Dental consonant

A dental consonant is a special sound made when the tongue touches the upper teeth. For example, the sounds “th” as in “think” /θ/ and “th” as in “this” /ð/ are dental consonants. These sounds help us say words in some languages.

In many languages, dental consonants are different from similar sounds called alveolar consonants. Alveolar consonants are made when the tongue touches the gum ridge just behind the teeth. Even though they sound similar, these sounds are important for speaking clearly in different languages.

We can see dental consonants written in the Latin script, which is the way we write many languages including English, using letters like t, d, and n. This helps people learn about sounds. In the International Phonetic Alphabet, a special symbol is used to show dental consonants, helping people study sounds across all languages.

Cross-linguistically

Some languages, like Albanian, Irish, and Russian, use sounds made with the tongue near the upper teeth more often. In these languages, certain soft sounds are made closer to the teeth.

Languages such as Sanskrit, Hindustani, and other Indo-Aryan languages have special sounds made with the tongue against the teeth. These sounds can be soft or sharp.

In English, some sounds like "t" and "d" feel a bit like the sounds in these languages.

In Spanish, sounds like "t" and "d" are made a bit further back, close to the teeth and the roof of the mouth. In Italian, these sounds are made in a similar way. In French, these sounds are usually made further back in the mouth.

Occurrence

Dental or denti-alveolar consonants are sounds made when the tongue touches the upper teeth. These sounds are written in a special way using symbols from the International Phonetic Alphabet. Some languages use these sounds more often than others, and they help us understand how different languages work.