Voiced dental and alveolar plosives

The voiced alveolar, dental and postalveolar plosives (or stops) are types of consonantal sounds used in many spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents voiced dental, alveolar, and postalveolar plosives is ⟨d⟩ (although the symbol ⟨d̪⟩ can be used to distinguish the dental plosive, and ⟨d̠⟩ the postalveolar), and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is d.

Voiced alveolar plosive
d
IPA number	104
Audio sample
source · help
Encoding
Entity (decimal)	d
Unicode (hex)	U+0064
X-SAMPA	d
Braille
Image

Voiced dental plosive
d̪
IPA number	104 408
Audio sample
source · help
Encoding
Entity (decimal)	d​̪
Unicode (hex)	U+0064 U+032A
X-SAMPA	d_d
Braille

There are only a few languages that distinguish dental and alveolar stops, among them Kota, Toda, Venda and some Irish dialects.

Features

Features of the voiced alveolar stop:

• Its manner of articulation is occlusive, which means it is produced by obstructing airflow in the vocal tract. Since the consonant is also oral, with no nasal outlet, the airflow is blocked entirely, and the consonant is a plosive.
• There are three specific variants of [d]:
  • Dental, which means it is articulated with either the tip or the blade of the tongue at the upper teeth, termed respectively apical and laminal.
  • Denti-alveolar, which means it is articulated with the blade of the tongue at the alveolar ridge, and the tip of the tongue behind upper teeth.
  • Alveolar, which means it is articulated with either the tip or the blade of the tongue at the alveolar ridge, termed respectively apical and laminal.
• Its phonation is voiced, which means the vocal cords vibrate during the articulation.
• It is an oral consonant, which means air is allowed to escape through the mouth only.
• It is a central consonant, which means it is produced by directing the airstream along the center of the tongue, rather than to the sides.
• Its airstream mechanism is pulmonic, which means it is articulated by pushing air solely with the intercostal muscles and abdominal muscles, as in most sounds.

Varieties

IPA	Description
d	plain d
d̪	dental d
d̠	postalveolar d
dʱ	breathy d
dʲ	palatalized d
dʷ	labialized d
d̚	d with no audible release
d̥	voiceless d
d͈	tense d

