Voiceless dental fricative

The voiceless dental non-sibilant fricative is a type of consonantal sound used in some spoken languages. It is familiar to English speakers as the 'th' in think. Though rather rare as a phoneme among the world's languages, it is encountered in some of the most widespread and influential ones. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is ⟨θ⟩, and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is T. The IPA symbol is the Greek letter theta, which is used for this sound in post-classical Greek, and the sound is thus often referred to as "theta".

Voiceless dental fricative
θ
IPA Number130
Audio sample
source · help
Encoding
Entity (decimal)θ
Unicode (hex)U+03B8
X-SAMPAT
Braille⠨ (braille pattern dots-46) ⠹ (braille pattern dots-1456)

The dental non-sibilant fricatives are often called "interdental" because they are often produced with the tongue between the upper and lower teeth, and not just against the back of the upper or lower teeth, as they are with other dental consonants.

This sound and its voiced counterpart are rare phonemes, occurring in 4% of languages in a phonological analysis of 2,155 languages.[1] Among the more than 60 languages with over 10 million speakers, only English, northern varieties of the Berber language of North Africa, Standard Peninsular Spanish, various dialects of Arabic, Swahili (in words derived from Arabic), and Greek have the voiceless dental non-sibilant fricative. Speakers of languages and dialects without the sound sometimes have difficulty producing or distinguishing it from similar sounds, especially if they have had no chance to acquire it in childhood, and typically replace it with a voiceless alveolar fricative (/s/) (as in Indonesian), voiceless dental stop (/t/), or a voiceless labiodental fricative (/f/); known respectively as th-alveolarization, th-stopping,[2] and th-fronting.[3]

The sound is known to have disappeared from a number of languages, e.g. from most of the Germanic languages or dialects, where it is retained only in Scots, English, and Icelandic, but it is alveolar in the last of these.[4][5] Among non-Germanic Indo-European languages as a whole, the sound was also once much more widespread, but is today preserved in a few languages including the Brythonic languages, Peninsular Spanish, Galician, Venetian, Tuscan, Albanian, some Occitan dialects and Greek. It has likewise disappeared from many Semitic languages, such as Hebrew (excluding Yemenite Hebrew) and many modern varieties of Arabic (excluding Tunisian, Mesopotamian Arabic and various dialects in the Arabian Peninsula, as well as Modern Standard Arabic).

Features

Features of the voiceless dental non-sibilant fricative:

  • Its manner of articulation is fricative, which means it is produced by constricting air flow through a narrow channel at the place of articulation, causing turbulence. It does not have the grooved tongue and directed airflow, or the high frequencies, of a sibilant.
  • Its place of articulation is 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. Note that most stops and liquids described as dental are actually denti-alveolar.
  • 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.
  • The airstream mechanism is pulmonic, which means it is articulated by pushing air solely with the intercostal muscles and diaphragm, as in most sounds.

