Pre-palatal

In phonetics, alveolo-palatal (alveolopalatal, alveo-palatal or alveopalatal) consonants, sometimes synonymous with pre-palatal consonants, are intermediate in articulation between the coronal and dorsal consonants, or which have simultaneous alveolar and palatal articulation. In the official IPA chart, alveolo-palatals would appear between the retroflex and palatal consonants, but are omitted for "lack of space". Ladefoged & Maddieson (1996) characterize the alveolo-palatals as palatalizedlaminalpostalveolars, articulated with the blade of the tongue behind the alveolar ridge and the body of the tongue raised toward the palate, whereas Catford (1982) [1977] describes them as advanced palatals (pre-palatals), the furthest front of the dorsal consonants, articulated with the body of the tongue approaching the alveolar ridge, and Esling (2010) describes them as somewhere between these two articulations, noting the difficulty in distinguishing them. They are front enough that the fricatives and affricates are sibilants, the only sibilants among the dorsal consonants (if considered as dorsal).