An alveolar ridge is one of the two jaw ridges either on the roof of the mouth between the upper teeth and the hard palate or on the bottom of the mouth behind the lower teeth. The alveolar ridges are so named because they contain the sockets (alveoli) of the teeth.

You can touch their shapes by moving your tongue in the area right above or beneath the teeth sockets. Its surface is covered with little ridges. You can only see these with a mirror small enough to go inside your mouth. Sounds made with the tongue touching the alveolar ridge while speaking are called alveolar. Alveolar consonants are, for instance, [t], [d], [s], [z], [n], [l] like in the words time, dragon, superman, zeal, nasty and lollipop. When pronouncing these words you can feel your tongue touching the upper alveolar ridge which can also be referred to as gum ridge.

In many other languages consonants are articulated with the tongue on (touching) or close to (without touching) the upper alveolar ridge. See alveolar consonant. Alveolar consonants are articulated with the tongue against or close to the superior alveolar ridge, which is called that because it contains the alveoli (the sockets) of the superior teeth. ...

See also: List of phonetic topics A acoustic phonetics affricate airstream mechanism allophone alveolar approximant alveolar consonant alveolar ejective fricative alveolar ejective alveolar flap alveolar nasal alveolar ridge alveolar trill alveolo-palatal consonant apical consonant approximant consonant articulatory phonetics aspiration auditory phonetics B back vowel bilabial click bilabial consonant bilabial ejective bilabial nasal bilabial trill breathy...

Literatur

Roach, Peter: English Phonetics and Phonology. Cambridge University Press, 2004.