Editing Postalveolar consonant (section)

===Point of tongue contact (laminal, apical, subapical)===
A second variable is whether the contact occurs with the very tip of the tongue (an ''[[apical consonant|apical]]'' articulation {{IPA|[ʃ̺]}}), with the surface just above the tip, the ''blade'' of the tongue (a ''[[laminal consonant|laminal]]'' articulation {{IPA|[ʃ̻]}}), or with the underside of the tip (a ''[[subapical consonant|subapical]]'' articulation). Apical and subapical articulations are always "tongue-up", with the tip of the tongue above the teeth, and laminal articulations are often "tongue-down", with the tip of the tongue behind the lower teeth.

The upward curvature of the tongue tip to make apical or subapical contact renders palatalization more difficult so domed (palato-alveolar) consonants are not attested with subapical articulation and fully palatalized (such as alveolo-palatal) sounds occur only with laminal articulation. Also, the apical-laminal distinction among palato-alveolar sounds makes little (although presumably non-zero<ref>The [[Toda language]] consistently uses a laminal articulation for its palato-alveolar sibilants, which presumably makes the sound a bit "sharper", more like the alveolo-palatal sibilants, increasing the perceptual difference from the two types of retroflex sibilants that also occur in Toda.</ref>) perceptible difference; both articulations, in fact, occur among English-speakers.<ref>{{SOWL}}</ref>{{Page needed|date=December 2024}}

As a result, the differing points of tongue contact (laminal, apical and subapical) are significant largely for retroflex sounds. Retroflex sounds can also occur outside of the postalveolar region, ranging from as far back as the [[palatal consonant|hard palate]] to as far forward as the [[alveolar consonant|alveolar region]] behind the teeth. Subapical retroflex sounds are often palatal (and vice versa), which occur particularly in the [[Dravidian languages]].