone produced by obstructing the air passage with the blade of the tongue, which is the flat top front surface just behind the tip of the tongue.
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alveolo-palatal (or alveopalatal) consonants are palatalized postalveolar fricatives, articulated with the blade of the tongue behind the alveolar ridge, and the body of the tongue raised toward the palate.
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In phonetics, retroflex consonants are consonant sounds used in some languages. (They are sometimes referred to as cerebral consonants, especially in indology.
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Dorsal consonants are articulated with the mid body of the tongue (the dorsum). They contrast with coronal consonants articulated with the flexible front of the tongue, and radical consonants articulated with the root of the tongue.
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Palatal consonants are consonants articulated with the body of the tongue raised against the hard palate (the middle part of the roof of the mouth). Consonants with the tip of the tongue curled back against the palate are called retroflex.
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In phonetics, the labialised palatal approximant is a consonant with two constrictions in the vocal tract: with the tongue on the palate, and rounded at the lips.
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Velars are consonants articulated with the back part of the tongue (the dorsum) against the soft palate (the back part of the roof of the mouth, known also as the velum).
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Uvulars are consonants articulated with the back of the tongue against or near the uvula, that is, further back in the mouth than velar consonants. Uvulars may be plosives, fricatives, nasal stops, trills, or approximants, though the IPA does not provide a separate symbol for the
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A uvular-epiglottal consonant is a doubly articulated consonant pronounced by making a simultaneous uvular consonant and epiglottal consonant. An example is the Somali "uvular" plosive /q/, which is actually a voiceless uvular-epiglottal plosive
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Radical consonants are articulated with the root (base) of the tongue in the throat. They include the pharyngeal and epiglottal places of articulation. Glottal consonants are also sometimes considered radicals, but they are more accurately described as having no place of
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A pharyngeal consonant is a type of consonant which is articulated with the root of the tongue against the pharynx.

Pharyngeal consonants in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA):

IPA Description Example (Mishnaic Hebrew)
Orthography IPA Meaning
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An epiglotto-pharyngeal consonant is a newly reported type of consonant, articulated with the epiglottis against the back wall of the pharynx. This contrasts with the pharyngeal consonants, where the root of the tongue contacts the back wall of the pharynx, and prototypical
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An epiglottal consonant is a consonant that is articulated with the aryepiglottic folds (see larynx) against the epiglottis. They are occasionally called aryepiglottal consonants.
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Glottal consonants are consonants articulated with the glottis. Many phoneticians consider them, or at least the so-called fricatives, to be transitional states of the glottis without a point of articulation as other consonants have; in fact, some do not consider them to be
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Phonetics (from the Greek word φωνή, phone meaning 'sound, voice') is the study of the sounds of human speech. It is concerned with the actual properties of speech sounds (phones), and their production, audition and perception, while phonology, which
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International Phonetic Alphabet

Note: This page may contain IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode.

The International
Phonetic Alphabet
History
Nonstandard symbols
Extended IPA
Naming conventions
IPA for English The
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consonant is a sound in spoken language that is characterized by a closure or stricture of the vocal tract sufficient to cause audible turbulence. The word consonant
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