voiced retroflex approximant

{{Short description|Consonantal sound represented by ⟨ɻ⟩ in IPA}}

{{Infobox IPA

|ipa symbol=ɻ

|ipa number=152

|decimal=635

|xsampa=r\`

|kirshenbaum=r

|braille=256

|braille2=number

|imagefile=IPA Unicode 0x027B.svg

|imagesize=150px

}}

{{Infobox IPA

|above=Labialized voiced retroflex approximant

|ipa symbol=ɻʷ

|sound=Retroflex approximant.ogg

}}

The voiced retroflex approximant is a type of consonant used in some languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is {{angbr IPA|ɻ}}, and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is r\`. The IPA symbol is a turned lowercase letter r with a rightward hook protruding from the lower right of the letter.

The velar bunched approximant found in some varieties of Dutch and American English sounds similar to the retroflex approximant but it has a very different articulation.

Features

File:Voiced_retroflex_approximant.svg]

Features of the voiced retroflex approximant:

Occurrence

class=wikitable !Family !colspan=2\| Language !! Word !! IPA !! Meaning !! Notes
Sinitic \| Chinese	Mandarin	{{lang\|cmn-Hani\|日光}} {{lang\|cmn-Latn\|rìguāng}}	[ɻ̺͢ɻ̺̞̍˥˩ku̯ɑ͢ŋ˥]	'sunlight'	Apical.{{cite conference \|last1=Lee \|first1=Wai-Sum \|title=An articulatory and acoustical analysis of the syllable-initial sibilants and approximant in Beijing Mandarin \|conference=Proceedings of the 14th International Congress of Phonetic Sciences \|date=1999 \|s2cid=51828449 \|url=https://www.internationalphoneticassociation.org/icphs-proceedings/ICPhS1999/papers/p14_0413.pdf }} As an initial in free variation between fricative and approximant, but never has friction as strong as a true fricative (Chinese "fully muddy"/全浊-class) to trigger a (free or conditional) devoicing or postvoicing into /ʐ̥ʱ/, nor weak enough to become an apical vowel. As a rime it is an apical vowel that is frequently coarticulated with a close near-back unrounded vowel /ɨ̟/ (thus phonetically {{IPA\|[ɻ̺͢ɨ̟͡ɻ̺̞̍˥˩ku̯ɑ͢ŋ˥]}}, but this phonetic representation should be avoided as the tie-bar for coarticulation may be misunderstood as a sliding into an erhua rhotic vowel, a phonemically distinct syllable in Chinese), but it can be prolonged indefinitely and never truly developed into an /ɨ̟/. Both the consonant and the vowel may gain some friction especially when prolonged to force a more "distinct/clear" effect in teaching or when swearing, and thus it may be inaccurately transcribed as fricative {{IPAblink\|ʐ}} both as initial and as rime (when precision is necessary, a true fricative in Wu Chinese may be transcribed as [ʐ̥ʱ], as that is how it is pronounced in the first syllable). See Standard Chinese phonology. The character 日 (sun), when pronounced with an overall strengthened friction (on both z and ɿ), may likely be understood as a profanity,{{Which\|date=February 2025}} thus pronouncing as an approximant is important; but the two do not form a minimal pair, because the profanity can also be pronounced with little friction (though in some other dialects they further evolved to form a minimal pair).
Nungish \|colspan=2\| Derung	Tvrung	[tə˧˩ɻuŋ˥˧]	'Derung'
rowspan=3 \| Germanic \| rowspan=3 \| English	Some American dialects	rowspan=3 \| red	rowspan=3 \| {{IPA\|[ɻ(ʷ)ɛd]}}	rowspan=3 \| 'red'	rowspan=3 \| Labialized (pronounced with lips rounded). See Pronunciation of English /r/
