Voiced dental and alveolar taps and flaps explained

The voiced alveolar tap or flap is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents a dental, alveolar, or postalveolar tap or flap is (IPA|ɾ).

The terms tap and flap are often used interchangeably. Peter Ladefoged proposed the distinction that a tap strikes its point of contact directly, as a very brief stop, and a flap strikes the point of contact tangentially: "Flaps are most typically made by retracting the tongue tip behind the alveolar ridge and moving it forward so that it strikes the ridge in passing." That distinction between the alveolar tap and flap can be written in the IPA with tap (IPA|ɾ) and flap (IPA|ɽ), the 'retroflex' symbol being used for the one that starts with the tongue tip curled back behind the alveolar ridge. The distinction is noticeable in the speech of some American English speakers in distinguishing the words "potty" (tap pronounced as /[ɾ]/) and "party" (retroflex pronounced as /link/).

For linguists who do not make the distinction, alveolars and dentals are typically called taps and other articulations flaps. No language contrasts a tap and a flap at the same place of articulation.

The sound is often analyzed and thus interpreted by non-native English-speakers as an 'R-sound' in many foreign languages. In languages for which the segment is present but not phonemic, it is often an allophone of either an alveolar stop (pronounced as /link/, pronounced as /link/, or both) or a rhotic consonant (like the alveolar trill or the alveolar approximant).

If the alveolar flap is the only rhotic consonant in the language, it may be transcribed with (IPA|r) although that symbol technically represents the trill.

The voiced alveolar tapped fricative reported from some languages is actually a very brief voiced alveolar non-sibilant fricative.

Voiced alveolar tap and flap

Ipa Symbol:ɾ
Ipa Number:124
Decimal:638
Xsampa:4
Kirshenbaum:

| braille = !| braille2 = r| imagefile = IPA Unicode 0x027E.svg| imagesize = 150px}}

Features

Features of the voiced alveolar tap or flap:

