Dental, alveolar and postalveolar flaps

Alveolar tap
ɾ
IPA number 124
Encoding
Entity (decimal) ɾ
Unicode (hex) U+027E
X-SAMPA 4
Kirshenbaum *
Braille ⠖ (braille pattern dots-235)⠗ (braille pattern dots-1235)
Sound
source · help

The alveolar tap or flap is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents dental, alveolar, and postalveolar flaps is [ɾ].

The terms tap and flap may be used interchangeably. Peter Ladefoged proposed for a while that it may be useful to distinguish between them; however, his usage has been inconsistent, contradicting itself even between different editions of the same text.[1] The last proposed distinction was that a tap strikes its point of contact directly, as a very brief stop, whereas a flap strikes the point of contact tangentially: "Flaps are most typically made by retracting the tongue tip behind the alveolar ridge and moving it forward so that it strikes the ridge in passing."[2] However, later on, he no longer felt this was a useful distinction to make, and preferred to use the word flap in all cases.

For linguists who do make the distinction, the coronal tap is transcribed as a fish-hook "r", [ɾ], while the flap is transcribed as a small capital "d", [ᴅ], which is not recognized by the IPA. Otherwise, alveolars and dentals are typically called taps, and other articulations flaps. No language contrasts a tap and a flap at the same place of articulation.

This sound is often analyzed (and therefore transcribed) by native English speakers as an 'R-sound' in many foreign languages. For example, the 'Japanese R' in hara, akira, tora, etc. is actually an alveolar tap. In languages where this segment is present but not phonemic, it is often an allophone of either an alveolar stop ([t], [d] or both) or a rhotic consonant like the alveolar trill or alveolar approximant.

When the alveolar tap is the only rhotic consonant in the language, it may for simplicity be transcribed /r/, i.e. the symbol technically representing the trill.

Voiced alveolar flap

Features

Features of the alveolar tap:

Occurrence

Dental or denti-alveolar

Language Word IPA Meaning Notes
Russian[3] рьяный  [ˈɾ̪ʲjän̪ɨ̞j]  'zealous' Apical; palatalized. More common than a dental trill.[3] It contrasts with a post-alveolar trill. See Russian phonology
Uzbek[4] ёмғир/yomg‘ir [ʝɒ̜mˈʁ̟ɨɾ̪] 'rain' Denti-alveolar.[4]