Some Hiberno-English dialects
Some West Country English
Arnhem \|colspan=2\| Enindhilyagwa	{{lang\|aoi\|angwura}}	{{IPA\|[aŋwuɻa]}}	'fire'
Germanic \| colspan=2 \| Faroese{{sfnp\|Árnason\|2011\|p=115}}	{{lang\|fo\|hoyrdi}}	{{IPA\|[hɔiɻʈɛ]}}	'heard'	Allophone of {{IPA\|/ɹ/}}.{{sfnp\|Árnason\|2011\|p=115}} Sometimes voiceless {{IPAblink\|ɻ̊}}.{{sfnp\|Árnason\|2011\|p=115}} See Faroese phonology
Hellenic \| Greek	Cretan (Sfakia and Mylopotamos variations) region{{sfnp\|Trudgill\|1989\|pp=18–19}}	{{lang\|el\|γάλα}} {{Transliteration\|el\|gála}}	{{IPA\|[ˈɣaɻa]}}	'milk'	Intervocalic allophone of {{IPA\|/l/}} before {{IPA\|/a, o, u/}}. Recessive. See Modern Greek phonology
Eskimo-Aleut \| Inuktitut	Nattilingmiutut	{{lang\|iu-Latn\|kiuřuq}}	{{IPA\|/kiuɻuq/}}	'she replies'
Dravidian \|colspan=2\| Malayalam	{{lang\|ml\|ആഴം}}/āḻam	{{IPA\|[aːɻɐm]}}	'depth'
Mapudungun \| colspan="2" \| Mapuche{{sfnp\|Sadowsky\|Painequeo\|Salamanca\|Avelino\|2013\|p=90}}	{{lang\|arn\|rayen}}	{{IPA\|[ɻɜˈjën]}}	'flower'	Possible realization of {{IPA\|/ʐ/}}; may be {{IPAblink\|ʐ}} or {{IPAblink\|ɭ}} instead.{{sfnp\|Sadowsky\|Painequeo\|Salamanca\|Avelino\|2013\|p=90}}
rowspan=3\|Romance \|rowspan=3\| Portuguese	Many Centro-Sul registers	{{lang\|pt\|cartas}}	{{IPA\|[ˈkaɻtə̥̆s]}}	'letters'	rowspan=3\|Allophone of rhotic consonants (and sometimes {{IPA\|/l/}}) in the syllable coda. Mainly{{cite journal \|last1=Brandão \|first1=Silvia Figueiredo \|title=Nas trilhas do -R retroflexo \|journal=Signum: Estudos da Linguagem \|date=15 December 2007 \|volume=10 \|issue=2 \|pages=265 \|doi=10.5433/2237-4876.2007v10n2p265 \|doi-access=free }} found in rural São Paulo, Paraná, south of Minas Gerais and surrounding areas, with the more common and prestigious realization in metropolitan areas being {{IPAblink\|ɹ}} and/or rhotic vowel instead. As with {{IPAblink\|ɽ}}, it appeared as a mutation of {{IPA\|[ɾ]}}.{{cite thesis \|last1=Ferraz \|first1=Irineu da Silva \|title=Características fonético-acústicas do /r/ retroflexo do portugues brasileiro : dados de informantes de Pato Branco (PR) \|date=2005 \|hdl=1884/3955 \|url=https://acervodigital.ufpr.br/handle/1884/3955 }}{{in lang\|pt}} [http://cedae.iel.unicamp.br/revista/index.php/sinteses/article/download/1198/1766 Syllable coda /r/ in the "capital" of the paulista hinterland: sociolinguistic analisis]. {{Webarchive\|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130926191837/http://cedae.iel.unicamp.br/revista/index.php/sinteses/article/download/1198/1766 \|date=2013-09-26 }} Cândida Mara Britto LEITE. Page 111 (page 2 in the attached PDF){{in lang\|pt}} Callou, Dinah. Leite, Yonne. "Iniciação à Fonética e à Fonologia". Jorge Zahar Editora 2001, p. 24 See Portuguese phonology.
Caipira	{{lang\|pt\|temporal}}	{{IPA\|[tẽɪ̯̃pʊˈɾaɻ]}}	'rainstorm'
Conservative Piracicabano	{{lang\|pt\|grato}}	{{IPA\|[ˈgɻatʊ̥]}}	'thankful' (m.)
Dravidian \|colspan=2\| Tamil{{sfnp\|Keane\|2004\|p=111}}	{{lang\|ta\|தமிழ்}}/Tamiḻ	{{Audio-IPA\|Ta-தமிழ்.ogg\|[t̪əˈmɨɻ]}}	'Tamil'	See Tamil phonology. May be merged with {{IPAblink\|ɭ}} for some modern speakers.
Pama-Nyungan \| Western Desert	Pitjantjatjara dialect	{{lang\|pjt\|Uluṟu}}	{{IPA\|[ʊlʊɻʊ]}}	'Uluru'
Isolate \|colspan=2\| Yaghan	{{lang\|yag\|wárho}}	{{IPA\|[ˈwaɻo]}}	'cave'

