dorsal consonant

{{Short description|Consonants like /k, g, j/ articulated with the back of the tongue}}

Dorsal consonants are consonants articulated with the back of the tongue (the dorsum). They include the palatal, velar and, in some cases, alveolo-palatal and uvular consonants. They contrast with coronal consonants, articulated with the flexible front of the tongue, and laryngeal consonants, articulated in the pharyngeal cavity.

Function

The dorsum of the tongue can contact a broad region of the roof of the mouth, from the hard palate (palatal consonants), the flexible velum behind that (velar consonants), to the uvula at the back of the mouth cavity (uvular consonants). These distinctions are not clear cut, and sometimes finer gradations such as pre-palatal, pre-velar, and post-velar will be noted.

Because the tip of the tongue can curl back to also contact the hard palate for retroflex consonants (subapical-palatal), consonants produced by contact between the dorsum and the palate are sometimes called dorso-palatal.

Examples

class="wikitable" \|+ Familiar dorsal consonants ! IPA symbol ! Name of the consonant ! Language ! Example ! IPA
{{angbr IPA\|ɲ}} \| Voiced palatal nasal \| Albanian \| {{lang\|sq\|një\|italic=yes}} \| {{IPA\|[ɲə]}}
{{angbr IPA\|ʝ}} \| Voiced palatal fricative \| Modern Greek \| {{lang\|el\|για}} \| {{IPA\|[ʝa]}}
{{angbr IPA\|ç}} \| Voiceless palatal fricative \| German \| {{lang\|de\|Reich}} \| {{IPA\|[ʁaɪ̯ç]}}
{{angbr IPA\|j}} \| Voiced palatal approximant \| rowspan="4" \| English \| yellow \| {{IPA\|[ˈjɛloʊ]}}
{{angbr IPA\|ŋ}} \| Voiced velar nasal \|sing \| {{IPA\|[ˈsɪŋ]}}
{{angbr IPA\|ɡ}} \| Voiced velar plosive \| garden \| {{IPA\|[ˈɡɑː(ɹ)dn̩]}}
{{angbr IPA\|k}} \| Voiceless velar plosive \| cake \| {{IPA\|[ˈkeɪk]}}
{{angbr IPA\|ɣ}} \| Voiced velar fricative \| Modern Greek \| {{Transliteration\|el\|góma}} ({{lang\|el\|γόμα}}) \| {{IPA\|[ˈɣoma]}}
{{angbr IPA\|x}} \| Voiceless velar fricative \| Malay \| {{lang\|ms\|akhir}} \| {{IPA\|[aːˈxir]}}
{{angbr IPA\|ʍ}} \| Voiceless labio-velar approximant \| rowspan="2" \| English \| whine \| {{IPA\|[ˈʍaɪn]}}
{{angbr IPA\|w}} \| Voiced labio-velar approximant \| water \| {{IPA\|[ˈwɔːtə(ɹ)]}}
{{angbr IPA\|q}} \| Voiceless uvular plosive \| Arabic \| Quran ({{lang\|ar\|قرآن}}) \| {{IPA\|[qurʔaːn]}}
{{angbr IPA\|ɢ}} \| Voiced uvular plosive \| Persian \| Qom ({{lang\|fa\|قم}}) \| {{IPA\|[ɢom]}}
{{angbr IPA\|ʁ}} \| Voiced uvular fricative or approximant \| French \| {{lang\|fr\|Paris}} \| {{IPA\|[paʁi]}}
{{angbr IPA\|χ}} \| Voiceless uvular fricative \| German \| {{lang\|de\|Bach}} \| {{IPA\|[baχ]}}

class="wikitable"

|+ Familiar dorsal consonants

! IPA symbol

! Name of the consonant

! Language

! Example

! IPA

| Voiced palatal nasal

| Albanian

| {{lang|sq|një|italic=yes}}

| {{IPA|[ɲə]}}

| Voiced palatal fricative