Editing Retroflex consonant (section)

==Occurrence==
Although data are not precise, about 20 percent of the world's languages contain retroflex consonants of one sort or another.<ref>Ian Maddieson (with a chapter contributed by Sandra Ferrari Disner); ''Patterns of sounds''; Cambridge University Press, 1984. {{ISBN|0-521-26536-3}}</ref> About half of these possess only retroflex [[continuant]]s, with most of the rest having both stops and continuants.

Retroflex consonants are concentrated in the [[Indian subcontinent]], particularly in the [[Indo-Aryan languages|Indo-Aryan]] and [[Dravidian languages]], but are found in other languages of the region as well, such as the [[Munda languages]] and [[Burushaski]]. 

The [[Nuristani languages]] of eastern [[Afghanistan]] also have retroflex consonants. Among [[Eastern Iranian languages]], they are common in [[Pashto language|Pashto]], [[Wakhi language|Wakhi]], Sanglechi-[[Ishkashimi language|Ishkashimi]], and [[Munji language|Munji]]-[[Yidgha language|Yidgha]]. They also occur in some other Asian languages such as [[Mandarin Chinese]], [[Javanese language|Javanese]] and [[Vietnamese language|Vietnamese]]. <!--In West Asia, the [[Shihhi Arabic]] variety also has retroflex approximants.-->

The other major concentration is in the [[Australian languages|indigenous languages of Australia]] and the Western Pacific (notably [[New Caledonia]]). Here, most languages have retroflex plosives, [[nasal consonant|nasals]] and [[approximant consonant|approximants]].

Retroflex consonants are relatively rare in the [[European languages]] but occur in such languages as [[Swedish language|Swedish]] and [[Norwegian language|Norwegian]] in [[Northern Europe]], some [[Romance languages]] of [[Southern Europe]] ([[Sardinian language|Sardinian]], [[Sicilian language|Sicilian]], including [[Central-Southern Calabrian|Calabrian]] and [[Salentino]], [[Venetian language|Venetian]], some Italian dialects such as [[Lunigiana|Lunigianese]] in [[Italy]], and some [[Asturian language|Asturian]] dialects in [[Spain]]), and (sibilants only) [[Faroese language|Faroese]] and several [[Slavic languages]] ([[Polish language|Polish]], [[Russian language|Russian]], [[Serbo-Croatian]], [[Slovak language|Slovak]] and [[Sorbian languages|Sorbian]]). In Swedish and Norwegian, a sequence of ''r'' and a coronal consonant may be replaced by the coronal's retroflex equivalent: the name ''Martin'' is pronounced {{IPA|sv|ˈmǎʈːɪn|}} (Swedish) or {{IPA|no|ˈmɑ̀ʈːɪn|}} (Norwegian), and ''nord'' ("north") is pronounced {{IPA|sv|ˈnuːɖ||sv-nord.ogg}} in (Standard) Swedish and {{IPA|no|ˈnuːɽ|}} in many varieties of Norwegian. That is sometimes done for several consonants in a row after an ''r'': [[Hornstull]] is pronounced {{IPA|sv|huːɳʂˈʈɵlː|}}).

The [[retroflex approximant]] {{IPA|[ɻ]}} is in [[free variation]] with the [[postalveolar approximant]] {{IPA|/ɹ/}} in many dialects of [[American English]], particularly in the [[Midwestern United States]]. Polish and Russian possess retroflex [[sibilant]]s, but no stops or liquids at this place of articulation.

Retroflex consonants are largely absent from indigenous languages of the Americas with the exception of the extreme south of South America, an area in the [[Southwestern United States]] as in [[Hopi language|Hopi]] and [[O'odham language|O'odham]], and in [[Alaska]] and the [[Yukon Territory]] as in the [[Athabaskan languages]] [[Gwich’in language|Gwich’in]] and [[Hän language|Hän]]. In African languages retroflex consonants are also rare but reportedly occur in a few [[Nilo-Saharan languages]], as well as in the [[Bantu language]] [[Makhuwa language|Makhuwa]] and some other varieties. In southwest Ethiopia, phonemically distinctive retroflex consonants are found in [[Bench language|Bench]] and [[Sheko language|Sheko]], two contiguous, but not closely related, [[Omotic]] languages.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Breeze |first=Mary |date=1988 |title=Phonological features of Gimira and Dizi |editor1-first=Marianne |editor1-last=Bechhaus-Gerst |editor2-first=Fritz |editor2-last=Serzisko |journal=Cushitic - Omotic: papers from the International Symposium on Cushitic and Omotic languages, Cologne, January 6–9, 1986 |pages=473-487 |publication-place=Hamburg |publisher=Helmut Buske Verlag |isbn=9783871188909 |ol=8987799M}} </ref>

There are several retroflex consonants that are implied by the [[International Phonetic Association]]. In their ''Handbook'', they give the example of {{IPA|[ᶑ]}}, a retroflex implosive, but when they requested an expansion of coverage of the [[International Phonetic Alphabet]] by Unicode in 2020, they supported the addition superscript variants of not just {{IPA|[ᶑ]}} but of the retroflex lateral fricatives {{IPA|[ꞎ]}} and {{IPA|[𝼅]}}, of the retroflex lateral flap {{IPA|[𝼈]}}, and of the retroflex click release {{IPA|[𝼊]}}. (See [[Latin Extended-F]].) The lateral fricatives are explicitly provided for by [[extIPA]]. 

Most of these sounds are not common, but they all occur. For example, the [[Iwaidja language]] of northern Australia has a [[retroflex lateral flap]] {{IPA|[𝼈]}} ({{IPA|[ɺ̢]}}) as well as a retroflex tap {{IPA|[ɽ]}} and retroflex lateral approximant {{IPA|[ɭ]}}; and the [[Dravidian languages|Dravidian language]] [[Toda language|Toda]] has a [[Voiceless retroflex lateral fricative|subapical retroflex lateral fricative]] {{IPA|[ꞎ]}} ({{IPA|[ɭ̊˔]}}) and a [[Retroflex trill|retroflexed trill]] {{IPA|[ɽr]}}. The [[Ngadha language|Ngad'a language]] of [[Flores]] has been reported to have a [[Voiced retroflex implosive|retroflex implosive]] {{IPA|[ᶑ]}}. Subapical retroflex clicks occur in [[Central !Kung]],<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal|last=Scott|first=Abigail|last2=Miller|first2=Amanda|last3=Namaseb|first3=Levi|last4=Sands|first4=Bonny|last5=Shah|first5=Sheena|date=June 2, 2010|title=Retroflex Clicks in Two Dialects of ǃXung|journal=University of Botswana, Department of African Languages}}</ref> and possibly in [[Damin]].{{Citation needed|date=January 2010}}

Most languages with retroflex sounds typically have only one retroflex sound with a given [[manner of articulation]]{{Citation needed|date=January 2021}}. An exception, however, is the [[Toda language]], with a two-way distinction among retroflex sibilants between apical (post)alveolar and subapical palatal.