Coronal consonant

Template:Short description Template:IPA notice 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 articulations (some of which also involve the back of the tongue as an articulator): palato-alveolar, alveolo-palatal and retroflex. Only the front of the tongue (coronal) has such dexterity among the major places of articulation, allowing such variety of distinctions. Coronals have another dimension, grooved, to make sibilants in combination with the orientations above.

Places of articulation

Coronal places of articulation include the dental consonants at the upper teeth, the alveolar consonants at the upper gum (the alveolar ridge), the various postalveolar consonants (including domed palato-alveolar, laminal alveolo-palatal, and apical retroflex) just behind that, the subapical retroflex consonants curled back against the hard palate, and linguolabial consonants with the tongue against the upper lip. Alveolo-palatal and linguolabial consonants sometimes behave as dorsal and labial consonants, respectively, rather than as coronals.

Coronal sibilants

		IPA symbol	meaning
place of articulation	passive (mouth)	Template:Angbr IPA	dental
		Template:Angbr IPA	advanced (denti-alveolar)
		Template:Angbr IPA	alveolar
		Template:Angbr IPA	retracted (postalveolar)
	active (tongue)	Template:Angbr IPA	apical
		Template:Angbr IPA	laminal
		Template:Angbr IPA	retroflex
	secondary	Template:Angbr IPA	palatalized coronal
		Template:Angbr IPA	alveolo-palatal
		Template:Angbr IPA	palato-alveolar
		Template:Angbr IPA	labialized coronal
		Template:Angbr IPA	velarized coronal
		Template:Angbr IPA	pharyngealized coronal
voice-onset time		Template:Angbr IPA	aspirated coronal

Examples

Arabic

In Arabic and Maltese philology, the sun letters represent coronal consonants.

European

European coronal consonants

IPA symbol	Name of the consonant	Language	Example	IPA
Template:Angbr IPA	Voiced alveolar sibilant	English	zoo
Template:Angbr IPA	Voiceless alveolar sibilant		sea
Template:Angbr IPA	Voiced dental fricative		that
Template:Angbr IPA	Voiceless dental fricative		thud
Template:Angbr IPA	Voiced palato-alveolar fricative		vision
Template:Angbr IPA	Voiceless palato-alveolar fricative		she
Template:Angbr IPA	Alveolar nasal		name
Template:Angbr IPA	Voiced alveolar plosive		day
Template:Angbr IPA	Voiceless alveolar plosive		tea
Template:Angbr IPA	Alveolar approximant		reef
Template:Angbr IPA	Alveolar lateral approximant		lift
Template:Angbr IPA	Alveolar trill	Spanish	perro
Template:Angbr IPA	Alveolar flap		pero

Australian Aboriginal

In Australian Aboriginal languages, coronals contrast with peripheral consonants.

Australian coronal consonants

	Laminal		Apical
	Alveopalatal	Dental	Alveolar	Retroflex
Stop
Nasal
Lateral

Lack of coronals

The Northwest Mekeo language lacks coronal consonants entirely.

See also

• Peripheral consonants, the set of non-coronal consonants
• Apical consonant
• Laminal consonant
• Subapical consonant
• Place of articulation
• List of phonetics topics

Further reading

• Template:SOWL