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Inphonetics,alveolo-palatal (alveolopalatal,alveo-palatal oralveopalatal[a])consonants, sometimes synonymous withpre-palatal consonants, are intermediate inarticulation between thecoronal anddorsal consonants, or which have simultaneousalveolar andpalatal articulation. In the official IPA chart, alveolo-palatals would appear between theretroflex andpalatal consonants but for "lack of space".[2] Ladefoged and Maddieson characterize the alveolo-palatals aspalatalizedpostalveolars (and thus as palato-alveolars), articulated with the blade of the tongue behind the alveolar ridge and the body of the tongue raised toward the palate,[3] whereas Esling describes them asadvanced palatals (pre-palatals), the furthest front of thedorsal consonants, articulated with the body of the tongue approaching thealveolar ridge.[2] These descriptions are essentially equivalent, since the contact includes both the blade and body (but not the tip) of the tongue (see schematic at right). They are front enough that the fricatives and affricates aresibilants, the only sibilants among the dorsal consonants.
According to Daniel Recasens, alveolo-palatal consonants are realized through the formation of a simultaneous closure or constriction at the alveolar and palatal zones with a primary articulator which encompasses the blade and the tongue dorsum. Their place of articulation may include the postalveolar zone and the prepalate, but also a larger contact area extending towards the front alveolar zone and the back palate surface. The tongue tip is bent downwards and the tongue dorsum is raised and fronted during the production of these consonants.[4]
The alveolo-palatal sibilants are often used invarieties of Chinese such asMandarin,Hakka, andWu, as well as otherEast Asian languages such asJapanese andKorean,Tibeto-Burman such asTibetan andBurmese as well asTai languages such asThai,Lao,Shan andZhuang. Alveolo-palatal sibilants are also a feature of manySlavic languages, such asPolish,Russian, andSerbo-Croatian, and ofNorthwest Caucasian languages, such asAbkhaz andUbykh. The alveolo-palatal consonants included in theInternational Phonetic Alphabet are:
| Historical IPA | Current IPA[clarification needed] | Description | Example | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Language | Orthography | IPA | Meaning | |||||
| ɕ | Voiceless alveolo-palatal sibilant | Mandarin | 小 (xiǎo) | [ɕiɑu˨˩˦] | small | |||
| ʑ | Voiced alveolo-palatal sibilant | Polish | zioło | [ʑɔwɔ] | herb | |||
| ʨ | t̠͡ɕ,c̟͡ɕ | Voiceless alveolo-palatal affricate | Serbo-Croatian | kuća /кућа | [kut͡ɕa] | house | ||
| ʥ | d̠͡ʑ,ɟ̟͡ʑ | Voiced alveolo-palatal affricate | Japanese | 地震 (jishin) | [d͡ʑiɕĩɴ] | earthquake | ||
The letters ⟨ɕ⟩ and ⟨ʑ⟩ are essentially equivalent to ⟨ ʃʲ⟩ and ⟨ʒʲ⟩. They are the sibilant homologues of the pre-palatal fricatives[ç˖] and[ʝ˖].
Symbols for alveolo-palatal stopsU+0236 ȶLATIN SMALL LETTER T WITH CURLU+0221 ȡLATIN SMALL LETTER D WITH CURL(ȶ,ȡ),nasalsU+0235 ȵLATIN SMALL LETTER N WITH CURL(ȵ) andliquidsU+0234 ȴLATIN SMALL LETTER L WITH CURL(ȴ) are sometimes used insinological circles (a circumflex accent is also sometimes seen), but they are not recognized by the IPA.
In standard IPA, they can be transcribed ⟨t̠ʲd̠ʲn̠ʲl̠ʲ⟩ or ⟨c̟ɟ̟ɲ̟ʎ̟⟩. An alternative transcription for the voiced alveolo-palatal stop and nasal is ⟨ɟ˖ɲ˖⟩, but it is used only when ⟨ɟ̟ɲ̟⟩ cannot be displayed properly.
