The voiced retroflex plosive or stop is a type of
consonantal sound, used in some
spokenlanguages. The symbol in the
International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is ⟨
ɖ ⟩, and the equivalent
X-SAMPA symbol is d`. Like all the
retroflex consonants, the IPA symbol is formed by adding a rightward-pointing hook extending from the bottom of a d, the letter that is used for the corresponding
alveolar consonant. Many South Asian languages, such as
Hindi and Urdu, have a two-way contrast between plain and murmured (
breathy voice) [ɖ ].
Features
Features of the voiced retroflex stop:
Its
manner of articulation is
occlusive, which means it is produced by obstructing airflow in the vocal tract. Since the consonant is also oral, with no
nasal outlet, the airflow is blocked entirely, and the consonant is a
plosive.
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 air is allowed to escape through the mouth only.
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.