Voiceless dental and alveolar plosives

The voiceless alveolar, dental and postalveolar plosives (or stops) are types of consonantal sounds used in almost all spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents voiceless dental, alveolar, and postalveolar plosives is ⟨t⟩, and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is t. The voiceless dental plosive can be distinguished with the underbridge diacritic, ⟨t̪⟩ and the postalveolar with a retraction line, ⟨t̠⟩, and the extIPA has a double underline diacritic which can be used to explicitly specify an alveolar pronunciation, ⟨t͇⟩.

Voiceless alveolar plosive
t
IPA number	103
Audio sample
source · help
Encoding
Entity (decimal)	t
Unicode (hex)	U+0074
X-SAMPA	t
Braille
Image

Voiceless dental plosive
t̪
IPA number	103 408
Audio sample
source · help
Encoding
Entity (decimal)	t​̪
Unicode (hex)	U+0074 U+032A
X-SAMPA	t_d
Braille

The [t] sound is a very common sound cross-linguistically.^[1] Most languages have at least a plain [t], and some distinguish more than one variety. Some languages without a [t] are colloquial Samoan (which also lacks an [n]), Abau, and Nǁng of South Africa.^{[citation needed]}

There are only a few languages which distinguish dental and alveolar stops, Kota, Toda, Venda and many Australian Aboriginal languages being a few of them; certain varieties of Hiberno-English also distinguish them (with [t̪] being the local realisation of the Standard English phoneme /θ/, represented by ⟨th⟩).

Features

Here are features of the voiceless 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 [t]:
  • 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 voiceless, which means it is produced without vibrations of the vocal cords. In some languages the vocal cords are actively separated, so it is always voiceless; in others the cords are lax, so that it may take on the voicing of adjacent sounds.
• 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
t	plain t
t̪	dental t
t̠	postalveolar t
tʰ	aspirated t
tʲ	palatalized t
tʷ	labialized t
t̚	t with no audible release
t̬	voiced t
t͈	tense t
tʼ	ejective t
tˤ	pharyngealized t

