The voiced retroflex approximant is a type of consonant used in some languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is ⟨ɻ⟩, and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is r\`. The IPA symbol is a turned lowercase letter r with a rightward hook protruding from the lower right of the letter.
| Voiced retroflex approximant | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| ɻ | |||
| IPA Number | 152 | ||
| Audio sample | |||
| Encoding | |||
| Entity (decimal) | ɻ | ||
| Unicode (hex) | U+027B | ||
| X-SAMPA | r\` | ||
| Braille |   | ||
| |||
| Labialised voiced retroflex approximant | |
|---|---|
| ɻʷ | |
| Audio sample | |
The velar bunched approximant found in some varieties of Dutch and American English sounds similar to the retroflex approximant but it has a very different articulation.
Features of the voiced retroflex approximant:
| Family | Language | Word | IPA | Meaning | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sinitic | Chinese | Mandarin | 日光 rìguāng | [ɻ̺͢ɻ̺̞̍˥˩ku̯ɑ͢ŋ˥] | 'sunlight' | Apical.[1] As an initial in free variation between fricative and approximant, but never has friction as strong as a true fricative (Chinese "fully muddy"/全浊-class) to trigger a (free or conditional) devoicing or postvoicing into /ʐ̥ʱ/, nor weak enough to become an apical vowel. As a rime it's an apical vowel that is frequently coarticulated with a close near-back unrounded vowel /ɨ̟/ (thus phonetically [ɻ̺͢ɨ̟͡ɻ̺̞̍˥˩ku̯ɑ͢ŋ˥], but this phonetic representation should be avoided as the tie-bar for coarticulation may be misunderstood as a sliding into an erhua rhotic vowel, a phonemically distinct syllable in Chinese), but it can be prolonged indefinitely and never truly developed into an /ɨ̟/. Both the consonant and the vowel may gain some friction especially when prolonged to force a more "distinct/clear" effect in teaching or when swearing, and thus it may be inaccurately transcribed as fricative [ʐ] both as initial and as rime (when precision is necessary, a true fricative in Wu Chinese may be transcribed as [ʐ̥ʱ], as that's how it's pronounced in the first syllable). See Standard Chinese phonology.
The character 日 (sun), when pronounced with an overall strengthened friction (on both z and ɿ), may likely be understood as a profanity, thus pronouncing as an approximant is important; but the two do not form a minimal pair, because the profanity can also be pronounced with little friction (though in some other dialects they further evolved to form a minimal pair). |
| Nungish | Derung | Tvrung | [tə˧˩ɻuŋ˥˧] | 'Derung' | ||
| Germanic | English | Some American dialects | red | [ɻ(ʷ)ɛd] | 'red' | Labialized (pronounced with lips rounded). See Pronunciation of English /r/ |
| Some Hiberno-English dialects | ||||||
| Some West Country English | ||||||
| Arnhem | Enindhilyagwa | angwura | [aŋwuɻa] | 'fire' | ||
| Germanic | Faroese[2] | hoyrdi | [hɔiɻʈɛ] | 'heard' | Allophone of /ɹ/.[2] Sometimes voiceless [ɻ̊].[2] See Faroese phonology | |
| Hellenic | Greek | Cretan (Sfakia and Mylopotamos variations) region[3] | γάλα gála | [ˈɣaɻa] | 'milk' | Intervocalic allophone of /l/ before /a, o, u/. Recessive. See Modern Greek phonology |
| Eskimo-Aleut | Inuktitut | Nattilingmiutut | kiuřuq | /kiuɻuq/ | 'she replies' | |
| Dravidian | Malayalam | ആഴം | [aːɻɐm] | 'depth' | ||
| Mapudungun | Mapuche[4] | rayen | [ɻɜˈjën] | 'flower' | Possible realization of /ʐ/; may be [ʐ]or[ɭ] instead.[4] | |
| Romance | Portuguese | Many Centro-Sul registers | cartas | [ˈkaɻtə̥̆s] | 'letters' | Allophone of rhotic consonants (and sometimes /l/) in the syllable coda. Mainly[5] found in rural São Paulo, Paraná, south of Minas Gerais and surrounding areas, with the more common and prestigious realization in metropolitan areas being [ɹ] and/or rhotic vowel instead. As with [ɽ], it appeared as a mutation of [ɾ].[6][7][8] See Portuguese phonology. |
| Caipira | temporal | [tẽɪ̯̃pʊˈɾaɻ] | 'rainstorm' | |||
| Conservative Piracicabano | grato | [ˈgɻatʊ̥] | 'thankful' (m.) | |||
| Dravidian | Tamil[9] | தமிழ் | [t̪əˈmɨɻ]ⓘ | 'Tamil' | See Tamil phonology. May be merged with [ɭ] for some modern speakers. | |
| Pama-Nyungan | Western Desert | Pitjantjatjara dialect | Uluṟu | [ʊlʊɻʊ] | 'Uluru' | |
| Isolate | Yaghan | wárho | [ˈwaɻo] | 'cave' | ||