Occurrence

Dental or denti-alveolar

Language		Word	IPA	Meaning	Notes
Albanian		derë	[dɛːɾ]	'door'
Arabic	Egyptian	دنيا / donya	[ˈdonjæ]	'world'	See Egyptian Arabic phonology
Armenian	Eastern[1]	դեմք / demk'	[d̪ɛmkʰ]ⓘ	'face'	Laminal denti-alveolar.
	Western	տալ / dal	[d̪ɑl]	'to give'	Laminal denti-alveolar.
Bashkir		дүрт / dürt	[dʏʷrt]ⓘ	'four'
Basque		diru	[d̪iɾu]	'money'	Laminal denti-alveolar.
Belarusian[2]		падарожжа/padarožža	[päd̪äˈroʐːä]	'travel'	Laminal denti-alveolar. See Belarusian phonology
Bengali		দুধ/dūdh	[d̪ud̪ʱ]	'milk'	Laminal denti-alveolar. Contrasts aspirated and unaspirated forms. See Bengali phonology
Catalan[3]		drac	[ˈd̪ɾak]	'dragon'	Laminal denti-alveolar. See Catalan phonology
Dinka[4]		dhek	[d̪ek]	'distinct'	Laminal denti-alveolar. Contrasts with alveolar /d/.
Dhivehi		ދެރަ/Dhera	[d̪eɾa]	'sad'	Laminal denti-alveolar.
Dutch	Belgian	ding	[d̪ɪŋ]	'thing'	Laminal denti-alveolar.
English	Dublin[5]	then	[d̪ɛn]	'then'	Laminal denti-alveolar.	Corresponds to [ð] in other dialects. In Dublin it may be [d͡ð].[5]	See English phonology
	Southern Irish[6]
	Geordie[7]					Word-initial allophone of /ð/; may be realized as [ð] instead.[7]
	Indian
	Ulster[8]	dream	[d̪ɹim]	'dream'		Allophone of /d/ before /r/, in free variation with an alveolar stop.
Esperanto		mondo	[ˈmondo]	'world'	See Esperanto phonology.
French[9]		dais	[d̪ɛ]	'canopy'	Laminal denti-alveolar. See French phonology
Georgian[10]		კუდი	[ˈkʼud̪i]	'tail'	Laminal denti-alveolar. See Georgian phonology
Hindustani[11]	Hindi	दूध / dūdh	[d̪uːd̪ʱ]	'milk'	Laminal denti-alveolar. Hindustani contrasts aspirated and unaspirated forms.	Contrasts with aspirated form <ध>.	See Hindi-Urdu phonology
	Urdu	دودھ / dūdh				Contrasts with aspirated form <دھ>.
Irish		dorcha	[ˈd̪ˠɔɾˠəxə]	'dark'	Laminal denti-alveolar. See Irish phonology
Italian[12]		dare	[ˈd̪äːre]	'to give'	Laminal denti-alveolar. See Italian phonology
Japanese[13]		男性的 / danseiteki	[d̪ä̃ɰ̃se̞ːt̪e̞kʲi]	'masculine'	Laminal denti-alveolar. See Japanese phonology
Kashubian[14]		[example needed]			Laminal denti-alveolar.
Kazakh		дос	[d̪os̪]	'friend'	Laminal denti-alveolar.
Kyrgyz[15]		дос	[d̪os̪]	'friend'	Laminal denti-alveolar.
Latvian[16]		drudzis	[ˈd̪rud̪͡z̪is̪]	'fever'	Laminal denti-alveolar. See Latvian phonology
Marathi		दगड/dagaḍ	[d̪əɡəɖ]	'stone'	Laminal denti-alveolar. Marathi contrasts aspirated and unaspirated forms. See Marathi phonology
Nepali		दिन/din	[d̪in]	'daytime'	Contrasts with aspirated form. See Nepali Phonology
Odia		ଦଶ/daśa	[d̪ɔsɔ]	'ten'	Laminal denti-alveolar. Contrasts aspirated and unaspirated forms.
Pashto		ﺪﻮﻩ/dwa	[ˈd̪wɑ]	'two'	Laminal denti-alveolar.
Polish[17]		dom	[d̪ɔm]ⓘ	'home'	Laminal denti-alveolar. See Polish phonology
Portuguese[18]	Many dialects	dar	[ˈd̪aɾ]	'to give'	Laminal denti-alveolar. May palatalize or lenite in certain environments, depending on dialect. See Portuguese phonology
Punjabi	Gurmukhi	ਦਾਲ/dāl	[d̪ɑːl]	'lentils'	Laminal denti-alveolar.
	Shahmukhi	دال/dāl
Russian[19]		два/dva	[ˈd̪va]	'two'	Laminal denti-alveolar, contrasts with a palatalized alveolar variant. See Russian phonology
Scottish Gaelic	Uist and Barra	leantail	[ˈʎɛnd̪al]	'following'	Allophone of [t̪] after nasals. See Scottish Gaelic phonology
Serbo-Croatian[20]		дуга / duga	[d̪ǔːgä]	'rainbow'	Laminal denti-alveolar. See Serbo-Croatian phonology
Sinhala		දවස	[d̪aʋəsə]	'day'
Slovene[21]		danes	[ˈd̪àːnə́s̪]	'today'	Laminal denti-alveolar. See Slovene phonology
Spanish[22]		hundido	[ũn̪ˈd̪ið̞o̞]	'sunken'	Laminal denti-alveolar. See Spanish phonology
Telugu		దయ	[d̪aja]	'Kindness'	Laminal denti-alveolar. Contrasts aspirated and unaspirated forms. Aspirated form articulated as breathy consonant.
Turkish		dal	[d̪äɫ]	'twig'	Laminal denti-alveolar. See Turkish phonology
Ukrainian[23][24]		дерево/derevo	[ˈd̪ɛrɛβ̞ɔ]	'tree'	Laminal denti-alveolar. See Ukrainian phonology
Uzbek[25]		sifatida	[siɸætidæ]	'as'	Laminal denti-alveolar.
Wu		唐/da	[d̪ɑ̃]	'the Tang dynasty'
Zapotec	Tilquiapan[26]	dan	[d̪aŋ]	'countryside'	Laminal denti-alveolar.

