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 Number	117
Encoding
Entity (decimal)	ɳ
Unicode (hex)	U+0273
X-SAMPA	n`
Braille
Image
Audio sample
source · help

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 lungs and diaphragm, as in most sounds.

Occurrence

Language		Word	IPA	Meaning	Notes
Bogd		ᠤᠯᠤᠰ	[ɳuls]	'country'
Enindhilyagwa		yingarna	[jiŋaɳa]	'snake'
Faroese		ørn	[œɻɳ]	'eagle'
Hindustani	Hindi	ठंडा	[ʈʰəɳɖaː]	'cold'	See Hindustani phonology
	Urdu	ٹھنڈا‎
Kannada		ಅಣೆ	[ʌɳe]	'dam'
Khanty	Eastern dialects	еңә	[eɳə]	'large'
	Some northern dialects
Malayalam[1]		അണ	[aɳə]	'jaw'
Marathi		बाण	[baːɳə]	'arrow'	See Marathi phonology
Nepali		अण्डा	[ʌɳɖä]	'egg'	See Nepali phonology
Marshallese		Ņadikdik	[ɳˠɑrʲiɯɡɯirʲiɯk]	'Knox Atoll'
Norwegian		garn	[ɡɑːɳ]	'yarn'	See Norwegian phonology
Oriya		ବଣି	[bɔɳi]	'old'
Pashto		اتڼ‎/Ataṇ	[at̪aɳ]	'Attan'
Punjabi	Gurmukhi	ਪੁਰਾਣਾ	[puraːɳaː]	'old'
	Shahmukhi	پُراݨا‎
Swedish[2]		garn	[ɡɑːɳ]	'yarn'	See Swedish phonology
Tamil[3]		அணல்	[aɳal]	'neck'	See Tamil phonology
Telugu		గొణుగు	[goɳugu]	'murmur'
Vietnamese[4]		anh trả	[aɳ˧ ʈa˨˩˦]	'you pay'	Allophone of /n/ before /ʈ/ in Saigon dialect. See Vietnamese phonology

See also

• Index of phonetics articles

Notes

1. Ladefoged (2005:165)
2. Eliasson (1986:278–279)
3. Keane (2004:111)
4. Thompson (1959:458–461)

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

External links

• List of languages with [ɳ] on PHOIBLE