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Glite Dictionary
cacuminal

cacuminal

9.9
A speech sound made with the tongue tip turned back toward the roof of the mouth
  • adjective
  • /ˈkækjʊmɪnəl/
  • Specialized
translation icon : cacuminal
  • In phonetics, a cacuminal articulation is characterized by the tongue's position.

Examples

  • The linguist explained how a cacuminal articulation changes the quality of the spoken consonant.

  • Students had to practice producing cacuminal sounds as part of the phonetics course.

  • In some Indian languages, the cacuminal consonants are distinctly different from other retroflex sounds.

  • The cacuminal sounds in some languages can be difficult for learners.

  • In some Indian languages, the cacuminal consonants are distinctly different from other retroflex sounds.

  • Students had to practice producing cacuminal sounds as part of the phonetics course.

  • The linguist explained how a cacuminal articulation changes the quality of the spoken consonant.

Synonyms

retroflex
vscacuminal
  • Specialized
9.7

A speech sound made with the tongue tip curled back toward the roof of the mouth

is the same but has the tongue tip turned back rather than curled

Surface Forms

cacuminal positive

Morphology

cacuminal = cacumin + al

The stem 'cacumin' is not a productive or recognizable English base for most learners, so adding the suffix '-al' does not allow learners to infer the meaning.

Etymology

Cacuminal comes from the Latin cacumen, which means 'peak' or 'point'. So a cacuminal sound is named for the 'point' of the tongue and means a sound made with the tongue tip turned back toward the roof of the mouth.