Alveolarization involves

• A. Replacing nonalveolar with alveolar
• B. Replacing alveolar with nonalveolar
• C. Replacing a vowel with a consonant
• D. Inserting an extra syllable

Answer: (A)

Alveolarization is about moving a sound’s place of articulation toward the alveolar ridge, turning a nonalveolar consonant into an alveolar one. So the process described is replacing sounds that are not produced at the alveolar place with alveolar sounds. An example would be a velar or other nonalveolar consonant becoming an alveolar consonant in a particular environment, like a [k] becoming a [t] or a [g] becoming a [d].

That makes the option the best fit because it directly captures the idea of changing articulation to an alveolar place. The other possibilities describe different changes—replacing an alveolar with a nonalveolar would be the opposite process, inserting an extra syllable is epenthesis, and replacing a vowel with a consonant is a change in the segment type rather than the place of articulation.