Coronals are consonants articulated with the flexible front part of the tongue. Among places of articulation, only the coronal consonants can be divided into as many active articulation types: apical (using the tip of the tongue), laminal (using the blade of the tongue), or subapical (using the underside of the tongue); as well as different postalveolar articulations (some of which also involve the back of the tongue as an articulator): palato-alveolar, alveolo-palatal and retroflex. Only the front of the tongue (coronal) has such dexterity among the major places of articulation, allowing such variety of distinctions. Coronals have another dimension, tongue shape, to produce a variety among sibilants in combination with the orientations above.
Places of articulation Coronal places of articulation include the dental consonants at the upper teeth, the alveolar consonants at the upper gum (the alveolar ridge), the various postalveolar consonants (including domed palato-alveolar, laminal alveolo-palatal, and apical retroflex) just behind that, the subapical retroflex consonants curled back against the hard palate, and linguolabial consonants with the tongue against the upper lip. Alveolo-palatal and linguolabial consonants sometimes behave as dorsal and labial consonants, respectively, rather than as coronals.
+ Coronal sibilants IPAsymbol meaning placeof articulation passive(mouth) dental advanced(denti-alveolar) alveolar retracted(postalveolar) active(tongue) apical laminal retroflex secondary palatalized coronal alveolo-palatal palato-alveolar labialized coronal velarized coronal pharyngealized coronal voice-onset time aspirated coronal
Examples Arabic In Arabic and Maltese philology, the sun letters represent coronal consonants.
European + European coronal consonants IPAsymbol Name of the consonant Language Example IPA Voiced alveolar sibilant English zoo Voiceless alveolar sibilant sea Voiced dental fricative that Voiceless dental fricative thud Voiced palato-alveolar fricative vision Voiceless palato-alveolar fricative she Alveolar nasal name Voiced alveolar plosive day Voiceless alveolar plosive tea Alveolar approximant reef Alveolar lateral approximant lift Alveolar trill Spanish perro Alveolar flap pero
Australian Aboriginal In Australian Aboriginal languages, coronals contrast with peripheral consonants.
+Australian coronal consonants Laminal Apical Alveopalatal Dental Alveolar Retroflex Stop Nasal Lateral
Lack of coronals Northwest Mekeo is the only known language with no coronal phonemes, violating what was previously thought to be a linguistic universal.
See also Peripheral consonants, the set of non-coronal consonants Apical consonant Laminal consonant Subapical consonant Place of articulation List of phonetics topics
References
Further reading