Alveolar

Language Word IPA Meaning Notes
Afrikaans Standard[5] rooi [ɾoːi̯] 'red' May be a trill [r] instead.[5] See Afrikaans phonology
Arabic Egyptian[6] رجل [ɾeɡl] 'foot' Contrasts with emphatic form. See Egyptian Arabic phonology
Assyrian Neo-Aramaic [ɑɾɑː] 'ground' Used predominantly. /ɹ/, however, is used in some dialects
Armenian Eastern[7] րոպե  [ɾopɛ]  'minute' Contrasts with /r/ in all positions.
Catalan[8] mira [ˈmiɾə] 'look' Contrasts with /r/. See Catalan phonology
Danish[9][10] Vil du med? [ʋe̝ ɾu ˈme] 'Are you coming too?' Possible realization of intervocalic /d/ when it occurs between two unstressed vowels.[9][10] See Danish phonology
English Received Pronunciation[11] better [ˈbe̞ɾə] 'better' Intervocalic allophone of /t/ for some speakers. See English phonology and flapping
Cockney[12] Intervocalic allophone of /t/. In free variation with [ʔ ~ ~ ]. See flapping
Australian[13] [ˈbeɾə] Intervocalic allophone of /t/, and also /d/ among few Australians. Used more often in Australia than in New Zealand. See Australian English phonology and flapping
New Zealand[14] [ˈbeɾɘ]
Dublin  [ˈbɛɾɚ]  Intervocalic allophone of /t/ and /d/, present in many dialects. In Local Dublin it can be [ɹ] instead, unlike New and Mainstream. See English phonology and flapping
North America[15]
Ulster
West Country
Irish three [θɾiː] 'three' Conservative accents. Corresponds to [ɹ ~ ɻ ~ ʁ] in other accents.
Scottish[16] Most speakers. Others use [ɹ ~ r].
Older Received Pronunciation[17] Allophone of /ɹ/
Scouse[16]
South African[16] Broad speakers. Can be [ɹ ~ r] instead
Greek[18] μηρός/mirós [miˈɾ̠o̞s] 'thigh' Somewhat retracted. Most common realization of /r/. See Modern Greek phonology
Hindustani अर्थ/ارتھ [əɾt̪ʰ] 'meaning, definition' See Hindustani phonology
Limburgish Hasselt dialect[19] weuren [ˈβ̞ø̠ːɾən] '(they) were' Possible intervocalic allophone of /r/; may be uvular [ʀ̆] instead.[19]
Portuguese[20] prato [ˈpɾatu] 'dish' Dental to retroflex allophones, varying by dialect. Contrasts with /ʁ/, with its guttural allophones and, in all positions, with its archaic form [r]. See Portuguese phonology
Scottish Gaelic r [moːɾ] 'big' Both the lenited and non-initial broad form of r. Often transcribed simply as /r/. The initial unlenited broad form is /rˠ/ (also transcribed as /r/ or /R/) while the slender form is /ɾʲ/ ([ð] in some dialects). See Scottish Gaelic phonology.
Slovene[21] amarant [amaˈɾaːn̪t̪] 'amaranth' Also described as trill [r],[22] and variable between trill [r] and tap [ɾ].[23] See Slovene phonology
Spanish[24] caro [ˈkaɾo̞] 'expensive' Contrasts with /r/. See Spanish phonology
Tagalog barya [bɐɾˈja] 'coin' Once allophones with /d/. May also be pronounced as a trill /r/[25] or an approximant /ɹ/. See Tagalog phonology
Turkish[26] ara [ˈäɾä] 'interval' Intervocalic realization of /ɾ/.[26] See Turkish phonology
Yiddish Standard[27] בריק [bɾɪk] 'bridge' Less commonly a trill [r]; can be uvular [ʀ̆ ~ ʀ] instead.[27] See Yiddish phonology
Zapotec Tilquiapan[28] ran [ɾaŋ] 'to see'

Postalveolar

See also: Retroflex flap
Language Word IPA Meaning Notes
Gokana[29] bele [bēɾ̠ē] 'we' 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 post-alveolar trill or simply [l] instead.[29]
Japanese[30] /kokoro  [kokoɾo]  'heart' Allophone of /ɺ/. See Japanese phonology
Shipibo[31] ? [ˈɾ̠o̽ɾ̠o̽] 'to break into pieces' Possible realization of /r/.[31]

Variable

Language Word IPA Meaning Notes
German Standard[32] Rübe [ˈɾÿːbə] 'beet' Varies between apical dental and apical alveolar; may be a trill instead.[32] See German phonology

Voiced alveolar tapped fricative

Voiced alveolar tapped fricative
ɾ̞
IPA number 124 430

A tapped fricative is in effect a very brief fricative, with the tongue making the gesture for a tapped stop but not making full contact. This can be indicated in the IPA with the lowering diacritic to show full occlusion did not occur. Flapped fricatives are theoretically possible but are not attested.[33]

Features

Features of the voiced alveolar tapped fricative:

Occurrence

Reported from Turkish in a single source.[26] In Tacana per UPSID.

Language Word IPA Meaning Notes
Aragonese Pyrenean[34] aire [ˈäi̯ɾ̞e̞] 'air' Common realization of /ɾ/.[34]
Spanish[35] aire [ˈäi̯ɾ̞e̞] 'air' Possible realization of /ɾ/.[35] See Spanish phonology
Tacana[36]
Turkish[26] rüya [ˈɾ̞ÿjä] 'dream' Word-initial allophone of /ɾ/.[26] See Turkish phonology

Alveolar nasal flap

Alveolar nasal flap
ɾ̃
IPA number 124 424
Encoding
X-SAMPA 4~

Features

Features of the alveolar nasal flap:

Occurrence

Language Word IPA Meaning Notes
English[37] Estuary twenty  [ˈtw̥ɛɾ̃i]  'twenty' Allophone of unstressed intervocallic /nt/ for some speakers. See English phonology,
North American English regional phonology and flapping
North American[38]

See also

References

Bibliography

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