Retroflex consonant

Places of articulation
Labial consonant
Bilabial consonant
Labiodental consonant
Linguolabial consonant
Coronal consonant
Interdental consonant
Dental consonant
Retroflex consonant
Alveolar consonant
Postalveolar consonant
Alveolo-palatal consonant
Dorsal consonant
Palatal consonant
Labial-palatal consonant
Velar consonant
Labial-velar consonant
Uvular consonant
Pharyngeal consonant
Epiglottal consonant
Glottal consonant


Retroflex consonants are consonants articulated with the tip of the tongue curled up and back so the bottom of the tip touches the roof of the mouth. Retroflex consonants are common in the Indo-Aryan languages and the Dravidian languages; and can also be found in languages such as Mandarin Chinese, Javanese, Vietnamese, Swedish, Norwegian and some languages of Southern Italy and Sardinia.

In the International Phonetic Alphabet, the symbols for retroflex consonants are typically the same as for the alveolar consonants, but with the addition of a right-facing hook to the bottom of the symbol. The retroflex consonants identified by the International Phonetic Alphabet are:


IPA SymbolNameExampleMeaning
ʈ Voiceless retroflex plosive Vietnamese [ɲɑ.ʈɑŋ] Nha Trang
ɖ Voiced retroflex plosive Swedish [n̪ʊɖ] nord
ɳ retroflex nasal Swedish [vɛː.n̪əɳ] Vänern
ʂ Voiceless retroflex fricative Mandarin [ʂɑŋ˥˩.xaj˨˩˦] 上海 Shànghǎi
ʐ Voiced retroflex fricative Mandarin [ɖ̥͡ʐ̥u˥.ʐʊŋ˧˥.d̥͡ʑ̥i˥˩] Zhū Róngjì
ɻ retroflex approximant Tamil [tæmɪɻ] Tamil
ɭ retroflex lateral approximant Swedish [kaɭ.stɑːd̪] Karlstad


See also

sv:Retroflex fr:consonne rétroflexe


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