Alveolar consonant

An alveolar consonant is a consonant with the tongue close to the alveolar ridge, which is the part just behind our teeth. Alveolar consonants that are pronounced with the tip of the tongue, like in English, are called apical consonants while those pronounced using the blade of the tongue which is the flat part of the tongue behind the tip, are called laminal consonants. Alveolar consonants in English are [n], [t], [d], [s], and [l]. The alveolar consonants [n], the alveolar nasal, and [t], the voiceless alveolar plosive, are the most common sounds in human languages.

Alveolar consonants in IPA

The alveolar/coronal consonants identified by the IPA are:

IPA	Description	Example
		Language	Orthography	IPA	Meaning in English
n	alveolar nasal	English	run	[ɹʷʌn]	run
t	voiceless alveolar plosive	English	tap	[tʰæp]	tap
d	voiced alveolar plosive	English	debt	[dɛt]	debt
s	voiceless alveolar fricative	English	suit	[sjuːt]	suit
z	voiced alveolar fricative	English	zoo	[zuː]	zoo
ts	voiceless alveolar affricate	German	Zeit	[t͡saɪt]	time
dz	voiced alveolar affricate	Italian	zaino	[ˈd͡zaino]	backpack
ɬ	voiceless alveolar lateral fricative	Welsh	Llwyd	[ɬʊɪd]	the name Lloyd or Floyd
ɮ	voiced alveolar lateral fricative	Zulu	dlala	[ˈɮálà]	to play
t͡ɬ	voiceless alveolar lateral affricate	Tsez	элIни	[ˈʔɛ̝t͡ɬni]	winter
d͡ɮ	voiced alveolar lateral affricate	Oowekyala
ɹ	alveolar approximant	English	red	[ɹʷɛd]	red
l	alveolar lateral approximant	English	loop	[lup]	loop
ɾ	alveolar tap or flap	Spanish	pero	[peɾo]	but
ɺ	alveolar lateral flap	Venda		[vuɺa]	to open
r	alveolar trill	Spanish	perro	[pero]	dog
tʼ	alveolar ejective stop	Georgian	ტიტა	[tʼitʼa]	tulip
sʼ	alveolar ejective fricative	Amharic		[sʼɛɡa]	grace
ɗ	voiced alveolar implosive	Vietnamese	đã	[ɗɐː]	Past tense indicator
ǁ	alveolar lateral click	Nama	ǁî	[kǁĩĩ]	discussed