Notes

References

{{citation

|last=Árnason

|first=Kristján

|title=The Phonology of Icelandic and Faroese

|year=2011

|publisher=Oxford University Press

|isbn=978-0-19-922931-4

}}

{{citation

|last=Keane

|first=Elinor

|year=2004

|title=Tamil

|journal=Journal of the International Phonetic Association

|volume=34

|issue=1

|pages=111–116

|doi=10.1017/S0025100304001549

|doi-access=free

}}

{{citation

|last1=Sadowsky

|first1=Scott

|last2=Painequeo

|first2=Héctor

|last3=Salamanca

|first3=Gastón

|last4=Avelino

|first4=Heriberto

|year=2013

|title=Mapudungun

|journal=Journal of the International Phonetic Association

|volume=43

|issue=1

|pages=87–96

|doi=10.1017/S0025100312000369

|doi-access=free

}}

{{citation

|last=Trudgill

|first=Peter

|title=The Sociophonetics of /l/ in the Greek of Sphakiá

|year=1989

|journal=Journal of the International Phonetic Association

|volume=15

|issue=2

|pages=18–22

|doi=10.1017/S0025100300002942

|s2cid=143943154

}}

External links

{{phoible|ɻ}}

Category:Retroflex consonants

Category:Pulmonic consonants

Category:Oral consonants

Category:Central consonants

class=wikitable !Family !colspan=2\| Language !! Word !! IPA !! Meaning !! Notes
Sinitic \| Chinese	Mandarin	{{lang\|cmn-Hani\|日光}} {{lang\|cmn-Latn\|rìguāng}}	[ɻ̺͢ɻ̺̞̍˥˩ku̯ɑ͢ŋ˥]	'sunlight'	Apical.{{cite conference \|last1=Lee \|first1=Wai-Sum \|title=An articulatory and acoustical analysis of the syllable-initial sibilants and approximant in Beijing Mandarin \|conference=Proceedings of the 14th International Congress of Phonetic Sciences \|date=1999 \|s2cid=51828449 \|url=https://www.internationalphoneticassociation.org/icphs-proceedings/ICPhS1999/papers/p14_0413.pdf }} As an initial in free variation between fricative and approximant, but never has friction as strong as a true fricative (Chinese "fully muddy"/全浊-class) to trigger a (free or conditional) devoicing or postvoicing into /ʐ̥ʱ/, nor weak enough to become an apical vowel. As a rime it is an apical vowel that is frequently coarticulated with a close near-back unrounded vowel /ɨ̟/ (thus phonetically {{IPA\|[ɻ̺͢ɨ̟͡ɻ̺̞̍˥˩ku̯ɑ͢ŋ˥]}}, but this phonetic representation should be avoided as the tie-bar for coarticulation may be misunderstood as a sliding into an erhua rhotic vowel, a phonemically distinct syllable in Chinese), but it can be prolonged indefinitely and never truly developed into an /ɨ̟/. Both the consonant and the vowel may gain some friction especially when prolonged to force a more "distinct/clear" effect in teaching or when swearing, and thus it may be inaccurately transcribed as fricative {{IPAblink\|ʐ}} both as initial and as rime (when precision is necessary, a true fricative in Wu Chinese may be transcribed as [ʐ̥ʱ], as that is how it is pronounced in the first syllable). See Standard Chinese phonology. The character 日 (sun), when pronounced with an overall strengthened friction (on both z and ɿ), may likely be understood as a profanity,{{Which\|date=February 2025}} thus pronouncing as an approximant is important; but the two do not form a minimal pair, because the profanity can also be pronounced with little friction (though in some other dialects they further evolved to form a minimal pair).
Nungish \|colspan=2\| Derung	Tvrung	[tə˧˩ɻuŋ˥˧]	'Derung'
rowspan=3 \| Germanic \| rowspan=3 \| English	Some American dialects	rowspan=3 \| red	rowspan=3 \| {{IPA\|[ɻ(ʷ)ɛd]}}	rowspan=3 \| 'red'	rowspan=3 \| Labialized (pronounced with lips rounded). See Pronunciation of English /r/
