Editing Retroflex consonant (section)

==Types==
Retroflex consonants, like other [[coronal consonant]]s, come in several varieties, depending on the shape of the tongue. The tongue may be either flat or concave, or even with the tip curled back. The point of contact on the tongue may be with the [[tongue tip|tip]] ({{lcons|apical}}), with the [[tongue blade|blade]] ({{lcons|laminal}}), or with the underside of the tongue ({{lcons|subapical}}).  The point of contact on the roof of the mouth may be with the [[alveolar ridge]] ({{lcons|alveolar}}), the area behind the alveolar ridge ({{lcons|postalveolar}}), or the [[hard palate]] ({{lcons|palatal}}).  Finally, both [[sibilant]] ({{lcons|fricative}} or {{lcons|affricate}}) and nonsibilant ({{lcons|stop}}, {{lcons|nasal}}, {{lcons|lateral}}, {{lcons|rhotic}}) consonants can have a retroflex articulation.

The greatest variety of combinations occurs with sibilants, because for them, small changes in tongue shape and position cause significant changes in the resulting sound. Retroflex sounds generally have a duller, lower-pitched sound than other alveolar or postalveolar consonants, especially the {{lcons|grooved|alveolar}} sibilants. The farther back the point of contact with the roof of the mouth, the more concave is the shape of the tongue, and the duller (lower pitched) is the sound, with subapical consonants being the most extreme.

The main combinations normally observed are:
*Laminal post-alveolar, with a flat tongue. These occur, for example, in [[Polish language|Polish]] ''cz, sz, ż (rz), dż''.
*Apical post-alveolar, with a somewhat concave tongue.  These occur, for example, in [[Mandarin Chinese|Mandarin]] ''zh, ch, sh, r'', [[Hindi]] and most other [[Indo-Aryan languages]], and most [[Australian languages]].<ref>{{cite conference |last1=Lee |first1=Wai-Sum |title=An Articulatory and Acoustical Analysis of the Syllable-Initial Sibilants and Approximant in Beijing Mandarin |conference=ICPhS-14 |date=1999 |pages=413–416 |url=https://www.internationalphoneticassociation.org/icphs-proceedings/ICPhS1999/p14_0413.html |s2cid=51828449 }}</ref><ref name="上海教育出版社 2015 p. ">{{cite book | title=东方语言学: 第十五辑 | publisher=上海教育出版社 | year=2015 | isbn=978-7-5444-6780-3 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vR6lAQAACAAJ | language=zh | access-date=2023-07-24 | pages=1-16}}</ref>
*Subapical palatal, with a highly concave tongue, which occur particularly in the [[Dravidian languages]] and some [[Indo-Aryan languages]]. They are the dullest and lowest-pitched type and, after a vowel, often add strong [[rhotic vowel|''r''-coloring]] to the vowel and sound as if an [[American English]] ''r'' occurred between the vowel and consonant. They are not a place of articulation, as the IPA chart implies, but a shape of the tongue analogous to laminal and apical.<ref name="Hardcastle Laver Gibbon 2010 p. ">{{cite book | last=Hardcastle | first=William J. | last2=Laver | first2=John | last3=Gibbon | first3=Fiona E. | title=The Handbook of Phonetic Sciences |chapter=Phonetic Notation |publisher=John Wiley & Sons | date=2010-02-22 | isbn=978-1-4051-4590-9 | ol=24461752M | lccn=2009033872 |oclc=430736646 |page=693}}</ref>
Subapical sounds are sometimes called "true retroflex" because of the curled-back shape of the tongue, and the other sounds sometimes go by other names. For example, [[Peter Ladefoged|Ladefoged]] and [[Ian Maddieson|Maddieson]]<ref>{{SOWL}}</ref> prefer to call the laminal post-alveolar sounds "flat post-alveolar".

===Other sounds===
Retroflex sounds must be distinguished from other consonants made in the same parts of the mouth:
*the [[palato-alveolar consonant]]s (e.g., {{IPA|[ʃ ʒ]}}), such as the ''sh'', ''ch'' and ''zh'' occurring in [[English language|English]] words like ''ship'', ''chip'' and ''vision''
*the [[alveolo-palatal consonant]]s (e.g., {{IPA|[ɕ ʑ]}}), such as the ''j, q'' and  ''x'' occurring in [[Mandarin Chinese]]
*the [[dorsal consonant|dorsal]] [[palatal consonant]]s (e.g., {{IPA|[ç ʝ ɲ]}}), such as the ''ch'' {{IPA|[ç]}} in [[German language|German]] ''ich'' or the ''ñ'' {{IPA|[ɲ]}} in [[Spanish language|Spanish]] ''año''
*the [[sulcalization|grooved]] [[alveolar consonant]]s (e.g., {{IPA|[s z]}}), such as the ''s'' and ''z'' occurring in [[English language|English]] words like ''sip'' and ''zip''

The first three types of sounds above have a convex tongue shape, which gives them an additional [[secondary articulation]] of [[Palatalization (phonetics)|palatalization]].  The last type has a groove running down the center line of the tongue, which gives it a strong hissing quality.  The retroflex sounds, however, have a flat or concave shape, with no associated palatalization, and no groove running down the tongue.  The term "retroflex", in fact, literally means "bent back" (concave), although consonants with a flat tongue shape are commonly considered retroflex as well.

The [[velar bunched approximant]] found in northern varieties of [[Dutch language|Dutch]] and some varieties of [[American English]] is acoustically similar to the retroflex approximant. It is articulated with the body of the tongue bunched up at the velum.