Voiced dental and alveolar plosives

Voiced alveolar and dental plosives (or stops) are special sounds used in many spoken languages around the world. In English, the "d" sound in words like "adore" is an example of a voiced alveolar plosive. These sounds are made by briefly stopping airflow with the tongue and then releasing it.

The International Phonetic Alphabet uses the symbol ⟨d⟩ to represent these sounds, and a special mark ⟨d̪⟩ can show when the sound is made with the tongue against the teeth, known as a dental plosive. Only a few languages, such as Kota, Toda, Venda, and some dialects of Irish, make a clear difference between dental and alveolar stops. Learning about these sounds helps us understand how different languages work and how people produce various speech sounds.

Features

Voiced alveolar and dental plosives are sounds made by blocking airflow in the mouth. These sounds are called "stops" because they stop the airflow completely before releasing it. There are three types: dental, denti-alveolar, and alveolar. Dental sounds are made with the tongue near the upper teeth, denti-alveolar sounds use the tongue blade near the ridge behind the teeth, and alveolar sounds are made with the tongue at the ridge behind the teeth.

These sounds are made with the vocal cords vibrating, so they are "voiced." Air does not escape through the nose, and the sound is made by pushing air from the lungs using muscles in the chest and belly.

Occurrence

Voiced dental and alveolar plosives are consonant sounds used in many languages. In English, the "d" sound in words like "adore" is an example of an alveolar plosive. These sounds are represented in the International Phonetic Alphabet with the symbol ⟨d⟩. A special mark, ⟨d̪⟩, can be added to show that the sound is made with the teeth.

A voiced postalveolar plosive, which is a similar but different sound, can be written as ⟨d̠⟩. There are also more complex ways to write this sound using special symbols.