| Apical | |
|---|---|
| ◌̺ | |
| ◌ | |
| IPA number | 409 |
| Encoding | |
| Entity(decimal) | ̺ |
| Unicode(hex) | U+033A |
Anapical consonant is aphone (speech sound) produced by obstructing the air passage with the tip of the tongue (apex) in conjunction with upper articulators from lips topostalveolar, and possiblyprepalatal.[1][2] It contrasts withlaminal consonants, which are produced by creating an obstruction with the blade of the tongue, just behind the tip. Sometimesapical is used exclusively for an articulation that involves only the tip of the tongue andapicolaminal for an articulation that involves both the tip and the blade of the tongue.[3] However, the distinction is not always made and the latter one may be called simplyapical, especially when describing an apical dental articulation.[1][4] As there is some laminal contact in the alveolar region, the apicolaminal dental consonants are also labelled asdenti-alveolar.
It is not a very common distinction and is typically applied only tofricatives andaffricates. Thus, many varieties ofEnglish have either apical or laminal pairs of[t]/[d] (although the plosives[t]/[d],nasals[n] andlateral[l~ɫ] tend to be apical, while the fricatives[s]/[z] tend to be laminal[5]). However, somevarieties of Arabic, includingHadhrami Arabic inYemen, realize[t] as laminal but[d] as apical.
Basque uses the distinction foralveolar fricatives.Mandarin Chinese uses it forpostalveolar fricatives (the "alveolo-palatal" and "retroflex" series).Lillooet uses it as a secondary feature in contrasting velarized and non-velarized affricates. A distinction between apical and laminal is common inAustralian Aboriginal languages for nasals, plosives and (usually) lateral approximants.
Most dialects in theBengali–Assamese continuum distinguish between dental–laminal alveolar stops and apical alveolar stops. In UpperAssamese, they have merged and leave only the apical alveolar stops. In WesternBengali apical alveolars are replaced by apical post-alveolars.
In theInternational Phonetic Alphabet, the diacritic for apical consonants is a rotated dental diacritic,U+033A ◌̺COMBINING INVERTED BRIDGE BELOW.
