A lateral flap is a family of
consonant
In articulatory phonetics, a consonant is a speech sound that is articulated with complete or partial closure of the vocal tract. Examples are and pronounced with the lips; and pronounced with the front of the tongue; and pronounced wit ...
al sounds, used in some
spoken language
Language is a structured system of communication. The structure of a language is its grammar and the free components are its vocabulary. Languages are the primary means by which humans communicate, and may be conveyed through a variety of met ...
s.
There are four attested or claimed lateral flaps in the world's languages:
* The
alveolar lateral flap is quite common.
*A
retroflex lateral flap
The voiced retroflex lateral flap is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. The expected symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet is ().Kirk Miller & Michael AshbyL2/20-252RUnicode request for IPA modifier-letters (a), ...
() is found throughout South Asia, from
Pashtun
Pashtuns (, , ; ps, پښتانه, ), also known as Pakhtuns or Pathans, are an Iranian ethnic group who are native to the geographic region of Pashtunistan in the present-day countries of Afghanistan and Pakistan. They were historically re ...
to
Oriya, in the
Iwaidjan languages
The Iwaidjan or Yiwaidjan languages are a small family of non-Pama–Nyungan Australian Aboriginal languages spoken in the Cobourg Peninsula region of Western Arnhem Land.
In 1997 Nicholas Evans proposed an Arnhem Land family that includes t ...
of Australia, and sporadically elsewhere.
*A
palatal lateral flap has been described from Iwaidja, but may be a palatalized alveolar flap.
*A
velar lateral flap
The voiced velar lateral tap is an allophone of the velar lateral approximant in some languages of New Guinea, such as Kanite and Melpa. The extremely short duration of the in intervocalic position (20–30 ms) warrants calling it a tap, acc ...
occurs allophonically in
Melpa and a few other languages of New Guinea.
Features
Features of lateral flap:
{{SIA
Lateral consonants