Voiced retroflex nasal

The voiced retroflex nasal is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is ⟨ɳ ⟩, and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is n`.

"Retroflex nasal" redirects here. For the voiceless consonant, see Voiceless retroflex nasal.
Voiced retroflex nasal
ɳ
IPA Number117
Audio sample
source · help
Encoding
Entity (decimal)ɳ
Unicode (hex)U+0273
X-SAMPAn`
Braille⠲ (braille pattern dots-256) ⠝ (braille pattern dots-1345)

Like all the retroflex consonants, the IPA symbol is formed by adding a rightward-pointing hook extending from the bottom of an en (the letter used for the corresponding alveolar consonant). It is similar to ⟨ɲ⟩, the letter for the palatal nasal, which has a leftward-pointing hook extending from the bottom of the left stem, and to ⟨ŋ⟩, the letter for the velar nasal, which has a leftward-pointing hook extending from the bottom of the right stem.

Features

Features of the voiced retroflex nasal:

  • Its manner of articulation is occlusive, which means it is produced by obstructing airflow in the vocal tract. Because the consonant is also nasal, the blocked airflow is redirected through the nose.
  • Its place of articulation is retroflex, which prototypically means it is articulated subapical (with the tip of the tongue curled up), but more generally, it means that it is postalveolar without being palatalized. That is, besides the prototypical subapical articulation, the tongue contact can be apical (pointed) or laminal (flat).
  • Its phonation is voiced, which means the vocal cords vibrate during the articulation.
  • It is a nasal consonant, which means air is allowed to escape through the nose, either exclusively (nasal stops) or in addition to through the mouth.
  • It is a central consonant, which means it is produced by directing the airstream along the center of the tongue, rather than to the sides.
  • The airstream mechanism is pulmonic, which means it is articulated by pushing air solely with the intercostal muscles and diaphragm, as in most sounds.

Occurrence
LanguageWordIPAMeaningNotes
Bengali[1]Rare; occurs in the extreme western dialects
Enindhilyagwayingarna[jiŋaɳa]'snake'
Faroeseørn[œɻɳ]'eagle'
Hindiठंडा/ṭhaṇḍā[ʈʰəɳɖaː]'cold'
Kannadaಅಣೆ/aṇe[ɐɳe]'dam'
KhantyEastern dialectsеңә/eṇẹ[eɳə]'large'
Some northern dialects
Malayalam[2]അണ/aṇa[ɐɳɐ]'jaw'
Marathiबाण/bāṇa[baːɳ]'arrow'Often realized as a flap in intervocalic and word-final positions. See Marathi phonology
Nepaliअण्डा/aṇḍā[ʌɳɖä]'egg'See Nepali phonology
Norwegiangarn[ɡɑːɳ]ⓘ'yarn'See Norwegian phonology
Odiaବଣି/baṇi[bɔɳi]'old'
Pashtoاتڼ/Ataṇ[at̪aɳ]ⓘ'Attan'
Punjabi Gurmukhi ਪੁਰਾਣਾ/purāṇā [pʊraːɳaː] 'old'
Shahmukhi پُراݨا/purāṇā
Swedish[3]garn[ɡɑːɳ]ⓘ'yarn'See Swedish phonology
Tamil[4]அணல்/aṇal[aɳal]'neck'See Tamil phonology
Teluguగొణుగు/goṇugu[goɳugu]'murmur'Occurs as allophone of anuswara when followed by Voiced retroflex plosives.
Vietnamese[5]anh trả[aɳ˧ ʈa˨˩˦]'you pay'Allophone of /n/ before /ʈ/ in Saigon dialect. See Vietnamese phonology

Voiced retroflex nasal flap
Retroflex nasal flap
ɽ̃
ɳ̆

Features

Features of the retroflex nasal tap or flap:

  • Its manner of articulation is tap or flap, which means it is produced with a single contraction of the muscles so that one articulator (usually the tongue) is thrown against another.
  • Its place of articulation is retroflex, which prototypically means it is articulated subapical (with the tip of the tongue curled up), but more generally, it means that it is postalveolar without being palatalized. That is, besides the prototypical subapical articulation, the tongue contact can be apical (pointed) or laminal (flat).
  • Its phonation is voiced, which means the vocal cords vibrate during the articulation.
  • It is a nasal consonant, which means air is allowed to escape through the nose, either exclusively (nasal stops) or in addition to through the mouth.
  • It is a central consonant, which means it is produced by directing the airstream along the center of the tongue, rather than to the sides.
  • The airstream mechanism is pulmonic, which means it is articulated by pushing air solely with the intercostal muscles and diaphragm, as in most sounds.

Occurrence
Language Word IPA Meaning Notes
Ndrumbea[6] /t̠ɽáɽẽ/ [t̠áɽ̃ã́ɻ̃ẽ] 'to run' Allophone of /ɽ/ before a nasal vowel
Kangri[7]

See also

Notes
  1. Chatterji, Suniti Kumar (1926). The Origin and Development of the Bengali Language. Vol. 1. Calcutta: Calcutta University Press. p. 269.
  2. Ladefoged (2005:165)
  3. Eliasson (1986:278–279)
  4. Keane (2004:111)
  5. Thompson (1959:458–461)
  6. Gordon, Matthew; Ian Maddieson (October 1995). "The phonetics of Ndumbea". Fieldwork Studies of Targeted Languages III. UCLA Working Papers in Phonetics (91): 25–44.
  7. Eaton, Robert D. (2008)

References
  • Eliasson, Stig (1986), "Sandhi in Peninsular Scandinavian", in Anderson, Henning (ed.), Sandhi Phenomena in the Languages of Europe, Berlin: de Gruyter, pp. 271–300
  • Keane, Elinor (2004), "Tamil", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 34 (1): 111–116, doi:10.1017/S0025100304001549
  • Ladefoged, Peter (2005), Vowels and Consonants (Second ed.), Blackwell
  • Thompson, Laurence (1959), "Saigon phonemics", Language, 35 (3): 454–476, doi:10.2307/411232, JSTOR 411232
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