Some Hiberno-English dialects
Some West Country English
Arnhem \|colspan=2\| Enindhilyagwa	{{lang\|aoi\|angwura}}	{{IPA\|[aŋwuɻa]}}	'fire'
Germanic \| colspan=2 \| Faroese{{sfnp\|Árnason\|2011\|p=115}}	{{lang\|fo\|hoyrdi}}	{{IPA\|[hɔiɻʈɛ]}}	'heard'	Allophone of {{IPA\|/ɹ/}}.{{sfnp\|Árnason\|2011\|p=115}} Sometimes voiceless {{IPAblink\|ɻ̊}}.{{sfnp\|Árnason\|2011\|p=115}} See Faroese phonology
Hellenic \| Greek	Cretan (Sfakia and Mylopotamos variations) region{{sfnp\|Trudgill\|1989\|pp=18–19}}	{{lang\|el\|γάλα}} {{Transliteration\|el\|gála}}	{{IPA\|[ˈɣaɻa]}}	'milk'	Intervocalic allophone of {{IPA\|/l/}} before {{IPA\|/a, o, u/}}. Recessive. See Modern Greek phonology
Eskimo-Aleut \| Inuktitut	Nattilingmiutut	{{lang\|iu-Latn\|kiuřuq}}	{{IPA\|/kiuɻuq/}}	'she replies'
Dravidian \|colspan=2\| Malayalam	{{lang\|ml\|ആഴം}}/āḻam	{{IPA\|[aːɻɐm]}}	'depth'
Mapudungun \| colspan="2" \| Mapuche{{sfnp\|Sadowsky\|Painequeo\|Salamanca\|Avelino\|2013\|p=90}}	{{lang\|arn\|rayen}}	{{IPA\|[ɻɜˈjën]}}	'flower'	Possible realization of {{IPA\|/ʐ/}}; may be {{IPAblink\|ʐ}} or {{IPAblink\|ɭ}} instead.{{sfnp\|Sadowsky\|Painequeo\|Salamanca\|Avelino\|2013\|p=90}}
rowspan=3\|Romance \|rowspan=3\| Portuguese	Many Centro-Sul registers	{{lang\|pt\|cartas}}	{{IPA\|[ˈkaɻtə̥̆s]}}	'letters'	rowspan=3\|Allophone of rhotic consonants (and sometimes {{IPA\|/l/}}) in the syllable coda. Mainly{{cite journal \|last1=Brandão \|first1=Silvia Figueiredo \|title=Nas trilhas do -R retroflexo \|journal=Signum: Estudos da Linguagem \|date=15 December 2007 \|volume=10 \|issue=2 \|pages=265 \|doi=10.5433/2237-4876.2007v10n2p265 \|doi-access=free }} found in rural São Paulo, Paraná, south of Minas Gerais and surrounding areas, with the more common and prestigious realization in metropolitan areas being {{IPAblink\|ɹ}} and/or rhotic vowel instead. As with {{IPAblink\|ɽ}}, it appeared as a mutation of {{IPA\|[ɾ]}}.{{cite thesis \|last1=Ferraz \|first1=Irineu da Silva \|title=Características fonético-acústicas do /r/ retroflexo do portugues brasileiro : dados de informantes de Pato Branco (PR) \|date=2005 \|hdl=1884/3955 \|url=https://acervodigital.ufpr.br/handle/1884/3955 }}{{in lang\|pt}} [http://cedae.iel.unicamp.br/revista/index.php/sinteses/article/download/1198/1766 Syllable coda /r/ in the "capital" of the paulista hinterland: sociolinguistic analisis]. {{Webarchive\|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130926191837/http://cedae.iel.unicamp.br/revista/index.php/sinteses/article/download/1198/1766 \|date=2013-09-26 }} Cândida Mara Britto LEITE. Page 111 (page 2 in the attached PDF){{in lang\|pt}} Callou, Dinah. Leite, Yonne. "Iniciação à Fonética e à Fonologia". Jorge Zahar Editora 2001, p. 24 See Portuguese phonology.
Caipira	{{lang\|pt\|temporal}}	{{IPA\|[tẽɪ̯̃pʊˈɾaɻ]}}	'rainstorm'
Conservative Piracicabano	{{lang\|pt\|grato}}	{{IPA\|[ˈgɻatʊ̥]}}	'thankful' (m.)
Dravidian \|colspan=2\| Tamil{{sfnp\|Keane\|2004\|p=111}}	{{lang\|ta\|தமிழ்}}/Tamiḻ	{{Audio-IPA\|Ta-தமிழ்.ogg\|[t̪əˈmɨɻ]}}	'Tamil'	See Tamil phonology. May be merged with {{IPAblink\|ɭ}} for some modern speakers.
Pama-Nyungan \| Western Desert	Pitjantjatjara dialect	{{lang\|pjt\|Uluṟu}}	{{IPA\|[ʊlʊɻʊ]}}	'Uluru'
Isolate \|colspan=2\| Yaghan	{{lang\|yag\|wárho}}	{{IPA\|[ˈwaɻo]}}	'cave'

voiced retroflex approximant

Features

Occurrence

See also

Notes

References

External links