Voiced retroflex approximant

A voiced retroflex approximant is a type of consonant used in some languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is ⟨ɻ⟩. The IPA symbol is a turned lowercase letter r with a rightward hook protruding from the lower right of the letter.

Voiced retroflex approximant
ɻ
IPA number	152
Audio sample
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Encoding
Entity (decimal)	ɻ
Unicode (hex)	U+027B
X-SAMPA	r\`
Braille
Image

The velar bunched approximant found in some varieties of Dutch and American English are identical to a retroflex approximant in sound but has a very different articulation.

Features

A schematic mid-sagittal section of an articulation of a voiced retroflex approximant [ɻ]

Features of the voiced retroflex approximant:

• Its manner of articulation is approximant, which means it is produced by narrowing the vocal tract at the place of articulation, but not enough to produce a turbulent airstream.
• 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 can be apical (pointed) or, in some fricatives, laminal (flat).
• Its phonation is voiced, which means the vocal cords vibrate during the articulation.
• It is an oral consonant, which means that air is exclusively allowed to escape 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.
• Its airstream mechanism is pulmonic, which means it is articulated by pushing air solely with the intercostal muscles and abdominal muscles, as in most sounds.

Occurrence

Family	Language		Word	IPA	Meaning	Notes
Sinitic	Chinese	Mandarin	肉 ròu	[ɻ̺oʊ̯˥˩]	'meat'	Apical.[1] Can be transcribed as fricative [ʐ]. See Standard Chinese phonology
Nungish	Derung		Tvrung	[tə˧˩ɻuŋ˥˧]	'Derung'
Germanic	English	Some American dialects	red	[ɻ(ʷ)ɛd]	'red'	Labialized (pronounced with lips rounded). See Pronunciation of English /r/
		Some Hiberno-English dialects
		Some West Country English
Arnhem	Enindhilyagwa		angwura	[aŋwuɻa]	'fire'
Germanic	Faroese[2]		hoyrdi	[hɔiɻʈɛ]	'heard'	Allophone of /ɹ/.[2] Sometimes voiceless [ɻ̊].[2] See Faroese phonology
Hellenic	Greek	Cretan (Sfakia and Mylopotamos variations) region[3]	γάλα gála	[ˈɣaɻa]	'milk'	Intervocalic allophone of /l/ before /a, o, u/. Recessive. See Modern Greek phonology
Eskimo-Aleut	Inuktitut	Nattilingmiutut	kiuřuq	/kiuɻuq/	'she replies'
Dravidian	Malayalam		ആഴം/āḻam	[aːɻɐm]	'depth'
Mapudungun	Mapuche[4]		rayen	[ɻɜˈjën]	'flower'	Possible realization of /ʐ/; may be [ʐ] or [ɭ] instead.[4]
Romance	Portuguese	Many Centro-Sul registers	cartas	[ˈkaɻtə̥̆s]	'letters'	Allophone of rhotic consonants (and sometimes /l/) in the syllable coda. Mainly[5] found in rural São Paulo, Paraná, south of Minas Gerais and surrounding areas, with the more common and prestigious realization in metropolitan areas being [ɹ] and/or rhotic vowel instead. As with [ɽ], it appeared as a mutation of [ɾ].[6][7][8] See Portuguese phonology.
		Caipira	temporal	[tẽɪ̯̃pʊˈɾaɻ]	'rainstorm'
		Conservative Piracicabano	grato	[ˈgɻatʊ̥]	'thankful' (m.)
Dravidian	Tamil[9]		தமிழ்/Tamiḻ	[t̪əˈmɨɻ]ⓘ	'Tamil'	See Tamil phonology. May be merged with [ɭ] for some modern speakers.
Pama-Nyungan	Western Desert	Pitjantjatjara dialect	Uluṟu	[ʊlʊɻʊ]	'Uluru'
Isolate	Yaghan		wárho	[ˈwaɻo]	'cave'

See also

• Alveolar approximant
• Retroflex consonant
• R-colored vowel
• Index of phonetics articles