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Concept
Trill consonant
Summary
In phonetics, a trill is a consonantal sound produced by vibrations between the active articulator and passive articulator. Standard Spanish as in perro, for example, is an alveolar trill.
A trill is made by the articulator being held in place and the airstream causing it to vibrate. Usually a trill vibrates for 2–3 contacts, but may be up to 5, or even more if geminate. However, trills may also be produced with only one contact. While single-contact trills are similar to taps and flaps, a tap or flap differs from a trill in that it is made by a muscular contraction rather than airstream.
Trill consonants included in the International Phonetic Alphabet:
[r] – Voiced alveolar trill
[r̥] – Voiceless alveolar trill
[ʙ] – Voiced bilabial trill
[ʙ̥] – Voiceless bilabial trill
[ɽ͡r] – Voiced retroflex trill
[ʀ] – Voiced uvular trill
[ʀ̥] – Voiceless uvular trill
[ʢ] – voiced epiglottal trill
[ʜ] – voiceless epiglottal trill
In addition,
[ʩ] – velopharyngeal fricative found in disordered speech sometimes involves trilling of the velopharyngeal port, producing a 'snort'.
The bilabial trill is uncommon. The coronal trill is most frequently alveolar [r͇], but dental and postalveolar articulations [r̪] and [r̠] also occur. An alleged retroflex trill found in Toda has been transcribed [ɽ] (that is, the same as the retroflex flap), but might be less ambiguously written [ɽr], as only the onset is retroflex, with the actual trill being alveolar. The epiglottal trills are identified by the IPA as fricatives, with the trilling assumed to be allophonic. However, analyzing the sounds as trills may be more economical. There are also so-called strident vowels which are accompanied by epiglottal trill.
The cells in the IPA chart for the velar, (upper) pharyngeal, and glottal places of articulation are shaded as impossible. The glottis quite readily vibrates, but this occurs as the phonation of vowels and consonants, not as a consonant of its own.
Official source
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