Editing Retroflex consonant

{{Short description|Type of consonant articulation}}
{{More citations needed|date=August 2020}}
{{Infobox IPA
|above      = Retroflex
|ipa number = 
|ipa symbol = ◌̢
|ipa number2 = 
|ipa symbol2 = ◌̣ 
}}
[[File:Retroflex.svg|alt=|thumb|Subapical retroflex plosive]]

A '''retroflex''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|ɹ|ɛ|t|ɹ|ə|f|l|ɛ|k|s|,_|-|ɹ|oʊ|-|audio=LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-Retroflex consonant.wav}}) or '''cacuminal''' ({{IPAc-en|k|ə|ˈ|k|j|uː|m|ᵻ|n|ə|l|audio=LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-cacuminal.wav}}) '''consonant''' is a [[coronal consonant]] where the tongue has a flat, concave, or even curled shape, and is articulated between the [[alveolar ridge]] and the [[hard palate]]. They are sometimes referred to as '''cerebral consonants'''—especially in [[Indology]].

The [[Latin]]-derived word ''retroflex'' means "bent back"; some retroflex consonants are pronounced with the tongue fully curled back so that articulation involves the underside of the tongue tip ([[subapical]]). These sounds are sometimes described as "true" retroflex consonants. However, retroflexes are commonly taken to include other consonants having a similar [[place of articulation]] without such extreme curling of the tongue; these may be articulated with the tongue tip ([[Apical consonant|apical]]) or the tongue blade ([[Laminal consonant|laminal]]). When apical, they have been called '''apico-domal''' consonants.

==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.

==Transcription==
===IPA transcription===
In the [[International Phonetic Alphabet]], the symbols for retroflex consonants are typically the same as for the [[alveolar consonant]]s, but with the addition of a [[hook (diacritic)|right-facing hook]] to the bottom of the symbol.

Retroflex consonants are transcribed in the [[International Phonetic Alphabet]] as follows:

