Alveolar

From KneeQuickie

Alveolar (also gingival) consonants are those articulated at the alveolar ridge, just behind the teeth.

In the IPA, all coronal consonants except fricatives are assumed to be alveolar by default; the only alveolar consonants that have unique symbols are the fricatives /s/ and /z/, although even these are dental in some languages, such as Spanish.

In Z-Sampa, there is a diacritic _a\ to form alveolar consonants, but as in most cases the alveolar consonant is assumed by default, this is only necessary in the case of clicks (see Coronal clicks) and to form the alveolar non-sibilant fricatives. The main use of the _a\ diacritic is to form labioalveolars.

Among some peoples such as the Bushmen/San, the alveolar ridge is frequently absent altogether and the corresponding point of articulation is called post-dental.