CORONAL PLACES OF ARTICULATION

Publisher Summary This chapter explores a variety of possible coronal places of articulation. It focuses on a traditional place of articulation distinctions and some manner distinctions that are used to make fine place distinctions. The sublaminal retroflexes, attested most clearly for stops, would count as laminal in most feature systems. The other two types of retroflexes are apical, occurring with either domed or flat tongue shapes. Coronals can be defined as segments produced with the blade of the tongue. Among the most recognized coronal places of articulation are dental, alveolar, palate–alveolar, retroflex, and palatal. Coronal articulations extend from the upper lip to the hard palate. The chapter illustrates key divisions along the palate. Behind the upper teeth is the alveolar ridge, a source of some confusion in articulatory descriptions. For phonetic purposes, the alveolar ridge is the entire area from the upper teeth back to the prominence at which the palate starts angling upward toward the roof of the mouth.