Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
👅 Tongue curled 👅 To curl tongue ↩️ Bent backward ↩️ To bend back
to retroflex

to retroflex

9.9
To make a sound by curling the tongue tip back toward the roof of the mouth
  • verb
  • /ˈrɛtrəˌflɛks/
  • Specialized
translation icon : retroflexionar
  • In phonetics, it is important to retroflex certain consonants for clearer articulation.

Examples

  • If the retroflexed variant were to be used, /t/ and /r/ would have to be produced one after the other without the degree of articulatory overlap licensed by the bunched strategy.

    Academic text (2011)

  • American English /r/ can also be produced in at least two different ways—namely, with a bunched tongue or a retroflexed tongue (Delattre & Freeman, 1968).

    Academic text (2011)

  • To pronounce the letter /r/ correctly in some languages, you must retroflex your tongue.

  • When learning a new language, you may need to retroflex your tongue to achieve the correct sounds.

How Back

to retroflex
  • Specialized
9.9
palatal
  • Specialized
8.9
postalveolar
  • Specialized
9.9
alveolar
  • Specialized
8.7
dental
  • Specialized
8 7.0

Surface Forms

retroflex infinitive
retroflexed past
retroflexed past participle
retroflexing present participle
retroflexes third person singular

Morphology

retroflex = retroflex (semi-transparent) = retro + flex

The core morphology is clear, but the phonetic sense is a specialized technical extension rather than a fully ordinary use of 'bend back'.

Etymology

Retroflex comes from retro- 'back' and -flex 'to bend', the same idea you see in flexible. So to retroflex a consonant is to curl the tongue back when you say it, which gives the verb its modern meaning.