The Sounds of English
A Basic Course

The Postalveolar approximant

The postalveoar approximant is produced by the tip of the tongue being raised towards the area just behind the teeth ridge, leaving a narrow open space along the ridge. The SBE /r/ is not rolled, i.e. it does not touch or tap the teeth ridge. This variant is found in many regional varieties of English. The American variety is produced when the tip of the tongue is curved backwards toward the palatoalveolar area. To Norwegians, the traditional SBE poses greater production difficulties than most dialectal varieties. The postalveolar approximant is generally voiced, except when preceded by unvoiced sounds like /p/, /t/, /k/, /f/, /s/ etc. After short vowels it may be replaced by a quick tap.

 


as in

(Br.!)