TheInternational Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) does not have separate symbols for the alveolar consonants. Rather, the same symbol is used for allcoronal places of articulation that are notpalatalized like Englishpalato-alveolarsh, orretroflex. To disambiguate, thebridge ([s̪,t̪,n̪,l̪],etc.) may be used for a dental consonant, or theunder-bar ([s̠,t̠,n̠,l̠],etc.) may be used for thepostalveolars.[s̪] differs from dental[θ] in that the former is asibilant and the latter is not.[s̠] differs from postalveolar[ʃ] in being unpalatalized.
The bare letters[s,t,n,l], etc. cannot be assumed to specifically represent alveolars. The language may not make such distinctions, such that two or more coronalplaces of articulation are foundallophonically, or the transcription may simply be too broad to distinguish dental from alveolar. If it is necessary to specify a consonant as alveolar, a diacritic from theExtended IPA may be used:[s͇,t͇,n͇,l͇],etc., though that could also mean extra-retracted.[3] The letters⟨s, t, n, l⟩ are frequently called 'alveolar', and the language examples below are all alveolar sounds.
(The Extended IPA diacritic was devised forspeech pathology and is frequently used to mean "alveolarized", as in the labioalveolar sounds[p͇,b͇,m͇,f͇,v͇], where the lower lip contacts the alveolar ridge.)
Northwest Mekeo lacks coronal consonants entirely.[6] A few languages onBougainville Island and aroundPuget Sound, such asMakah, lack nasals and therefore[n] but have[t]. ColloquialSamoan, however, lacks both[t] and[n] but has alateral alveolar approximant/l/. (Samoan words written witht andn are pronounced with[k] and[ŋ] in colloquial speech.) In StandardHawaiian,[t] is an allophone of/k/, but/l/ and/n/ exist.
In labioalveolars, the lower lip contacts the alveolar ridge. Such sounds are typically the result of a severe overbite. In theExtensions to the IPA for disordered speech, they are transcribed with the alveolar diacritic on labial letters: ⟨m͇p͇b͇f͇v͇⟩.
