Voiceless dental and alveolar trills

Voiceless dental and alveolar trills are special sounds used in some languages. These sounds are made by moving the tongue against the teeth or the roof of the mouth, but without using the voice box. This makes them different from the more common “r” sound in many languages.

These sounds are found in only a few languages and usually appear with a voiced version of the same sound. One example comes from very old times. In Proto-Indo-European, an early language that many modern languages come from, a sound written as *sr changed over time. In Ancient Greek, this sound was written as ⟨ῥ⟩, using the letter for /r/ with a special mark showing a breathy sound /h/. Scholars believe this was a voiceless alveolar trill and it often appeared at the start of words that began with /r/ in Attic Greek. However, this special sound is no longer used in Modern Greek.

An example of this change is seen in the word from Proto-Indo-European *srew-, which became the Ancient Greek word ῥέω, meaning “flow”. This word likely sounded like [r̥é.ɔː], showing the voiceless trill sound at the beginning.

Features

The voiceless alveolar trill is a special sound made when air moves over a part of the mouth to create a vibrating effect. This sound is made either behind the upper front teeth, at the ridge behind the teeth, or just behind that ridge, usually using the tip of the tongue.

Unlike some sounds, this one is made without the vocal cords shaking. It is an oral sound, meaning the air does not escape through the nose, and the air is pushed out using muscles in the chest and belly.

Occurrence

Voiceless dental and alveolar trills are special sounds we make when we speak. They are like the “r” sound but we make them without using our voice. These sounds are only found in a few languages and they usually come with a version that uses the voice.

Voiceless alveolar fricive trill

See also: Voiced alveolar fricive trill

A voiceless alveolar fricive trill is a special sound that is not used as a main sound in any language. It might appear in a special form of a language from a place called East Sakhalin. It can also be heard in Czech when certain sounds are made together.

Features

Here are some facts about this sound:

• It is made by rubbing the tongue against the top of the mouth in a special way.
• It is made without using the voice, so it sounds quiet and hissy, like air being let out.
• The air is pushed out only through the mouth, not the nose.
• The sound uses muscles in the chest and belly to push the air out.