# Voiced retroflex approximant

The voiced retroflex approximant is a type of consonant used in some languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is ⟨ɻ⟩, and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is r\`. The IPA symbol is a turned lowercase letter r with a rightward hook protruding from the lower right of the letter.
The velar bunched approximant found in some varieties of Dutch and American English sounds similar to the retroflex approximant but it has a very different articulation.

## Features

Features of the voiced retroflex approximant:
* Its manner of articulation is approximant, which means it is produced by narrowing the vocal tract at the place of articulation, but not enough to produce a turbulent airstream.
* 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 can be apical (pointed) or, in some fricatives, laminal (flat).
* Its phonation is voiced, which means the vocal cords vibrate during the articulation.
* 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

| Family | Language | Language | Word | IPA | Meaning | Notes |
| Sinitic | Chinese | Mandarin | 日光 rìguāng | [ɻ̺͢ɻ̺̞̍˥˩ku̯ɑ͢ŋ˥] | 'sunlight' | Apical. As an initial in free variation between fricative and approximant, but never has friction as strong as a true fricative (Chinese "fully muddy"/全浊-class) to trigger a (free or conditional) devoicing or postvoicing into /ʐ̥ʱ/, nor weak enough to become an apical vowel. As a rime it is an apical vowel that is frequently coarticulated with a close near-back unrounded vowel /ɨ̟/ (thus phonetically [ɻ̺͢ɨ̟͡ɻ̺̞̍˥˩ku̯ɑ͢ŋ˥], but this phonetic representation should be avoided as the tie-bar for coarticulation may be misunderstood as a sliding into an erhua rhotic vowel, a phonemically distinct syllable in Chinese), but it can be prolonged indefinitely and never truly developed into an /ɨ̟/. Both the consonant and the vowel may gain some friction especially when prolonged to force a more "distinct/clear" effect in teaching or when swearing, and thus it may be inaccurately transcribed as fricative [ʐ] both as initial and as rime (when precision is necessary, a true fricative in Wu Chinese may be transcribed as [ʐ̥ʱ], as that is how it is pronounced in the first syllable). See Standard Chinese phonology. The character 日 (sun), when pronounced with an overall strengthened friction (on both z and ɿ), may likely be understood as a profanity, thus pronouncing as an approximant is important; but the two do not form a minimal pair, because the profanity can also be pronounced with little friction (though in some other dialects they further evolved to form a minimal pair). |
| Nungish | Derung | Derung | Tvrung | [tə˧˩ɻuŋ˥˧] | 'Derung' | |
| Germanic | English | Some American dialects | red | [ɻ(ʷ)ɛd] | 'red' | Labialized (pronounced with lips rounded). See Pronunciation of English /r/ |
| Germanic | English | Some Hiberno-English dialects | red | [ɻ(ʷ)ɛd] | 'red' | Labialized (pronounced with lips rounded). See Pronunciation of English /r/ |
| Germanic | English | Some West Country English | red | [ɻ(ʷ)ɛd] | 'red' | Labialized (pronounced with lips rounded). See Pronunciation of English /r/ |
| Arnhem | Enindhilyagwa | Enindhilyagwa | angwura | [aŋwuɻa] | 'fire' | |
| Germanic | Faroese | Faroese | hoyrdi | [hɔiɻʈɛ] | 'heard' | Allophone of /ɹ/. Sometimes voiceless [ɻ̊]. See Faroese phonology |
| Hellenic | Greek | Cretan (Sfakia and Mylopotamos variations) region | γάλα gála | [ˈɣaɻa] | 'milk' | Intervocalic allophone of /l/ before /a, o, u/. Recessive. See Modern Greek phonology |
| Eskimo-Aleut | Inuktitut | Nattilingmiutut | kiuřuq | /kiuɻuq/ | 'she replies' | |
| Dravidian | Malayalam | Malayalam | ആഴം/اٰژَمْ/āḻam | [aːɻɐm] | 'depth' | |
| Mapudungun | Mapuche | Mapuche | rayen | [ɻɜˈjën] | 'flower' | Possible realization of /ʐ/; may be [ʐ] or [ɭ] instead. |
| Romance | Portuguese | Many Centro-Sul registers | cartas | [ˈkaɻtə̥̆s] | 'letters' | Allophone of rhotic consonants (and sometimes /l/) in the syllable coda. Mainly found in rural São Paulo, Paraná, south of Minas Gerais and surrounding areas, with the more common and prestigious realization in metropolitan areas being [ɹ] and/or rhotic vowel instead. As with [ɽ], it appeared as a mutation of [ɾ]. See Portuguese phonology. |
| Romance | Portuguese | Caipira | temporal | [tẽɪ̯̃pʊˈɾaɻ] | 'rainstorm' | Allophone of rhotic consonants (and sometimes /l/) in the syllable coda. Mainly found in rural São Paulo, Paraná, south of Minas Gerais and surrounding areas, with the more common and prestigious realization in metropolitan areas being [ɹ] and/or rhotic vowel instead. As with [ɽ], it appeared as a mutation of [ɾ]. See Portuguese phonology. |
| Romance | Portuguese | Conservative Piracicabano | grato | [ˈgɻatʊ̥] | 'thankful' (m.) | Allophone of rhotic consonants (and sometimes /l/) in the syllable coda. Mainly found in rural São Paulo, Paraná, south of Minas Gerais and surrounding areas, with the more common and prestigious realization in metropolitan areas being [ɹ] and/or rhotic vowel instead. As with [ɽ], it appeared as a mutation of [ɾ]. See Portuguese phonology. |
| Dravidian | Tamil | Tamil | தமிழ்/Tamiḻ | | 'Tamil' | See Tamil phonology. May be merged with [ɭ] for some modern speakers. |
| Pama-Nyungan | Western Desert | Pitjantjatjara dialect | Uluṟu | [ʊlʊɻʊ] | 'Uluru' | |
| Isolate | Yaghan | Yaghan | wárho | [ˈwaɻo] | 'cave' | |