A retroflex, apico-domal, or cacuminal (/ k æ ˈ k juː m ɪ n əl /) consonant is a coronal consonant where the tongue has a flat, concave, or even curled shape, and is articulated between the alveolar ridge and the hard palate.They are sometimes referred to as cerebral consonants—especially in Indology.. The Latin-derived word retroflex means "bent back"; …

In articulatory phonetics, a consonant is a speech sound that is articulated with complete or partial closure of the vocal tract.Examples are [p] and [b], pronounced with the lips; [t] and [d], pronounced with the front of the tongue; [k] and [g], pronounced with the back of the tongue; [h], pronounced in the throat; [f], [v], and [s], pronounced by forcing air through a narrow channel (); …

The International Phonetic Alphabet, or IPA, is an alphabetic system of phonetic notation based primarily on the Latin alphabet.It was devised by the International Phonetic Association as a standardized representation of the sounds of spoken language.. In the IPA, a pulmonic consonant is a consonant made by obstructing the glottis (the space between the vocal …

Coronals are consonants articulated with the flexible front part of the tongue.Among places of articulation, only the coronal consonants can be divided into as many articulation types: apical (using the tip of the tongue), laminal (using the blade of the tongue), domed (with the tongue bunched up), or subapical (using the underside of the tongue) as well as different postalveolar …

Lack of velars. The velar consonant [k] is the most common consonant in human languages. The only languages recorded to lack velars (and any dorsal consonant at all) may be Xavante, Tahitian, and (phonologically but not phonetically) several Skou languages (Wutung, a dialect of Vanimo, and Bobe).In Pirahã, men may lack the only velar consonant.. Other languages lack …

Co-articulated consonants or complex consonants are consonants produced with two simultaneous places of articulation.They may be divided into two classes: doubly articulated consonants with two primary places of articulation of the same manner (both stop, or both nasal, etc.), and consonants with secondary articulation, that is, a second articulation not of the same …

In phonetics and phonology, a sonorant or resonant is a speech sound that is produced with continuous, non-turbulent airflow in the vocal tract; these are the manners of articulation that are most often voiced in the world's languages. Vowels are sonorants, as are nasals like [m] and [n], liquids like [l] and [r], and semivowels like [j] and [w].This set of sounds contrasts with the …

In articulatory phonetics, the manner of articulation is the configuration and interaction of the articulators (speech organs such as the tongue, lips, and palate) when making a speech sound.One parameter of manner is stricture, that is, how closely the speech organs approach one another. Others include those involved in the r-like sounds (taps and trills), and the sibilancy of …

Here is a basic key to the symbols of the International Phonetic Alphabet.For the smaller set of symbols that is sufficient for English, see Help:IPA/English.Several rare IPA symbols are not included; these are found in the main IPA article or on the extensive IPA chart.For the Manual of Style guideline for pronunciation, see Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Pronunciation.

Characteristics. The most common type of palatal consonant is the extremely common approximant [j], which ranks as among the ten most common sounds in the world's languages. The nasal [ɲ] is also common, occurring in around 35 percent of the world's languages, in most of which its equivalent obstruent is not the stop [c], but the affricate [].Only a few languages in …