For example, the Polish nasal represented with the letterń is a palatalized laminal alveolar nasal and thus often described as alveolo-palatal rather than palatal. The "palatal" consonants ofIndigenous Australian languages are also often closer to alveolo-palatal in their articulation.
| Para-IPA | IPA | Description | Example | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Language | Orthography | IPA | Meaning | |||
| ȶ | t̠ʲ,c̟ | Voiceless alveolo-palatal stop | Korean | 티끌tikkeul | [t̠ʲʰiʔk͈ɯl] | dust |
| ȡ | d̠ʲ,ɟ̟ | Voiced alveolo-palatal stop | Korean | 반디bandi | [b̥ɐnd̠ʲi] | firefly |
| ȵ | n̠ʲ,ɲ̟ | Voicedalveolo-palatal nasal | Nuosu | ꑌnyi | [n̠ʲi˧] | sit |
| ȵ̊ | n̠̊ʲ,ɲ̟̊ | Voiceless alveolo-palatal nasal | Lower Xumi | [ʃɐ̃˦ɲ̟̊ɛ˦] | clean | |
| ȴ | l̠ʲ,ʎ̟ | Alveolo-palatal lateral | Catalan | ull | [ˈul̠ʲ] | eye |
| j̟ | Alveolo-palatal approximant | Huastec[example needed] | ||||
InMigueleño Chiquitano, phoneme /ȶ/ contrasts with phoneme /c̠/;[5] in thesyllabic coda (or intervowel) position in conservativeIrish, laminal alveolo-palatal phoneme /ṉʲ/ (termedfortis slender coronal nasal, orthographic exampleinn) contrasts with both dorsal palatal phoneme /ɲ/[6] (termedslender dorsal nasal, orthographic exampleing or-nc-) and apical palatalized alveolar phoneme /nʲ/ (termedlenis slender coronal nasal, orthographic examplein);[7] while general Irish other thanMunster Irish contrasts alveolo-palatal nasal only with palatal nasal. In both cases, the palatal consonants work as the palatalization of velar consonants while alveolo-palatal consonants work as the palatalization of alveolar consonants.
In some spoken Chinese varieties, such as theLuchuan Hakka [zh] inHengshan [zh], contrast the alveolo-palatal nasal with the palato-velar nasal. For example, the following contrasting pairs can be found in Luchuan Ngai.
| EMC | Character | Pronunciation | Tone |
|---|---|---|---|
| newH | 尿 | niau | 去 |
| nraewX | 撓 | 阳平 | |
| nyew | 饒 | ȵiau | 阳平 |
| ngewH | 澆 | ɲ̠iau | 上 |
| nrjem | 黏 | niam | 阴平 |
| nyemX | 染 | ȵiam | 上 |
| ngjaem | 嚴 | ɲ̠iam | 阳平 |
| nyin | 人 | ȵin | 阳平 |
| 仁 | ɲ̠in |
Although a number of spoken Chinese varieties, such as standard Mandarin, also contrast EMC alveolo-palatal nasal with velar nasal of class III (palatalizing medial), most don't contrast them in a way that alveolo-palatal differs from palatal. For example, inPianlian [Wikidata] Hakka, alveolo-palatal nasal marginally contrasts with velar nasal underclose front medials, but there is little sign of palatal contrasts.
| EMC | Character | Pronunciation | Tone |
|---|---|---|---|
| nrjep | 聶 | niap | 阳 |
| 鑷 | ȵiap | ||
| nyip | 入 | ȵap | |
| net | 捏 | ŋiap |
Thus most frequently, the Sinologist use of ȵ instead of ɲ is not to indicate a contrast, but to emphasize its primary allophone not to be the Turkish [ɲ], or to indicate its coronal origin or that it has evolved with other dorsal consonants which have become alveolopalatals, where ɲ is reserved for postpalatals evolved from dorsal consonants. However, since ȵ has also been unfortunately used by some forMeixian Hakka, the distinction of usage has become vague. ȶ, on the other hand, has retained its accurate usage representing phonemes in certain spoken Chinese inHengyang and has never been applied on Hakka or on certain Mandarin in or near Shandong.
