In phonetics, a retracted or backed sound is one that is pronounced further to the back of the vocal tract than some reference point. The diacritic for this in the International Phonetic Alphabet is the under-bar, [  ̠]. Both consonants and vowels may be marked as retracted. Phonetics (from the Greek word φωνή, phone = sound/voice) is the study of sounds (voice). ... The vocal tract is that cavity in animals and humans, where sound that is produced at the sound source (larynx in mammals; syrinx in birds) is filtered. ... The International Phonetic Alphabet. ...

In English, the plosive in the affricate /tʃ/, as in the word church, is further back than an alveolar /t/, due to assimilation with the postalveolar fricative /ʃ/. In narrow transcription, /tʃ/ may be transcribed as [t̠ʃʰ]. The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... An affricate is a consonant that begins like a stop (most often an alveovelar, such as [t] or [d]) and that doesnt have a release of its own, but opens directly into a fricative (or, in one language, into a trill). ... Assimilation is a regular sound change process by which a phoneme changes to match an adjacent phoneme in a word. ... Postalveolar (or palato-alveolar) consonants are consonants articulated with the tip of the tongue between the alveolar ridge (the place of articulation for alveolar consonants) and the palate (the place of articulation for palatal consonants). ...

Languages may have phonemes which are further back than the nearest IPA symbol. For example, Polish sz is a postalveolar sibilant. While this is often transcribed as [ʃ], it is not domed (partially palatalized) the way a true [ʃ] is. A more accurate transcription is [s̠]. Similarly, the velars in Kwakiutl are actually postvelar; that is, pronounced further back than a prototypical velar, between a velar [k] and a uvular [q]. It is transcribed as [k̠]. Palatalization means pronouncing a sound nearer to the hard palate, making it more like a palatal consonant; this is towards the front of the mouth for a velar or uvular consonant, but towards the back of the mouth for a front (e. ... Velars are consonants articulated with the back part of the tongue (the dorsum) against the soft palate (the back part of the roof of the mouth, known also as the velum). ... Kwakwakawakw (also Kwakiutl, pronounced Kwa-gyu-th) is a term used to describe a group of Canadian First Nations, numbering about 5,500, who live in British Columbia on northern Vancouver Island and the mainland. ...

The IPA symbol [a] stands for a front vowel. However, in most languages where it is used, /a/ actually stands for a central vowel. This may also be indicated with the under-bar, if precision is desired: [a̠]. A front vowel is a type of vowel sound used in some spoken languages. ...

Either the prefix post- may be used to indicated retraction, as above, or phrases like "retracted i" may be used.

See also

• Place of articulation
• Fronted (phonetics)