{| class=wikitable
|-
! rowspan="2" | IPA
! rowspan="2" | Description
! colspan="4"| Example
|-
! Language
! Orthography
! IPA
! Meaning
|-
! {{IPA|ɳ̊}}
| [[voiceless retroflex nasal]]
| [[Iaai language|Iaai]]<ref>UCLA ''Working Papers in Phonetics'', vol. 53–55, p. 212.</ref>
| {{lang|iai|'''hnr'''athu}}
| {{IPA|['''ɳ̊'''aθu]}}
| 'cold'
|-
! rowspan="2" |{{IPA|ɳ}}
| rowspan="2" |[[voiced retroflex nasal]]
|[[Punjabi language|Punjabi]]
| ਗਾ'''ਣਾ''' / گا'''ݨ'''ا
| {{IPA|[ˈgaː'''ɳ'''aˑ]}}
|song
|-
|[[Telugu language|Telugu]]
|ప'''ణ'''ము
|{{IPA|[pa'''ɳ'''amu]}}
|stake; bet
|-
! rowspan="2" |{{IPA|ʈ}}
| rowspan="2" |[[voiceless retroflex plosive]]
|[[Hindi]] / [[Urdu]]
| '''टां'''ग / '''ٹ'''انگ
|{{IPA|['''ʈ'''aːŋg]}}
|leg
|-
|[[Telugu language|Telugu]]
|'''టె'''క్కెము
|{{IPA|['''ʈ'''ekːkemu]}}
|banner; pennant
|-
! rowspan="3" |{{IPA|ɖ}}
| rowspan="3" |[[voiced retroflex plosive]]
|[[Somali language|Somali]]
| Ban'''dh'''ig
|{{IPA|[banː'''ɖ'''ig]}}
|presentation
|-
|[[Hindi]] / [[Urdu]]
|'''ड'''ब्बा / '''ڈ'''با
|{{IPA|['''ɖ'''əbːaː]}}
|box
|-
|[[Telugu language| Telugu]]
|'''డ'''గ్గర
|{{IPA|['''ɖ'''agːgara]}}
|phantom; apparition
|-
! {{IPA|ʈ͡ʂ}}
| [[voiceless retroflex affricate]]
| [[Torwali language|Torwali]]
| {{lang|trw|[[Arabic alphabet|'''ڇ'''ووو]]|rtl=yes}}
| {{IPA|[ʈ͡ʂuwu]}}
| to sew
|-
! {{IPA|ɖ͡ʐ}}
| [[voiced retroflex affricate]]
| [[Yi language|Yi]]
|{{lang|ii|[[Yi script|ꎐ]]}} / {{lang|ii-Latn|'''rr'''y}}
| {{IPA|[ɖ͡ʐɪ˧]}}
| tooth
|-
! rowspan="3" |{{IPA|ʂ}}
| rowspan="3" |[[voiceless retroflex fricative]]
|[[Mandarin Chinese|Mandarin]]
| 上海 ('''Sh'''ànghǎi)
|{{IPA|['''ʂ'''ɑ̂ŋ.xàɪ]}}
|Shanghai
|-
|[[Sanskrit]]
|भा'''षा'''
|{{IPA|[bʱɑ́ː'''ʂ'''ɑː]}}
|language
|-
|[[Telugu language|Telugu]]
|మి'''ష'''
|{{IPA|[mi'''ʂ'''a]}}
|pretext
|-
! rowspan="2" | {{IPA|ʐ}}
| rowspan="2" | [[voiced retroflex fricative]]
| [[Russian language|Russian]]
|'''ж'''аба
| {{IPA|[ˈ'''ʐ'''abə]}}
| toad
|-
|[[Polish language|Polish]]
|'''ż'''aba
|{{IPA|[ˈ'''ʐ'''aba]}}
| frog
|-
! {{IPA|ɻ̊˔}}
| [[voiceless retroflex non-sibilant fricative]]
| [[Ormuri language|Ormuri]]<ref>{{cite thesis |last=Novák |first=Ľubomír |date=2013 |title=Problem of Archaism and Innovation in the Eastern Iranian Languages |type=PhD |chapter=Other Eastern Iranian Languages |publisher=Charles University |location=Prague |chapter-url=https://www.academia.edu/4896441 |page=59 |isbn=}}</ref>
| colspan=3 | {{example needed|date=November 2022}}
|-
! {{IPA|ɻ˔}}
| [[voiced retroflex non-sibilant fricative]]
| [[English language|English]] ([[South African English|Eastern Cape]])<ref name="sowl165">{{Harvcoltxt|Ladefoged|Maddieson|1996|p=165}}</ref>
| ''[[English orthography|'''r'''ed]]''
| {{IPA|[ɻ˔ed]}}
| 'red'
|-
! {{IPA|ɻ}}
| [[voiced retroflex approximant]]
| [[Tamil language|Tamil]]
| தமி'''ழ்'''
| {{IPA|[t̪ɐmɨ'''ɻ''']}}
|Tamil
|-
! rowspan="3" |{{IPA|ɭ}}
| rowspan="3" |[[voiced retroflex lateral approximant]]
|[[Tamil language|Tamil]]
| ஆ'''ள்'''
|{{IPA|[ɑː'''ɭ''']}}
| person
|-
|[[Telugu language|Telugu]]
|నె'''ళ'''వు
|{{IPA|[ne'''ɭ'''awu]}}
|familiarity; acquaintance
|-
|[[Swedish language|Swedish]]
| Ka'''rl'''stad
|{{IPA|[ˈkʰɑː'''ɭ'''.sta]}}
|[[Karlstad]]
|-
! {{IPA|ɽ̊}}
| [[voiceless retroflex flap]]
| [[Dhivehi language|Dhivehi]]{{efn|name=Dhivehi|Some dialects, maybe a fricative, flap or a trill.}}
|colspan=3|{{example needed|date=December 2020}}
|-
! rowspan="2" | {{IPA|ɽ}}
| rowspan="2" | [[voiced retroflex flap]]
| [[Hausa language|Hausa]]
| shaa'''r'''a
| {{IPA|[ʃáː'''ɽ'''a]}}
| sweeping
|-
|[[Hindi]] / [[Urdu]]
|कीच'''ड़''' / '''کیچڑ'''
|{{IPA|[kiːt͡ʃə'''ɽ''']}}
|mud
|-
! {{IPA|ɽ͡r̥}}
| [[voiceless retroflex trill]]
| [[Dhivehi language|Dhivehi]]{{efn|name=Dhivehi}}<ref>{{citation |last=Maumoon |first=Yumna |year=2002 |title=A General Overview of the Dhivehi Language |place=Male |publisher=National Centre for Linguistic and Historical Research |isbn=99915-1-032-X |url=http://www.qaumiyyath.gov.mv/docs/whitepapers/language/GENERAL%20OVERVIEW%20OF%20DHIVEHI%20LANGUAGE.pdf |page=35}}</ref>
| colspan=3| {{example needed|date=March 2015}}
|-
! {{IPA|ɽ͡r}}
| [[voiced retroflex trill]]
| [[Wintu language|Wintu]]<ref>{{cite book |last=Pitkin |first=Harvey |date=1984 |title=Wintu grammar |series=University of California publications in linguistics (Vol. 94) |location=Berkeley |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=0-520-09612-6 |page=34}}</ref>
| boloy noṛ-toṛoṛ
| [{{IPA|boloj noɽr toɽoɽr}}]
| '(ridge on a trail from [[Hayfork,_California|Hayfork]] to [[Hyampom,_California|Hyampom]])'
|-
! {{IPA|𝼈̊}} 
| [[voiceless retroflex lateral flap]]
| [[Wahgi language|Wahgi]]
|colspan=3|{{example needed|date=December 2020}}
|-
! rowspan="2" | {{IPA|𝼈}} 
| rowspan="2" | [[voiced retroflex lateral flap]]
| [[Pashto language|Pashto]]
| '''ړ'''وند
| {{IPA|['''𝼈'''und]}}
| blind
|-
|[[Marathi language|Marathi]]
|बा'''ळ'''
|{{IPA|[ˈbɑː'''𝼈''']}}
|baby
|-
! {{IPA|ꞎ}} 
| [[voiceless retroflex lateral fricative]]
| [[Toda language|Toda]]
| pü·'''ł̣'''
| {{IPA|[pʏːꞎ]}}
| summer
|-
! {{IPA|𝼅}} 
| [[voiced retroflex lateral fricative]]
| [[Ao language|Ao]]<ref>{{cite thesis |last=Gurubasave Gowda |first=K.S. |year=1972 |title=Ao-Naga Phonetic Reader |location=Mysore |publisher=Central Institute of Indian Languages}}</ref>
|colspan=3|{{example needed|date=December 2020}}
|-
! {{IPA|ʈ͡ꞎ}} 
| [[voiceless retroflex lateral affricate]]
| [[Bhadarwahi language|Bhadarwahi]]
| '''ट्ळा'''
| {{IPA|[ʈ͡ꞎaː]}}
| three
|-
! {{IPA|ɖ͡𝼅}} 
| [[voiced retroflex lateral affricate]]
| [[Bhadarwahi language|Bhadarwahi]]
| है'''ड्ळ'''
| {{IPA|[haiɖ͡𝼅]}}
| turmeric
|-
! {{IPA|ʈʼ}}
| [[retroflex ejective stop]]
|[[Yokuts language|Yokuts]]
|{{lang|yok|ṭʼa∙yʼ}}
| {{IPA|[ʈʼaːjˀ]}}
|'[[down feather]]'
|-
! {{IPA|ʈ͡ʂʼ}}
| [[retroflex ejective affricate]]
| [[Gwichʼin language|Gwichʼin]]
| ''etrʼuu'' 
| {{IPA|[ɛʈ͡ʂʼu:]}}
| arctic tern
|-
! {{IPA|ᶑ̥}} ({{IPA|𝼉}})
| [[voiceless retroflex implosive]]
| [[Ngiti language|Ngiti]]
|colspan=3|{{example needed|date=December 2020}}
|-
! {{IPA|ᶑ}} 
| [[voiced retroflex implosive]]
| [[Ngadha language|Ngadha]]
| ''modhe'' 
| {{IPA|[ˈmoᶑe]}} 
| good
|-
! {{IPA|k͡𝼊 q͡𝼊<br>ɡ͡𝼊 ɢ͡𝼊<br>ŋ͡𝼊 ɴ͡𝼊}}
| [[retroflex clicks]]
| [[Central !Kung]]
| '''ɡ‼'''ú
| {{IPA|[ᶢ𝼊ú]}}
| water
|}

