# Voiceless retroflex plosive

The voiceless retroflex plosive or stop is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. This consonant is found as a phoneme mostly (though not exclusively) in two areas: South Asia and Australia.

## Transcription

The symbol that represents this sound in the International Phonetic Alphabet is ⟨ʈ ⟩. Like all the retroflex consonants, the IPA symbol is formed by adding a rightward-pointing hook extending from the bottom of "t" (the letter used for the equivalent alveolar consonant). In many fonts lowercase "t" already has a rightward-pointing hook, but ⟨ʈ⟩ is distinguished from ⟨t⟩ by extending the hook below the baseline.

## Features

Features of the voiceless retroflex stop:
* Its manner of articulation is occlusive, which means it is produced by obstructing airflow in the vocal tract. Since the consonant is also oral, with no nasal outlet, the airflow is blocked entirely, and the consonant is a plosive.
* Its place of articulation is retroflex, which prototypically means it is articulated subapical (with the tip of the tongue curled up), but more generally, it means that it is postalveolar without being palatalized. That is, besides the prototypical subapical articulation, the tongue contact can be apical (pointed) or laminal (flat).
* Its phonation is voiceless, which means it is produced without vibrations of the vocal cords. In some languages the vocal cords are actively separated, so it is always voiceless; in others the cords are lax, so that it may take on the voicing of adjacent sounds.
* It is an oral consonant, which means air is allowed to escape through the mouth only.
* It is a central consonant, which means it is produced by directing the airstream along the center of the tongue, rather than to the sides.
* Its airstream mechanism is pulmonic, which means it is articulated by pushing air solely with the intercostal muscles and abdominal muscles, as in most sounds.

## Occurrence

| Language | Language | Word | IPA | Translation | Notes | Notes | Notes |
| Bengali | Bengali | টাকা | [ʈaka] | 'taka' | Apical postalveolar; contrasts unaspirated and aspirated forms. See Bengali phonology | Apical postalveolar; contrasts unaspirated and aspirated forms. See Bengali phonology | Apical postalveolar; contrasts unaspirated and aspirated forms. See Bengali phonology |
| Brahui | Brahui | سىٹ | [asiʈ] | 'one' | | | |
| English | Indian dialects | time | [ʈaɪm] | 'time' | Corresponds to alveolar /t/ in other dialects. See English phonology | Corresponds to alveolar /t/ in other dialects. See English phonology | Corresponds to alveolar /t/ in other dialects. See English phonology |
| Gujarati | Gujarati | બટાકા | [bəʈaːka] | 'potato' | Subapical; contrasts unaspirated and aspirated forms. See Gujarati phonology | Subapical; contrasts unaspirated and aspirated forms. See Gujarati phonology | Subapical; contrasts unaspirated and aspirated forms. See Gujarati phonology |
| Hindustani | Hindi | टोपी | [ʈoːpiː] | 'hat' | Apical postalveolar |
| Hindustani | Urdu | ٹوپی | [ʈoːpiː] | 'hat' | Apical postalveolar |
| Hmong | Hmong | raus | [ʈàu] | 'immerse in liquid' | Contrasts with aspirated form (written ⟨rh⟩). | Contrasts with aspirated form (written ⟨rh⟩). | Contrasts with aspirated form (written ⟨rh⟩). |
| Iwaidja | Iwaidja | yirrwartbart | [jiɺwɑʈbɑʈ] | 'taipan' | | | |
| Javanese | Javanese | bathang | [baʈaŋ] | 'cadaver' | | | |
| Kannada | Kannada | ತಟ್ಟು | [t̪ʌʈːu] | 'to tap' | Contrasts unaspirated and aspirated forms | Contrasts unaspirated and aspirated forms | Contrasts unaspirated and aspirated forms |
| Lo-Toga | Lo-Toga | dege | [ʈəɣə] | 'we (incl.)' | Laminal retroflex. |
| Malayalam | Malayalam | കാട്ട് / كٰاڊّْ / kāṭṭŭ | [kaːʈːɨ̆] | 'wild' | Contrasts /t̪ t ʈ d̪ ɖ/. | Contrasts /t̪ t ʈ d̪ ɖ/. | Contrasts /t̪ t ʈ d̪ ɖ/. |
| Marathi | Marathi | बटाटा | [bəʈaːʈaː] | 'potato' | Subapical; contrasts unaspirated and aspirated forms. See Marathi phonology | Subapical; contrasts unaspirated and aspirated forms. See Marathi phonology | Subapical; contrasts unaspirated and aspirated forms. See Marathi phonology |
| Mutsun | Mutsun | TiTkuSte | [ʈiʈkuʃtɛ] | 'torn' | | | |
| Nepali | Nepali | टोली | [ʈoli] | 'team' | Apical postalveolar; contrasts unaspirated and aspirated forms. See Nepali phonology | Apical postalveolar; contrasts unaspirated and aspirated forms. See Nepali phonology | Apical postalveolar; contrasts unaspirated and aspirated forms. See Nepali phonology |
| Norwegian | Norwegian | kort | [kɔʈː] | 'card' | See Norwegian phonology | See Norwegian phonology | See Norwegian phonology |
| Nunggubuyu | Nunggubuyu | rdagowa | [ʈakowa] | 'prawn' | |
| Odia | Odia | ଟଗର / ṭagara | [ʈɔgɔrɔ] | 'crepe jasmine' | Apical postalveolar; contrasts unaspirated and aspirated forms. |
| Pashto | Pashto | ټول | [ʈol] | 'all' | | | |
| Punjabi | Gurmukhi | ਟੋਪੀ | [ʈoːpi] | 'hat' | |
| Punjabi | Shahmukhi | ٹـوپی | [ʈoːpi] | 'hat' | |
| Scottish Gaelic | Some Hebridean dialects | àrd | [aːʈ] | 'high' | Corresponds to the sequence /rˠt/ in other dialects. See Scottish Gaelic phonology | Corresponds to the sequence /rˠt/ in other dialects. See Scottish Gaelic phonology | Corresponds to the sequence /rˠt/ in other dialects. See Scottish Gaelic phonology |
| Sicilian | Sicilian | latru | [ˈlaʈɽu] | 'thief' | |
| Swedish | Swedish | karta | [ˈkʰɑːʈa] | 'map' | See Swedish phonology | See Swedish phonology | See Swedish phonology |
| Sylheti | Sylheti | ꠐꠥꠟ꠆ꠟꠤ | [ʈulli] | 'skull' | contains tonal pronunciation. See Sylheti phonology |
| Tamil | Tamil | எட்டு / يࣣڊُّ / eṭṭu | [eʈːɯ] | 'eight' | Subapical. See Tamil phonology | Subapical. See Tamil phonology | Subapical. See Tamil phonology |
| Telugu | Telugu | కొట్టు | [koʈːu] | 'to hit or beat' | Contrasts unaspirated and aspirated forms | Contrasts unaspirated and aspirated forms | Contrasts unaspirated and aspirated forms |
| Torwali | Torwali | ٹـىىےل | [ʈiɡel] | 'words' | Contrasts aspirated and unaspirated forms. |
| Vietnamese | Southern dialects | bạn trả | [ɓa˧˨ʔɳˀ ʈa˧˩˧] | 'you pay' | May be somewhat affricated. See Vietnamese phonology | May be somewhat affricated. See Vietnamese phonology | May be somewhat affricated. See Vietnamese phonology |
| Welayta | Welayta | [ʈaza] | [ʈaza] | 'dew' | | | |