Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
👅 Near palate 👅 A special consonant
palatoalveolar

palatoalveolar

9.9
Describes sounds made with the tongue near the top of the mouth, like the 'sh' in 'shoe'
  • adjective
  • /ˌpælətəʊælˈviːələr/
  • Specialized
translation icon : palatoalveolar
  • In linguistics, a palatoalveolar sound like 'sh' is produced by placing the tongue close to the hard palate.

Examples

  • Children often learn to make the palatoalveolar sounds later than other consonants in speech development.

  • A minority of the children produced the palatoalveolar affricate d3, the voiced occlusive g, the palatoalveolar sibilant, the lateral palatal, and nasal.

    Academic text (2012)

  • The palatoalveolar affricate 'j' can be difficult for non-native speakers to pronounce.

Surface Forms

palatoalveolar positive

Morphology

palatoalveolar = palate + alveolar (transparent) = palato + alveolar

The adjective is a straightforward combination of palato- (palate) and alveolar, so knowing those bases yields the meaning.

Etymology

Palatoalveolar combines palato- (from palate, 'roof of the mouth') and alveolar ('ridge behind your teeth'), so it describes a sound made with the tongue near both the hard palate and the ridge behind your teeth. That's why the 'sh' in 'shoe' is called a palatoalveolar sound.