Occurrence
LanguageWordIPAMeaningNotes
Albanianthotë[θɔtə]'says'
ArabicModern Standard[6]ثَوْب[θawb]ⓘ'a dress'Represented by ⟨ث⟩. See Arabic phonology.
Eastern Libyaثِلاثة[θɪˈlæːθæ]'three'
Sanaa, Yemen[7]يِثَمَّن[jɪˈθæmːæn]'it is priced'
Iraqثمانْية[θ(ɪ)ˈmæːnjæ]'eight'
Khuzestan, Iran[8]الثانْية[ɪθˈθæːnjæ]'the second one'
Aragonesearbuzo[arˈbuθo]'bush'
Arapahoyoo3on[jɔːθɔn]'five'
ArpitanGenevan and Savoyardmarchiê[maʁθ'ia]'market'
Fribourgeoisèthêla[e'θɛːla]'star'
Valaisanclâf[θo]'key'Limited to l'Étivaz (VD), Bourg-Saint-Pierre (VS), and a few other villages.
Assyrianܒܝܬܐ bèṭa[beːθa]'house'Mostly used in the Western, Barwari, Tel Keppe, Batnaya and Alqosh dialects; realized as [t] in other varieties.
Asturianzumu[ˈθumu]'juice'
Avestan𐬑𐬱𐬀𐬚𐬭𐬀‎ xšaθra[xʃaθra]'kingdom'Ancient dead sacred language.
Bashkir дуҫ / duθ [duθ]ⓘ 'friend'
BerberṮmaziɣṯ[θmæzɪɣθ]'Berber (language)'(noun)This pronunciation is common in northern Morocco, central Morocco, and northern Algeria.
Berta[θɪ́ŋɑ̀]'to eat'
Burmese[9]သုံး / thon:[θòʊ̯̃]'three'Commonly realized as an affricate [t̪͡θ].[10]
Cornisheth[ɛθ]'eight'
Emiliano-Romagnol[11]fâza[ˈfaːθɐ]'face'
English Received Pronunciation[12] thin [θɪn] 'thin'
Western American [θ̪͆ɪn]ⓘ Interdental.[12]
GalicianMost dialects[13]cero[ˈθɛɾo]'zero'Merges with /s/ into [s] in Western dialects.[13] See Galician phonology
Greekθάλασσα[ˈθalasa]'sea'See Modern Greek phonology
Gweno[riθo]'eye'
Gwich’inthał[θaɬ]'pants'
Halkomelemθqet[θqet]'tree'
Hännihthän[nihθɑn]'I want'
Harsusi[θəroː]'two'
HebrewIraqiעברית[ʕibˈriːθ]'Hebrew' (language)See Modern Hebrew phonology
Yemenite[ʕivˈriːθ]
HlaiBasadung[θsio]'one'
ItalianTuscan[14]i capitani[iˌhäɸiˈθäːni]'the captains'Intervocalic allophone of /t/.[14] See Italian phonology and Tuscan gorgia
Kabyleṯafaṯ[θafaθ]'light'(noun)
KarenSgawသၢ[θə˧]'three'
Karukyiθa[jiθa]'one'
Kickapooneθwi[nɛθwi]'three'
Kwama[mɑ̄ˈθíl]'to laugh'
Leoneseceru[θeɾu]'zero'
Lorediakarkar[θar]'four'
MalaySelasa[θəlaθa]'Tuesday'Mostly occurs in Arabic loanwords originally containing this sound, but the writing is not distinguished from the Arabic loanwords with the [s] sound and this sound must be learned separately by the speakers. See Malay phonology.
Massa[faθ]'five'
OccitanGasconmacipon[maθiˈpu]'(male) child'Limited the sub-dialects of the region of Castillonais, in the Ariège department.
Vivaro-Alpinechin[θĩ]'dog'Limited to Vénosc, in the Isère department.
SaanichTÁŦES[teθʔəs]'eight'
SardinianNuoresepetha[pɛθa]'meat'
Shark Bay[θar]'four'
Shawneenthwi[nθwɪ]'three'
SiouxNakodaktusa[ktũˈθa]'four'
SpanishEuropean[15]cazar[käˈθ̪͆äɾ]'to hunt'Interdental. See Spanish phonology and Seseo. This sound is not contrastive in the Americas, southern Andalusia or the Canary Islands.
Castilianpared[paˈɾeθ]'wall'Word-final, especially in Madrid.[16][17] Corresponds to [ð] in standard Spanish.
Swahilithamini[θɑˈmini]'value'Mostly occurs in Arabic loanwords originally containing this sound.
Tanacrossthiit[θiːtʰ]'embers'
Todaஉஇனபஒத[wɨnboθ]'nine'
TutchoneNortherntho[θo]'pants'
Southernthü[θɨ]
Upland YumanHavasupai[θerap]'five'
Hualapai[θarap]
Yavapai[θerapi]
VenetianEastern dialectsçinque[ˈθiŋkwe]'five'Corresponds to /s/ in other dialects.
Wolayttashiththa[ɕiθθa]'flower'
Welshsaith[saiθ]'seven'
Zhuangsaw[θaːu˨˦]'language'
Zotung Standard dialect of Lungngo kacciade [kəˈθʲaːðɛ]'I go' Realized as [sʲ] and [t] in Aikap and other Northern dialects. It can also be voiced depending on the preceding consonant.

Voiceless denti-alveolar sibilant
Voiceless denti-alveolar sibilant
s̻̪
s̪̻
s̟
Encoding
X-SAMPAs_m_d

The voiceless denti-alveolar sibilant is the only sibilant fricative in some dialects of Andalusian Spanish. It has no official symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet, though its features would be transcribed ⟨s̻̪⟩ or ⟨s̪̻⟩ (using the ⟨◌̻⟩, the diacritic marking a laminal consonant, and ⟨◌̪⟩, the diacritic marking a dental consonant). It is usually represented by an ad-hoc symbol such as ⟨s̄⟩, ⟨θˢ̣⟩, or ⟨s̟⟩ (advanced diacritic).

