Voiced retroflex flap

"Retroflex flap" redirects here. For the voiceless consonant, see Voiceless retroflex flap.

Voiced retroflex flap
ɽ
IPA Number	125
Audio sample
source · help
Encoding
Entity (decimal)	ɽ
Unicode (hex)	U+027D
X-SAMPA	r`
Braille
Image

A voiced retroflex flap is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is ⟨ɽ⟩, a letter r with a tail. It is not in English.

Features

Features of a voiced retroflex flap:

• The phonation is voiced. This means that the vocal cords vibrate while the sound is being pronounced.
• The place of articulation (where the sound is produced) is retroflex, which prototypically means it is articulated sub-apical - with the tip of the tongue curled up. But more generally This means that it is postalveolar without being palatalized. That is, besides the prototypical sub-apical articulation, the tongue contact can be apical (pointed) or laminal (flat).
• The manner of articulation (how the sound is produced) is flap. This means that this sound is produced with a single contraction of the muscles. The thing that produces the sound (usually the tongue) touches something else for a very short amount of time.
• It is an oral consonant. This means that air is allowed to escape through the mouth only.
• It is a central consonant. This means that this sound is produced by directing the air along the center of the tongue, but not to the sides.

Occurrence

Language		Word	IPA	Meaning	Notes
Bengali		গাড়ি	[ɡaɽi]	'car'	Apical postalveolar. See Bengali phonology
Dutch	North Brabant	riem	[ɽim]	'belt'	A rare word-initial variant of /r/. Realization of /r/ varies considerably among dialects. See Dutch phonology
	Northern Netherlands
Elfdalian		luv	[ɽʏːv]	'permission'
Enga		yála	[jɑɽɑ]	'shame'
Gokana		bele	[beːɽeː]	'we'	Apical postalveolar. Allophone of /l/, medially between vowels within the morpheme, and finally in the morpheme before a following vowel in the same word. It can be a postalveolar trill or simply [l] instead.
Hausa		bara	[bəɽä]	'servant'	Represented in Arabic script with ⟨ر⟩
Hindustani	Hindi	बड़ा	[bəɽäː]ⓘ	'big'	Apical postalveolar; contrasts unaspirated and aspirated forms. See Hindustani phonology
	Urdu	بڑا
Nepali		भाड़ा	[bʱäɽä]	'rent'	Apical postalveolar; postvocalic allophone of /ɖ, ɖʱ/. See Nepali phonology
Norwegian	Central dialects	Vål[']erenga	[ˈvôːɽɛ̝̀ŋɑ̌]ⓘ	'Vålerenga'	Allophone of /l/ and /r/. In Urban East Norwegian it often alternates with the alveolar [ɾ], save for a small number of words. See Norwegian phonology
	Eastern dialects
Odia		ଗାଡ଼ି	[ɡäɽiː]	'car'	Apical postalveolar; postvocalic allophone of /ɖ, ɖʱ/.
Parkari Koli		ۿُونَواڙ‎	[ɦuːnaʋaːɽ]	'desolate, deserted'
Portuguese	Some European speakers	falar	[fɐˈläɽ]	'to speak'	Allophone of /ɾ/. See Portuguese phonology
	Brazilian caipira speakers	madeira	[mäˈd̪eɽə]	'wood'
	Some sertanejo speakers	gargalhar	[ɡäɽɡäˈʎäɽ]	'to guffaw'
Punjabi	Gurmukhi	ਘੋੜਾ	[k̠òːɽaː]ⓘ	'horse'
	Shahmukhi	گھوڑا
Scottish Gaelic	Lewis	thuirt	[hʉɽʈ]	'said'	Possible realisation of /rˠ/.
Shipibo		roro	[ˈɽo̽ɽo̽]	'to break'	Apical postalveolar; possible realization of /r/.
Swedish	Some dialects	flagga	[ˈfɽagː˦˥˩ˌa˦˥˩]ⓘ	'[a] flag'	Allophone of retroflexed /rd/ ([ɖ]) and (single) /l/, the former especially after labials, velars or long vowels. See Swedish phonology
Tamil		நாடு / نَاڊُ‎	[naːɽɯ]ⓘ	'country'	Intervocalic and word-medial allophone of /ʈ/. See Tamil phonology
Telugu		గోడు	[goːɽu]ⓘ	'grief'	Allophone of /ɖ/.
Tukano	Ye’pâ-Masa	petâ-de	[pɛ̀ɛ̥̀táɽɛ᷆]	'(relative to the) port'	Realisation of ⟨d⟩ in certain positions. Nasalised [ɽ͂] in nasal contexts.
Wapishana		[pɨɖaɽɨ]		'your father'
Warlpiri		jarda	[caɽa]	'sleep'	Transcribes /ɽ/ as ⟨rd⟩.
Yidiny		[gambi:ɽ]		'tablelands'

Voiced retroflex nasal flap

Voiced retroflex nasal flap
ɽ̃

A voiced retroflex nasal flap is a consonant reported to be in Hindi, Ndrumbea, and Kangri but is not in English.

Features

Features of a retroflex nasal tap or flap:

• The manner of articulation (how the sound is produced) is flap. This means that this sound is produced with a single contraction of the muscles. The thing that produces the sound (usually the tongue) touches something else for a very short amount of time.
• It is a nasal consonant. This means that air is allowed to escape through the nose, either exclusively (nasal stops) or in addition to through the mouth.
• The phonation is voiced. This means that the vocal cords vibrate while the sound is being pronounced.
• The place of articulation (where the sound is produced) is retroflex, which prototypically means it is articulated sub-apical - with the tip of the tongue curled up. But more generally This means that it is postalveolar without being palatalized. That is, besides the prototypical sub-apical articulation, the tongue contact can be apical (pointed) or laminal (flat).

Occurrence

Language	Word	IPA	Meaning	Notes
Hindi	गणेश Gaṇeśa	[ɡəɽ̃eːʃ]	'Ganesha'	Allophone of /ɳ/ when not in clusters
Ndrumbea	/t̠ɽáɽẽ/	[t̠áɽ̃ã́ɻ̃ẽ]	'to run'	Allophone of /ɽ/ before a nasal vowel
Kangri	न्ह़ौणा	[nɔ̌ɽ̃ɑ]	'to bathe'

See also

• Index of phonetics articles

External links

• List of languages with [ɽ] on PHOIBLE