Palatal

A palatal segment is a segment that is articulated in such a way that the oral cavity is narrowed or closed by raising the tongue blade towards the hard palate.

Examples
Dutch and English [j] (cf. jigsaw).

Examples of palatals are the sound [ɳ] (written ñ) in Spanish niño 'child', and the sound [c] (written ty) in Hungarian atya 'father'.

Origin
Derived from palate (borrowed into English from Latin palatum), and attested since the 17th century.

Comments
"Palatal" is a term also used for vowels: front vowels are palatal, as opposed to back vowels, which are velar.

Other languages

 * German Palatal (de)

Links
Utrecht Lexicon of Linguistics