Voiced dental fricative

A voiced dental fricative is a special consonant sound found in some spoken languages. Many English speakers know this sound as the "th" in the word "father". It is made by placing the tongue between the teeth and making a soft, hissing sound.

The symbol for this sound in the International Phonetic Alphabet is eth, written as ⟨ð⟩. This symbol comes from old alphabets and can stand for either a voiced or unvoiced sound made with the tongue between the teeth. These sounds are often called "interdental" because of how they are made.

This sound is not common in most languages of Europe and Asia. People whose languages do not use this sound often replace it with other sounds, such as the "z" sound, a soft "d", or the "v" sound. However, some languages, like Greek, Bashkir, Turkmen, Modern Standard Arabic, and certain dialects of Hebrew and Assyrian, do use this interesting sound.

Features

The voiced dental fricative is a special sound made when air is pushed through a narrow space near the teeth, creating a soft hissing noise. This sound is made with the tongue close to the teeth and the voice box vibrating to give it sound.

The sound does not let air escape through the nose and is made by using the muscles of the chest and belly to push the air out.

Occurrence

Voiced dental fricative

Dental approximant

The voiced dental fricative is a sound used in some languages. Many English speakers know it as the "th" sound in the word "father". There is a special symbol for this sound, ⟨ð⟩, which comes from old alphabets.