Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- adjective Bent, curved, or turned backward.
- adjective Pronounced with the tip of the tongue turned back against the roof of the mouth.
- noun A sound pronounced with the tongue in retroflex position, as the sound (r) in some varieties of English.
from The Century Dictionary.
- Same as
reflexed . - Same as
retroflect .
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- adjective Reflexed; bent or turned abruptly backward.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- adjective
Bent orcurved backwards . - adjective phonetics : Of pronunciation in which the
tip of thetongue israised and bent backwards, so that theunderside of the tongue is behind thealveolar ridge or touches thepalate .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- adjective bent or curved backward
- adjective pronounced with the tip of the tongue turned back toward the hard palate
- verb articulate (a consonant) with the tongue curled back against the palate
- verb bend or turn backward
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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The next seven consonants are 'retroflex': the tongue curls back to the palate (front part of the roof of the mouth), making a hard sound ṭh aspirated version of the above as in 'dry', but harder
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The next seven consonants are 'retroflex': the tongue curls back to the palate (front part of the roof of the mouth), making a hard sound ṭh aspirated version of the above as in 'dry', but harder
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Like alveolar consonants replaced by retroflex consonants e.g walked - walk.
English as Intellectual Make Up for Indians « Articles « Literacy News 2009
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The retroflex [r] and the clear [l] sound the same to the Japonese; i.e. rice and lice -- Yew!
Top 5 Most Outrageous Japanese Female Celebrity Nicknames 2007
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The phonetic character of the /r/ is retroflex, i.e. the tip of the tongue is curled back towards the palate.
On /r/s and ofs DC 2008
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Also, I think that the retroflex quality is not the primary feature in rhoticity.
On /r/s and ofs DC 2008
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The phonetic character of the /r/ is retroflex, i.e. the tip of the tongue is curled back towards the palate.
Archive 2008-06-01 DC 2008
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It might have been a trilled sound as in modern Scots, but from the descriptions at the time I think it's more likely to have been a retroflex one - that is, one where the tip of the tongue is curled back, as in a lot of American and West Country speech.
Archive 2007-01-01 DC 2007
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It might have been a trilled sound as in modern Scots, but from the descriptions at the time I think it's more likely to have been a retroflex one - that is, one where the tip of the tongue is curled back, as in a lot of American and West Country speech.
On Shakespearean r's DC 2007
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One is the refusal to use the IPA -- to the point that sometimes different transcriptions are used for different languages, so that an underdot can mean an ejective, a retroflex, a pharyngealized consonant and who knows what else.
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