Dorsal consonant

Dorsal consonantsareconsonantsarticulatedwith the back of thetongue(the dorsum). They include thepalatal,velarand, in some cases,alveolo-palatalanduvularconsonants. They contrast withcoronal consonants,articulated with the flexible front of the tongue, andlaryngeal consonants,articulated in thepharyngeal cavity.

Function

The dorsum of the tongue can contact a broad region of the roof of the mouth, from thehard palate(palatal consonants), the flexiblevelumbehind that (velar consonants), to theuvulaat the back of the mouth cavity (uvular consonants). These distinctions are not clear cut, and sometimes finer gradations such aspre-palatal, pre-velar,andpost-velarwill be noted.

Because the tip of the tongue can curl back to also contact the hard palate forretroflex consonants(subapical-palatal), consonants produced by contact between the dorsum and the palate are sometimes calleddorso-palatal.

Examples

Familiar dorsal consonants

IPA symbol	Name of the consonant	Language	Example	IPA
⟨ɲ⟩	Voiced palatal nasal	Albanian	një	[ɲə]
⟨ʝ⟩	Voiced palatal fricative	Modern Greek	για	[ʝa]
⟨ç⟩	Voiceless palatal fricative	German	Reich	[ʁaɪ̯ç]
⟨j⟩	Voiced palatal approximant	English	yellow	[ˈjɛloʊ]
⟨ŋ⟩	Voiced velar nasal		sing	[ˈsɪŋ]
⟨ɡ⟩	Voiced velar plosive		garden	[ˈɡɑː(ɹ)dn̩]
⟨k⟩	Voiceless velar plosive		cake	[ˈkeɪk]
⟨ɣ⟩	Voiced velar fricative	Modern Greek	góma(γόμα)	[ˈɣoma]
⟨x⟩	Voiceless velar fricative	Malay	akhir	[aːˈxir]
⟨ʍ⟩	Voiceless labio-velar approximant	English	whine	[ˈʍaɪn]
⟨w⟩	Voiced labio-velar approximant		water	[ˈwɔːtə(ɹ)]
⟨q⟩	Voiceless uvular plosive	Arabic	Qurʾān(قرآن)	[qurʔaːn]
⟨ɢ⟩	Voiced uvular plosive	Persian	Qom(قم)	[ɢom]
⟨ʁ⟩	Voiced uvular fricative or approximant	French	Paris	[paʁi]
⟨χ⟩	Voiceless uvular fricative	German	Bach	[baχ]

See also

• Place of articulation
• List of phonetics topics

References

• Ladefoged, Peter;Maddieson, Ian(1996).The Sounds of the World's Languages.Oxford: Blackwell.ISBN0-631-19815-6.