The voiced alveolar approximant is a type of consonantal sound used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the

International Phonetic Alphabet The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) is an alphabetic system of phonetic transcription, phonetic notation based primarily on the Latin script. It was devised by the International Phonetic Association in the late 19th century as a standa ...

that represents the

alveolar Alveolus (; pl. alveoli, adj. alveolar) is a general anatomical term for a concave cavity or pit. Uses in anatomy and zoology * Pulmonary alveolus, an air sac in the lungs ** Alveolar cell or pneumocyte ** Alveolar duct ** Alveolar macrophage * ...

and

postalveolar Postalveolar or post-alveolar consonants are consonants articulated with the tongue near or touching the ''back'' of the alveolar ridge. Articulation is farther back in the mouth than the alveolar consonants, which are at the ridge itself, but no ...

approximants is , a lowercase letter ''r'' rotated 180 degrees. The equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is r\. The most common sound represented by the letter ''r'' in English is the voiced postalveolar approximant, pronounced a little more back and transcribed more precisely in IPA as , but is often used for convenience in its place. For further ease of typesetting, English phonemic transcriptions might use the symbol even though this symbol represents the alveolar trill in phonetic transcription. The bunched or molar r sounds remarkably similar to the postalveolar approximant and can be described as a ''voiced labial pre-velar approximant with tongue-tip retraction''. It can be transcribed in IPA as or .

Features

Features of the voiced alveolar approximant:

Occurrence

Alveolar

Postalveolar

As an allophone of other rhotic sounds, occurs in

Edo Edo ( ja, , , "bay-entrance" or "estuary"), also romanized as Jedo, Yedo or Yeddo, is the former name of Tokyo. Edo, formerly a ''jōkamachi'' (castle town) centered on Edo Castle located in Musashi Province, became the ''de facto'' capital of ...

, Fula,

Murrinh-patha The Murrinh-Patha, or Murinbata, are an Aboriginal Australian people of the Northern Territory. Language Murrinh-Patha language, Murrinh-Patha is spoken by about 2500 people, and serves as a lingua franca for several other ethnic groups, such ...

, and Palauan.

Notes

References

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External links

* {{Authority control Alveolar consonants Pulmonic consonants Oral consonants Central consonants