Alveolar

Language		Word	IPA	Meaning	Notes
Adyghe		дахэ/daahė	[daːxa]	'pretty'
Assyrian		ܘܪܕܐ werda	[wεrda]	'flower'	Predominant in the Urmia, Jilu, Baz, Gawar and Nochiya dialects. Corresponds to [ð̞] in other varieties.
Bengali		ডাব/ḍab	[d̠ab]	'green coconut'	True alveolar in eastern dialects, apical post-alveolar in western dialects. Usually transcribed in IPA as [ɖ]. See Bengali phonology.
Catalan[27]		susdit	[sʊzˈd̻it̪]	'said before'	Laminal alveolar. See Catalan phonology
Czech		do	[do]	'into'	See Czech phonology
Dutch[28]		dak	[dɑk]	'roof'	See Dutch phonology
English	Most speakers	dash	[ˈdæʃ]	'dash'	See English phonology
Finnish		sidos	[ˈsido̞s]	'bond'	See Finnish phonology
Greek		ντροπή / dropí	[dro̞ˈpi]	'shame'	See Modern Greek phonology
Hebrew		דואר/ do'ar	[ˈdo̞.äʁ̞]	'mail'	See Modern Hebrew phonology
Hmong	White Hmong	𖬈𖬲𖬞𖬰 / dej	[de˥˨]	'water'	In Green Hmong, it'll be 𖬈𖬲𖬭𖬰 / dlej [dle˥˨]
Hungarian		adó	[ˈɒdoː]	'tax'	See Hungarian phonology
Kabardian		дахэ/ daahė	[daːxa]	'pretty'
Khmer		ដប / dab	[dɑp]	'bottle'
Korean		아들 / adeul	[ɐdɯl]	'son'	See Korean phonology
Kurdish	Northern	diran	[dɪɾä:n]	'tooth'	See Kurdish phonology
	Central	ددان/ dadân	[dædä:n]
	Southern	دیان/dîân	[diːä:n]
Luxembourgish[29]		brudder	[ˈb̥ʀudɐ]	'brother'	More often voiceless [t].[29] See Luxembourgish phonology
Malay	Standard (incl. Malaysian)	dahan	[dähän]	'branch'	See Malay phonology
	Indonesian[30]
	Kelantan-Pattani		[dahɛː]		See Kelantan-Pattani Malay
Maltese		dehen	[den]	'wit'
Tagalog		dalaga	[dɐˈlaɰɐ]	'maiden'	See Tagalog phonology
Thai		ดาว/ dāw	[daːw]	'star'
Welsh		diafol	[djavɔl]	'devil'	See Welsh phonology
West Frisian		doarp	[ˈdwɑrp]	'village'
Yi		ꄿ/dda	[da˧]	'competent'
Yonaguni		与那国 / dunan	[dunaŋ]	'Yonaguni'

Variable

Language		Word	IPA	Meaning	Notes
Arabic		دين/dīn	[diːn]	'religion'	Laminal denti-alveolar or alveolar, depending on the dialect. See Arabic phonology.
English	Broad South African[31]	dawn	[doːn]	'dawn'	Laminal denti-alveolar for some speakers, alveolar for other speakers.[31][32][33]
	Scottish[32]		[dɔn]
	Welsh[33]		[dɒːn]
German	Standard[34]	oder	[ˈoːdɐ]ⓘ	'or'	Varies between laminal denti-alveolar, laminal alveolar and apical alveolar.[34] See Standard German phonology
Norwegian	Urban East[35]	dans	[d̻ɑns]	'dance'	Partially voiced or fully voiceless [t]. Varies between laminal denti-alveolar and laminal alveolar.[35] See Norwegian phonology
Persian[36]		اداره/edāre	[edaːre]	'office'	Varies between laminal denti-alveolar and apical alveolar.[36] See Persian phonology
Slovak[37][38]		do	[d̻ɔ̝]ⓘ	'into'	Varies between laminal denti-alveolar and laminal alveolar.[37][38] See Slovak phonology
Swedish	Central Standard[39]	dag	[dɑːɡ]	'day'	Varies between laminal denti-alveolar and alveolar, with the former being predominant.[39] May be an approximant in casual speech. See Swedish phonology

See also

• Index of phonetics articles