Occurrence

Language Word Meaning Notes
[[Arabic alphabet|رجل]]|rtl=yes pronounced as /[ɾeɡl]/ 'leg' See Egyptian Arabic phonology
Lebanese[[Arabic alphabet|إجر]]|rtl=yespronounced as /[ʔəʒəɾ]/'wages'
Moroccanرما / rma[ɾma]'he threw'
South Iraqi[[Arabic alphabet|أريد]]|rtl=yespronounced as /[aɾid]/'I want'
Aragonese: a'''r'''agonés|italic=yes pronounced as /[aɾaɣoˈnes]/ 'Aragonese' Contrasts with pronounced as /link/.
Armenian: [[Armenian alphabet|'''ր'''ոպե]] 'minute' Contrasts with pronounced as /link/ in all positions.
Assyrianܪܝܫܐ rìshapronounced as /[ɾiʃa]/'head'Contrasts with ‘dark’ R.
Asturian; Bable; Leonese; Asturleonese: [[Asturian phonology|ho'''r'''a]]|italic=yes pronounced as /[ˈoɾa]/ 'hour' Contrasts with pronounced as /link/.
Basque: [[Basque orthography|begi'''r'''atu]]|italic=yes pronounced as /[beˈɣiɾaˌtu]/ 'look' Contrasts with pronounced as /link/. See Basque phonology
Bengali: [[Bengali alphabet|আবা'''র''']] pronounced as /[abaɾ]/ 'again' Main realisation of /r/. Corresponds to [{{IPA link|r}} ~ {{IPA link|ɹ}}] in others and may occur word-medially and finally against [r]. See Bengali phonology
Catalan; Valencian: [[Catalan orthography|t'''r'''uc]]|italic=yes pronounced as /[ˈtɾuk]/ 'trick' Contrasts with pronounced as /link/. See Catalan phonology
Danish: [[Danish alphabet|nor'''d'''isk]]|italic=yes pronounced as /[ˈnoɐ̯ɾisk]/ 'Nordic' Possible realization of intervocalic pronounced as //d// between phonetic vowels. See Danish phonology
DutchDutch; Flemish: [[Dutch orthography|'''r'''eden]]|italic=yes pronounced as /[ˈɾeːdə(n)]/ 'reason' Especially in the region of West Frisia. Realization of /r/ varies widely in Dutch. See Dutch phonology
better pronounced as /[ˈbe̞ɾɐ]/ 'better' Intervocalic allophone of pronounced as //t//. In free variation with [{{IPA|ʔ}} ~ {{IPA|tʰ}} ~ {{IPA|tˢ}}]. See Flapping
pronounced as /[ˈbeɾɐ]/ Intervocalic allophone of pronounced as //t// and pronounced as //d//. See Australian English phonology, New Zealand English phonology and Flapping
New Zealand
Dublin[1] Intervocalic allophone of pronounced as //t// and pronounced as //d//, present in many dialects. In Local Dublin it can be pronounced as /[ɹ]/ instead, unlike New and Mainstream. See English phonology and Flapping
North America
Ulster
West Country
three pronounced as /[θɾiː]/ 'three' Conservative accents. Corresponds to [{{IPA link|ɹ}} ~ {{IPA link|ɻ}} ~ {{IPA link|ʁ}}] in other accents.
Most speakers. Others use [{{IPAlink|ɹ}} ~ {{IPA link|r}}].
Allophone of pronounced as //ɹ//
Scouse
Broad speakers. Can be [{{IPAlink|ɹ}} ~ {{IPAlink|r}}] instead
Esperanto: [[Esperanto orthography|Espe'''r'''anto]]|italic=yes pronounced as /[espeˈɾanto]/ 'one who hopes' Usually a flap pronounced as /link/, but can be a trilled pronounced as /ink/. See Esperanto phonology
Greek, Modern (1453-);: [[Greek alphabet|μη'''ρ'''ός]] / pronounced as /[miˈɾ̠o̞s]/ 'thigh' Somewhat retracted. Most common realization of pronounced as /link/. See Modern Greek phonology
HindustaniHindi: [[Devanāgarī|मे'''रा''']]|rtl=yes/pronounced as /[meːɾaː]/ 'My' Allophone of /r/ in intervocalic position. See Hindi phonology
Irish: [[Irish orthography|fea'''r''']] pronounced as /[fʲaɾˠ]/'man' See Irish phonology
u Rwanda pronounced as /[u ɾgwɑː.ndɑ]/'Rwanda'
Japanese: [[Kanji|心]] /Japanese: こころ Japanese: [[Romanization of Japanese#Hepburn|koko'''r'''o]] 'heart' Varies with pronounced as /link/. See Japanese phonology
[[Kazakh alphabets|бе'''р''']]/[[Kazakh alphabets|be'''r''']] 'give' See Kazakh phonology
여름 / Korean: [[Revised Romanization of Korean|yeo'''r'''eum]] pronounced as /[jʌɾɯm]/ 'summer' Allophone of /l/ between vowels or between a vowel and an /h/
Malayراتوس / ratuspronounced as /[ɾä.tos]/'hundred'Common realisation of /r/. May be trill [{{IPA|r}}] or postalveolar approximant [{{IPA|ɹ̠}}]. See Malay phonology
Maori: wha'''r'''e pronounced as /[ɸaɾɛ]/'house' Sometimes trilled.
Marathi: [[Devanāgarī|वा'''रा''']]pronounced as /[ʋaːɾaː]/'wind'
Nepali[2] pronounced as /[t̪äɾä]/'star' Intervocalic allophone of /r/. See Nepali phonology
Norwegian[3] Norwegian: [[Norwegian phonology|ba'''r'''e]]|italic=yes 'only' May be realised as a trill pronounced as /[r]/, approximant pronounced as /[ɹ]/ or uvular pronounced as /[ʀ~ʁ]/ depending on dialect. See Norwegian phonology
Oriya: [[Odia script|'''ରା'''ତି]]/pronounced as /[ɾäti]/'night'
PolishPolish: [[Polish orthography|któ'''r'''y]]pronounced as /[ˈkt̪u.ɾɘ̟]/'which'Can also sometimes be an approximant, a fricative, and rarely - a trill. See Polish phonology
Portuguese: [[Portuguese orthography|p'''r'''ato]]|italic=yes pronounced as /[ˈpɾatu]/ 'dish' Dental to retroflex allophones, varying by dialect. Contrasts only intervocalically with pronounced as /link/, with its guttural allophones. See Portuguese phonology
Gaelic; Scottish Gaelic: [[Scottish Gaelic orthography|mò'''r''']]|italic=yes pronounced as /[moːɾ]/ 'big' Both the lenited and non-initial broad form of r. Often transcribed simply as pronounced as //r//. The initial unlenited broad form is a trill pronounced as /[rˠ]/, while the slender form is pronounced as /[ɾʲ]/ (pronounced as /[ð]/ in some dialects). See Scottish Gaelic phonology.
Spanish; Castilian: [[Spanish orthography|ca'''r'''o]]|italic=yes 'expensive' Contrasts with pronounced as /link/. See Spanish phonology
Tagalog: [[Filipino orthography|bi'''r'''o]] pronounced as /[ˈbiɾɔʔ]/ 'joke' See Tagalog phonology
TamilTamil: ம'''ர'''ம்pronounced as /[maɾam]/'tree'See Tamil phonology
ThaiSome speakersะ / prápronounced as /[pʰɾaʔ˦˥]/'monk'
Turkish: [[Turkish alphabet|a'''r'''a]]|italic=yes pronounced as /[ˈɑɾɑ]/ 'interval' Intervocalically; may not make full contact elsewhere. See Turkish phonology
Uzbek: [[Cyrillic script|ёмғи'''р''']]/Uzbek: yomg‘i'''r'''/Uzbek: یامغی'''ر''' pronounced as /[ʝɒ̜mˈʁ̟ɨɾ̪]/ 'rain' Denti-alveolar.
West Coast Bajau[4] ba'''r'''a' pronounced as /[ba.ɾaʔ]/ 'to tell' Voiced dental flap in intervocalic position.

