Coronal consonant
Type of consonant sound involving tongue placement
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Related on Lably
Through Consonant, Dental consonant and Tooth
Places of articulation
Coronal places of articulation include the dental consonants at the upper teeth, the alveolar consonants at the upper gum (the alveolar ridge), the various postalveolar consonants (including domed palato-alveolar, laminal alveolo-palatal, and apical retroflex) just behind that, the subapical retroflex consonants curled back against the hard palate, and linguolabial consonants with the tongue against the upper lip. Alveolo-palatal and linguolabial consonants sometimes behave as dorsal and labial consonants, respectively, rather than as coronals.
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Examples
Arabic
In Arabic and Maltese philology, the sun letters represent coronal consonants.
European
Australian Aboriginal
In Australian Aboriginal languages, coronals contrast with peripheral consonants.
Lack of coronals
Northwest Mekeo is the only known language with no coronal phonemes, violating what was previously thought to be a linguistic universal.