Editing Tap and flap consonants (section)

==Tap vs. flap==
Many [[linguists]] use the terms ''tap'' and ''flap'' interchangeably. [[Peter Ladefoged]] proposed for a while that it might be useful to distinguish between them. However, his usage was inconsistent and contradicted itself even between different editions of the same text.<ref>Ladefoged, P. (1975, 1982, 1993) ''A Course in Phonetics''. Harcourt Brace Jovanovich. 1st, 2nd & 3rd editions</ref> One proposed version of the distinction was that a tap strikes its point of contact directly, as a very brief [[stop consonant|stop]], but a flap strikes the point of contact tangentially: "Flaps are most typically made by retracting the tongue tip behind the [[alveolar ridge]] and moving it forward so that it strikes the ridge in passing."

Later, however, he used the term ''flap'' in all cases.<ref>Spajić, Ladefoged & Bhaskararao (1996), 'The Trills of Toda', ''Journal of the International Phonetic Association'', 26:1-21. p. 2</ref> Subsequent work on the labiodental flap has clarified the issue: flaps involve retraction of the active articulator, and a forward-striking movement.<ref>Olson, K. S. & Hajek, J. (2003). [http://www-01.sil.org/acpub/repository/OlsonHajek2003.pdf Crosslinguistic insights on the labial flap], "Linguistic Typology", 7: 157–186.</ref>

For linguists who do not make the proposed distinction above, alveolars are typically called ''taps'', and other [[place of articulation|articulations]] are called ''flaps''.

A few languages have been reported to contrast a tap and a flap (as in the proposed definition cited above) at the same place of articulation. This is the case for Norwegian, in which the alveolar apical tap {{IPA|/ɾ/}} and the post-alveolar/retroflex apical flap {{IPA|/ɽ/}} have the same place of articulation for some speakers,<ref>Moen et al. (2003) [https://www.internationalphoneticassociation.org/icphs-proceedings/ICPhS2003/papers/p15_1755.pdf "The Articulation of the East Norwegian Apical Liquids /ɭ ɾ ɽ/"]</ref>
and [[Kamviri]], which also has apical alveolar taps and flaps.<ref>Richard Strand, [http://nuristan.info/Nuristani/Kamkata/Kom/KomLanguage/Lexicon/phon.html#%C3%A5 The Sound System of kâmvʹiri]</ref>