Occurrence

Dental or denti-alveolar

Occurrence of [t̪] in various languages

Language		Word	IPA	Meaning	Notes
Aleut[2]		tiistax̂	[t̪iːstaχ]	'dough'	Laminal denti-alveolar.
Armenian	Eastern[3]	տուն	[t̪un]ⓘ	'house'	Laminal denti-alveolar.
Assyrian Neo-Aramaic		ܬܠܬ̱ܐ/ţlo	[t̪lɑ]	'three'
Bashkir		дүрт/dürt	[dʏʷrt]ⓘ	'four'	Laminal denti-alveolar
Belarusian[4]		стагоддзе	[s̪t̪äˈɣod̪d̪͡z̪ʲe]	'century'	Laminal denti-alveolar. See Belarusian phonology
Basque		toki	[t̪oki]	'place'	Laminal denti-alveolar. See Basque phonology
Bengali		তুমি	[t̪umi]	'you'	Laminal denti-alveolar, contrasts with aspirated form. See Bengali phonology
Catalan[5]		terra	[ˈt̪ɛrə]	'land'	Laminal denti-alveolar. See Catalan phonology
Chuvash		ут	[ut]	'horse'
Czech		toto	[ˈt̪ot̪o]	'this'	Laminal denti-alveolar.[6] See Czech phonology
Dinka[7]		mɛth	[mɛ̀t̪]	'child'	Laminal denti-alveolar, contrasts with alveolar /t/.
Dutch	Belgian	taal	[t̪aːl̪]	'language'	Laminal denti-alveolar.
English	Dublin[8]	thin	[t̪ʰɪn]	'thin'	Laminal denti-alveolar.	In Dublin, it may be [t͡θ] instead.	See English phonology.
	Indian					Corresponds to [θ].[8]
	Southern Irish[9]
	Ulster[10]	train	[t̪ɹeːn]	'train'		Allophone of /t/ before /r/, in free variation with an alveolar stop.
Finnish		tutti	[ˈt̪ut̪ːi]	'pacifier'	Laminal denti-alveolar. See Finnish phonology
French[11]		tordu	[t̪ɔʁd̪y]	'crooked'	Laminal denti-alveolar. See French phonology
Hakka[12]		他/ta3	[t̪ʰa˧]	'he/she'	Laminal denti-alveolar, contrasts with an unaspirated form.
Hindustani[13]	Hindi	तीन/tīn	[t̪iːn]	'three'	Laminal denti-alveolar.	Contrasts with aspirated form <थ>.	See Hindustani phonology
	Urdu	تین/tīn				Contrasts with aspirated form <تھ>.
Hmong	White Hmong	𖬆𖬰𖬧𖬵 / tub	[tu˦]	'son', 'boy' or 'male name'
Indonesian[14]		tabir	[t̪abir]	'curtain'	Laminal denti-alveolar.
Italian[15]		tale	[ˈt̪ale]	'such'	Laminal denti-alveolar. See Italian phonology
Japanese[16]		特別/ tokubetsu	[t̪o̞kɯ̟ᵝbe̞t͡sɨᵝ]	'special'	Laminal denti-alveolar. See Japanese phonology
Kashubian[17]		ptôch	[ptɞx]	'bird'	Laminal denti-alveolar.
Kazakh		тұз	[t̪us̪]	'salt'	Laminal denti-alveolar.
Kyrgyz[18]		туз	[t̪us̪]	'salt'	Laminal denti-alveolar.
Latvian[19]		tabula	[ˈt̪äbulä]	'table'	Laminal denti-alveolar. See Latvian phonology
Malayalam		കാത്ത്	[kaːt̪ːɨ̆]	'waiting'	Contrasts /t̪ t ʈ d̪ ɖ/.
Mapudungun[20]		füṯa	[ˈfɘt̪ɜ]	'husband'	Interdental.[20]
Marathi		तबला	[t̪əbˈlaː]	'tabla'	Laminal denti-alveolar, contrasts with aspirated form. See Marathi phonology
Nepali		ताली	[t̪äli]	'clappinɡ'	Contrasts with aspirated form. See Nepali phonology
Nunggubuyu[21]		darag	[t̪aɾaɡ]	'whiskers'	Laminal denti-alveolar.
Odia		ତାରା/tara	[t̪ärä]	'star'	Laminal denti-alveolar, contrasts with aspirated form.
Pazeh[22]		[mut̪apɛt̪aˈpɛh]		'keep clapping'	Dental.
Polish[23]		tom	[t̪ɔm]ⓘ	'volume'	Laminal denti-alveolar. See Polish phonology
Portuguese[24]	Many dialects	montanha	[mõˈt̪ɐɲɐ]	'mountain'	Laminal denti-alveolar. Likely to have allophones among native speakers, as it may affricate to [tʃ], [tɕ] and/or [ts] in certain environments. See Portuguese phonology
Punjabi		ਤੇਲ/تیل	[t̪eːl]	'oil'	Laminal denti-alveolar.
Russian[25]		толстый	[ˈt̪ʷo̞ɫ̪s̪t̪ɨ̞j]	'fat'	Laminal denti-alveolar. See Russian phonology
Scottish Gaelic[26]		taigh	[t̪ʰɤj]	'house'	Apical dental. Contrasts between aspirated and unaspirated forms.
Serbo-Croatian[27]		туга/tuga	[t̪ǔːgä]	'sorrow'	Laminal denti-alveolar. See Serbo-Croatian phonology
Sinhala		අත	[at̪ə]	'hand'
Slovene[28]		tip	[ˈt̪îːp]	'type'	Laminal denti-alveolar. See Slovene phonology
Slovak		toto	[ˈt̪ot̪o]	'this'	Laminal denti-alveolar. See Slovak phonology
Somali		matag	[mat̪ag]	'vomit'	Dentalization of alveolar plosive.
Spanish[29]		tango	[ˈt̪ãŋɡo̞]	'tango'	Laminal denti-alveolar. See Spanish phonology
Swedish[30]		tåg	[ˈt̪ʰoːɡ]	'train'	Laminal denti-alveolar. See Swedish phonology
Telugu		తప్పు	[t̪apːu]	'wrong'	Contrasts between aspirated and unaspirated forms.
Turkish		at	[ät̪]	'horse'	Laminal denti-alveolar. See Turkish phonology
Ukrainian[31][32]		брат	[brɑt̪]	'brother'	Laminal denti-alveolar. See Ukrainian phonology
Uzbek[33]		[example needed]	–		Laminal denti-alveolar. Slightly aspirated before vowels.[33]
Vietnamese[34]		tuần	[t̪wən˨˩]	'week'	Laminal denti-alveolar, contrasts with aspirated form. See Vietnamese phonology
Zapotec	Tilquiapan[35]	tant	[t̪ant̪]	'so much'	Laminal denti-alveolar.

