Voiced dental and alveolar nasals

A voiced alveolar nasal is a special sound used in many languages around the world. For English speakers, this sound is the “n” we hear in words like “nice.” This sound is part of a group called consonantal sounds and is written with the symbol ⟨n⟩ in the International Phonetic Alphabet.

Most languages include this “n” sound or a similar one made with the teeth, called a dental nasal. Some languages, like Yoruba, Palauan, and casual Samoan, do not use this sound but have another nasal sound represented by [m]. There are even a few languages, such as Rotokas, that lack both [m] and [n] sounds.

In some languages, the “n” sound is made differently. For example, in the Mapuche language of South America, the “n” is made with the tongue between the teeth, which is called an interdental sound. In other languages like Spanish, the “n” sound can be made slightly differently depending on the surrounding letters. This shows how diverse and interesting language sounds can be!

Features

A voiced alveolar nasal is a sound used in many languages, like the "n" in "nice". This sound is made by blocking air in the mouth and letting it flow through the nose.

There are four ways to make this sound:

• Dental: using the tip or blade of the tongue near the upper teeth
• Denti-alveolar: using the blade of the tongue near the ridge behind the teeth, with the tip behind the teeth
• Alveolar: using the tip or blade of the tongue on the ridge behind the teeth
• Postalveolar: using the tip or blade of the tongue behind the ridge behind the teeth

This sound is made with the voice, and the air flows only through the nose. It is also made by sending air down the middle of the tongue.

Occurrence

Dental or denti-alveolar

Alveolar

Postalveolar

Variable