Not exactly. The alveolae are tooth sockets; the alveolar ridge is the enlarged bone structure along the dental arch between the teeth and the dome of the hard palate. The (passive) point of articulation for things like (English) [t d n] is the alveolar ridge, “alveolar” for short when modifying the manner of articulation (stop—a.k.a. plosive—fricative, nasal, etc.) Accurate articulatory phonetics specifies both the active and passive articulators, so in the case of English [t d n] “apico-alveolar” (viz., the apex of the tongue articulating with the alveolar ridge). In most European languages the analogous phone types are apico-dental, that is the point of articulation is more forward, possibly actually contacting the (back of) the teeth.
Ida No over 4 years ago
“Socket 2 Me, T!”
AndrewSihler over 4 years ago
Not exactly. The alveolae are tooth sockets; the alveolar ridge is the enlarged bone structure along the dental arch between the teeth and the dome of the hard palate. The (passive) point of articulation for things like (English) [t d n] is the alveolar ridge, “alveolar” for short when modifying the manner of articulation (stop—a.k.a. plosive—fricative, nasal, etc.) Accurate articulatory phonetics specifies both the active and passive articulators, so in the case of English [t d n] “apico-alveolar” (viz., the apex of the tongue articulating with the alveolar ridge). In most European languages the analogous phone types are apico-dental, that is the point of articulation is more forward, possibly actually contacting the (back of) the teeth.