Alveolar

Occurrence of [t] in various languages

Language		Word	IPA	Meaning	Notes
Adyghe		тфы	[tfə]ⓘ	'five'
Arabic	Egyptian	توكة/tōka	[ˈtoːkæ]	'barrette'	See Egyptian Arabic phonology
Assyrian		ܒܝܬܐ/bèta	[beːta]	'house'	Most speakers. In the Tyari, Barwari and Southern dialects θ is used.
Cantonese		跌/dit	[ti:t̚˧]	'fall' (v.)	See Cantonese Phonology
		鐵/鉄/tit	[tʰi:t̚˧]	'iron'
Chechen		тарсал/tarsal	[tɑːrsəl]	'squirrel'
Danish	Standard[36]	dåse	[ˈtɔ̽ːsə]	'can' (n.)	Usually transcribed in IPA with ⟨d̥⟩ or ⟨d⟩. Contrasts with the affricate [t͡s] or aspirated stop [tʰ] (depending on the dialect), which are usually transcribed in IPA with ⟨tˢ⟩ or ⟨t⟩.[37] See Danish phonology
Dutch[38]		taal	[taːɫ]	'language'	See Dutch phonology
English	Most speakers	tick	[tʰɪk]ⓘ	'tick'	See English phonology
	New York[39]				Varies between apical and laminal, with the latter being predominant.[39]
Hebrew		תמונה	[tmuˈna]	'image'	see Modern Hebrew phonology
Hungarian[40]		tutaj	[ˈtutɒj]	'raft'	See Hungarian phonology
Kabardian		тхуы	[txʷə]ⓘ	'five'
Khmer		តែ/tê	[tae]	'tea'	See Khmer phonology
Korean		대숲/daesup	[tɛsup̚]	'bamboo forest'	See Korean phonology
Kurdish	Northern	tu	[tʰʊ]	'you'	See Kurdish phonology
	Central	تەوێڵ	[tʰəweːɫ]	'forehead'
	Southern	تێوڵ	[tʰeːwɨɫ]
Luxembourgish[41]		dënn	[tən]	'thin'	Less often voiced [d]. It is usually transcribed /d/, and it contrasts with voiceless aspirated form, which is usually transcribed /t/.[41] See Luxembourgish phonology
Malayalam		കാറ്റ്	[kaːtːɨ̆]	'wind'	Contrasts /t̪ t ʈ d̪ ɖ/.
Maltese		tassew	[tasˈsew]	'true'
Mandarin		地/dì	[ti˥˩]	'ground'	See Mandarin Phonology
		梯/tī	[tʰi˥˥]	'ladder/stairs'
Mapudungun[20]		füta	[ˈfɘtɜ]	'elderly'
Nunggubuyu[21]		darawa	[taɾawa]	'greedy'
Nuosu[which?]		ꄉ/da	[ta˧]	'place'	Contrasts aspirated and unaspirated forms
Portuguese[42]	Some dialects	troço	[ˈtɾɔsu]	'thing' (pejorative)	Allophone before alveolar /ɾ/. In other dialects /ɾ/ takes a denti-alveolar allophone instead. See Portuguese phonology
Tagalog		matamis	[mɐtɐˈmis]	'sweet'	See Tagalog phonology
Thai		ตา/ta	[taː˧]	'eye'	Contrasts with an aspirated form.
West Frisian		tosk	[ˈtosk]	'tooth'	See West Frisian phonology

Postalveolar

Occurrence of [t̠]

Language	Word	IPA	Meaning	Notes
Yele	dêê	[t̠əː]	'tongue'	Contrasts /t̪ t̪͡p t̪ʲ t̠ t̠͡p t̠ʲ/.

Variable

Occurrence of a voiceless plosive variable between alveolar and dental positions

Language		Word	IPA	Meaning	Notes
Arabic	Modern Standard	تين‎/tīn	[tiːn]	'fig'	Laminal denti-alveolar or alveolar, depending on the speaker's native dialect. See Arabic phonology
English	Broad South African[43]	talk	[toːk]	'talk'	Laminal denti-alveolar for some speakers, alveolar for other speakers.[43][44][45]
	Scottish[44]		[tʰɔk]
	Welsh[45]		[tʰɒːk]
German	Standard[46]	Tochter	[ˈtɔxtɐ]	'daughter'	Varies between laminal denti-alveolar, laminal alveolar and apical alveolar.[46] See Standard German phonology
Greek[47]		τρία tria	[ˈtɾiä]	'three'	Varies between dental, laminal denti-alveolar and alveolar, depending on the environment.[47] See Modern Greek phonology
Malay		تڠکڤ/tangkap	[t̪äŋ.käp̚]	'catch'	More commonly dental. Often unreleased in syllable codas. See Malay phonology
Norwegian	Urban East[48]	dans	[t̻ɑns]	'dance'	Varies between laminal denti-alveolar and laminal alveolar. It is usually transcribed /d/. It may be partially voiced [d̥], and it contrasts with voiceless aspirated form, which is usually transcribed /t/.[48] See Norwegian phonology
Persian[49]		توت	[t̪ʰuːt̪ʰ]	'berry'	Varies between laminal denti-alveolar and apical alveolar.[49] See Persian phonology
Slovak[50][51]		to	[t̻ɔ̝]	'that'	Varies between laminal denti-alveolar and laminal alveolar.[50][51] See Slovak phonology

See also

• Index of phonetics articles