A voiced retroflex approximant is a type of consonant used in some languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is , a turned lowercase letter r with a rightward hook protruding from the lower right of the letter.
The velar bunched approximant found in some varieties of Dutch and American English is nearly indistinguishable from a retroflex approximant in sound, but has a different articulation.
Features
thumb|upright=0.6|class=skin-invert-image|[[Sagittal section of a voiced retroflex approximant]]
Features of the voiced retroflex approximant:
Occurrence
{| class=wikitable
!Family
!colspan=2| Language !! Word !! IPA !! Meaning !! Notes
|-
|Sinitic
| Chinese || Mandarin || || [ɻ̺oʊ̯˥˩] || 'meat' || Apical. Can be transcribed as fricative . See Standard Chinese phonology
|-
|Nungish
|colspan=2| Derung || Tvrung || [tə˧˩ɻuŋ˥˧] || 'Derung' ||
|-
|rowspan=3 | Germanic
| rowspan=3 | English || Some American dialects || rowspan=3 | red || rowspan=3 | || rowspan=3 | 'red' || rowspan=3 | Labialized (pronounced with lips rounded). See Pronunciation of English /r/
|-
| Some Hiberno-English dialects
|-
| Some West Country English
|-
|Arnhem
|colspan=2| Enindhilyagwa || || || 'fire' ||
|-
|Germanic
| colspan=2 | Faroese || || || 'heard' || Allophone of . Sometimes voiceless . See Faroese phonology
|-
|Hellenic
| Greek || Cretan (Sfakia and Mylopotamos variations) region || || || 'milk' || Intervocalic allophone of before . Recessive. See Modern Greek phonology
|-
|Eskimo-Aleut
| Inuktitut || Nattilingmiutut || || || 'she replies' ||
|-
|Dravidian
|colspan=2| Malayalam || /āḻam || || 'depth' ||Represented by the letter ⟨ഴ⟩. Subapical retroflex. See Malayalam phonology
|-
|Mapudungun
| colspan="2" | Mapuche || || || 'flower' || Possible realization of ; may be or instead.
|-
|-
|rowspan=3|Romance
|rowspan=3| Portuguese || Many Centro-Sul registers || || || 'letters' || rowspan=3|Allophone of rhotic consonants (and sometimes ) in the syllable coda. Mainly found in rural São Paulo, Paraná, south of Minas Gerais and surrounding areas, with the more common and prestigious realization in metropolitan areas being and/or rhotic vowel instead. As with , it appeared as a mutation of . See Portuguese phonology.
|-
| Caipira || || || 'rainstorm'
|-
| Conservative Piracicabano || || || 'thankful' (m.)
|-
|Dravidian
|colspan=2| Tamil || /Tamiḻ || || 'Tamil' || See Tamil phonology. May be merged with for some modern speakers.
|-
|Pama-Nyungan
| Western Desert || Pitjantjatjara dialect || || || 'Uluru' ||
|-
|Isolate
|colspan=2| Yaghan || || || 'cave' ||
|}
See also
- Alveolar approximant
- Retroflex consonant
- R-colored vowel
- Index of phonetics articles