In phonetics, alveolo-palatal consonants are a subtype of postalveolar fricative articulated with the blade of the tongue between the alveolar ridge and the palate. They are similar to palato-alveolar and retroflex fricatives, but are laminal rather than apical or sub-apical as the retroflex fricatives are, or pronounced with the tongue bunched up ("domed") as the palato-alveolar fricatives are. Alveolo-palatal consonants can be found in Chinese languages such as Mandarin, Hakka, and Wu, as well as Abkhaz, Polish, Ubykh, Japanese, Korean, and Kinnauri. The alveolo-palatal consonants in the International Phonetic Alphabet are:
Note: The table displays only fricatives. Affricates () are also common. In sinological circles symbols for alveolo-palatal stops (), nasals (), and liquids () are used, but they represent simple palatal or palatalized consonants, and thus are not recognized by the IPA.
See also
fr:Consonne alvolo-palatale
ja:歯茎硬口蓋音
ko:치조구개음
zh:齿颚音