===Other conventions===
Some linguists restrict these symbols for consonants with subapical palatal articulation, in which the tongue is curled back and contacts the hard palate, and use the alveolar symbols with the [[Obsolete and nonstandard symbols in the International Phonetic Alphabet|obsolete IPA underdot symbol]] for an apical post-alveolar articulation: {{angbr IPA|ṭ, ḍ, ṇ, ṣ, ẓ, ḷ, ɾ̣, ɹ̣}}, and use {{angbr IPA|ᶘ, ᶚ}} for laminal retroflex, as in Polish and Russian.<ref name="Laver 1994 p. ">{{cite book | last=Laver | first=John | title=Principles of Phonetics | date=1994 | isbn=0-521-45031-4 | ol=22577661M }}</ref> The latter are also often transcribed with a retraction diacritic, as {{angbr IPA|s̠}}. Otherwise they are typically but inaccurately transcribed as if they were palato-alveolar, as {{angbr IPA|ʃ}}.

Consonants with more forward articulation, in which the tongue touches the [[alveolar consonant|alveolar]] or [[postalveolar consonant|postalveolar]] region rather than the hard palate, can be indicated with the [[Relative articulation#Advanced and retracted|retracted diacritic]] ([[Plus and minus signs#Other uses|minus sign below]]). This occurs especially for {{IPA|[s̠ ẕ]}}; other sounds indicated this way, such as {{angbr IPA|ṉ ḻ ḏ}}, tend to refer to [[alveolo-palatal consonant|alveolo-palatal]] rather than retroflex consonants.

==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.

==See also==
* [[Hush consonant]]
* [[List of phonetics topics]]
* [[Place of articulation]]
* [[Retroflex approximant]]

==Notes==
{{notelist}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
*[http://user.phil-fak.uni-duesseldorf.de/~hamann/Hamann2003Diss.pdf Silke Hamann's dissertation on retroflex consonants] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120220025422/http://user.phil-fak.uni-duesseldorf.de/~hamann/Hamann2003Diss.pdf |date=2012-02-20 }}
*[https://tspace.library.utoronto.ca/bitstream/1807/33911/3/Arsenault_Paul_E_201211_PhD_thesis.pdf Retroflex Consonant Harmony in South Asia by Paul Arsenault]

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[[Category:Place of articulation]]
[[Category:Retroflex consonants| ]]