Alveolarized

Part of speech: adjective, verb

Definitions

1. Describes a speech sound articulated by placing the tongue close to or touching the ridge behind the upper front teeth
2. Refers to the modification of a sound so that it is pronounced with the tongue positioned near the alveolar ridge in the mouth
3. Indicates a phonetic change where a consonant is produced by the tongue contacting or approaching the area just behind the upper front teeth

Etymology: "Alveolarized" is the past tense and past participle of "alveolarize," which describes a speech sound made by raising the tongue toward the alveolar ridge, the bony ridge just behind the upper front teeth. The verb builds on "alveolar," itself formed from "alveolus," a Latin word meaning "small cavity" or "little hollow," diminutive of "alveus," meaning "trough" or "hollow." The anatomical sense of that Latin root is the same one that gives the English "alveoli" of the lungs and the tooth sockets. The ridge was named for its hollows: the sockets that hold the upper teeth lie in this bone, so the ridge looks like a row of small cavities. Phoneticians applied the adjective "alveolar" to sounds made there, and "alveolarize" follows the familiar pattern of turning an adjective into a verb meaning "to make alveolar." Where a sound has been shifted forward to this ridge from another place of articulation, the word describes that change.

Synonyms: articulated at alveolar ridge, pronounced with alveolar sound, tongue-tip articulation, alveolar consonant produced, alveolarized speech

Antonyms: non-alveolar, velarized, palatalized, glottalized, labialized