Coronal consonant
Coronal consonants are consonants articulated with the flexible front part of the tongue. Among places of articulation, only the coronal consonants can be divided into as many articulation types: apical, laminal, domed, or subapical as well as different postalveolar articulations : palato-alveolar, alveolo-palatal and retroflex. Only the front of the tongue has such dexterity among the major places of articulation, allowing such variety of distinctions. Coronals have another dimension, grooved, to make sibilants in combination with the orientations above.Places of articulation
Coronal places of articulation include the dental consonants at the upper teeth, the alveolar consonants at the upper gum, the various postalveolar consonants 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.Examples
In Arabic and Maltese philology, the sun letters represent coronal consonants.European
In Australian Aboriginal languages, coronals contrast with peripheral consonants.