Alveolar nasal tap and flap

Above:Alveolar nasal tap/flap
Ipa Symbol:ɾ̃
Ipa Symbol2:
Ipa Number:124 424
X-Sampa:4~ or n_X

Features

Features of the alveolar nasal tap or flap:

Occurrence

Language Word Meaning Notes
English[5] twenty 'twenty' Allophone of unstressed intervocalic pronounced as //nt// for some speakers, especially in rapid or casual speech. See English phonology, North American English regional phonology and flapping
North American[6]
Guarani: [[Guarani alphabet|po'''r'''ã]] pronounced as /[põˈɾ̃ã]/ 'good' Nasalized allophone of pronounced as //ɾ// as a result of nasal harmony. See Guarani language § Nasal harmony

See also

References

  • Book: Akamatsu , Tsutomu . 1997. Japanese Phonetics: Theory and Practice. München. Lincom Europa. 3-89586-095-6.
                                            • Book: Walker. Rachel. Nasal Harmony. The Blackwell companion to phonology . van Oostendorp. Marc. Ewen. Colin J.. Hume. Elizabeth. Rice. Keren. 2011 . Wiley-Blackwell . Malden, MA . 9781405184236.

External links

pronounced as /navigation/

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Notes and References

  1. Web site: Glossary. 2021-05-22.
  2. Khatiwada. Rajesh. December 2009. Nepali. Journal of the International Phonetic Association. en. 39. 3. 373–380. 10.1017/S0025100309990181. 1475-3502. free.
  3. Web site: no . Kristoffersen . Gjert . 2015 . En innføring i norsk fonologi . An introduction to Norwegian phonology . . 4 . 2020-07-09 . https://web.archive.org/web/20181024152047/http://bora.uib.no/bitstream/handle/1956/15694/Fonologimanus_sep15_GK.pdf . 2018-10-24 . live . 21 . I østlandsk er denne lyden normalt en såkalt tapp .
  4. Miller . Mark T. . A Grammar of West Coast Bajau . 2007 . Ph.D. . University of Texas at Arlington . 10106/577 . free . 34.
  5. Web site: Reanalysis of Flapping on Level Approach . Kwan-Young Oh . 2023-04-29.
  6. Web site: Flap t FAQ . Tomasz P. Szynalski . 2013-11-24.