Dalbor (1980) describes this sound as follows: "[s̄] is a voiceless, corono-dentoalveolar groove fricative, the so-called s coronal or s plana because of the relatively flat shape of the tongue body.... To this writer, the coronal [s̄], heard throughout Andalusia, should be characterized by such terms as "soft," "fuzzy," or "imprecise," which, as we shall see, brings it quite close to one variety of /θ/ ... Canfield has referred, quite correctly, in our opinion, to this [s̄] as "the lisping coronal-dental," and Amado Alonso remarks how close it is to the post-dental [θ̦], suggesting a combined symbol [θˢ̣] to represent it".

Features

Features of the voiceless denti-alveolar sibilant:

  • Its manner of articulation is sibilant fricative, which means it is generally produced by channeling air flow along a groove in the back of the tongue up to the place of articulation, at which point it is focused against the sharp edge of the nearly clenched teeth, causing high-frequency turbulence.
  • Its place of articulation is denti-alveolar, which means it is articulated with a flat tongue against the alveolar ridge and upper teeth.
  • It is normally laminal, which means it is pronounced with the blade of the tongue.[18]
  • 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.
  • Its manner of articulation is fricative, which means it is produced by constricting air flow through a narrow channel at the place of articulation, causing turbulence.
  • The airstream mechanism is pulmonic, which means it is articulated by pushing air solely with the intercostal muscles and diaphragm, as in most sounds.

Occurrence
LanguageWordIPAMeaningNotes
SpanishAndalusian[18]casa[ˈkäs̻̪ä]'house'Present in dialects with ceceo. See Spanish phonology

See also

Notes
  1. Phoible.org. (2018). PHOIBLE Online - Segments. [online] Available at: http://phoible.org/parameters.
  2. Wells (1982:565–66, 635)
  3. Wells (1982:96–97, 328–30, 498, 500, 553, 557–58, 635)
  4. Pétursson (1971:?), cited in Ladefoged & Maddieson (1996:145)
  5. Ladefoged & Maddieson (1996:144–145)
  6. Thelwall (1990:37)
  7. [[#CITEREF|]]:224)
  8. Versteegh (2001:159)
  9. Watkins (2001:291–292)
  10. Watkins (2001:292)
  11. Fig. 11 La zeta bolognese (in Italian)
  12. Ladefoged & Maddieson (1996), p. 143.
  13. Regueira (1996:119–120)
  14. Hall (1944:75)
  15. Martínez-Celdrán, Fernández-Planas & Carrera-Sabaté (2003:255)
  16. García Mouton & Molina Martos (2016:283–296)
  17. Molina Martos (2016:347–367)
  18. Dalbor (1980:9)

References
  • Dalbor, John B. (1980), "Observations on Present-Day Seseo and Ceceo in Southern Spain", Hispania, American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese, 63 (1): 5–19, doi:10.2307/340806, JSTOR 340806
  • Einhorn, E. (1974), Old French: A Concise Handbook, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 0-521-09838-6
  • Hall, Robert A. Jr. (1944). "Italian phonemes and orthography". Italica. American Association of Teachers of Italian. 21 (2): 72–82. doi:10.2307/475860. JSTOR 475860.
  • Hickey, Raymond (1984), "Coronal Segments in Irish English", Journal of Linguistics, 20 (2): 233–250, doi:10.1017/S0022226700013876, S2CID 145672742
  • Ladefoged, Peter (2005), Vowels and Consonants (2nd ed.), Blackwell
  • Ladefoged, Peter; Maddieson, Ian (1996). The Sounds of the World's Languages. Oxford: Blackwell. ISBN 978-0-631-19815-4.
  • Marotta, Giovanna; Barth, Marlen (2005), "Acoustic and sociolingustic aspects of lenition in Liverpool English" (PDF), Studi Linguistici e Filologici Online, 3 (2): 377–413, archived from the original (PDF) on 2021-02-25, retrieved 2008-11-15
  • Martínez-Celdrán, Eugenio; Fernández-Planas, Ana Ma.; Carrera-Sabaté, Josefina (2003), "Castilian Spanish", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 33 (2): 255–259, doi:10.1017/S0025100303001373
  • Pétursson, Magnus (1971), "Étude de la réalisation des consonnes islandaises þ, ð, s, dans la prononciation d'un sujet islandais à partir de la radiocinématographie", Phonetica, 33 (4): 203–216, doi:10.1159/000259344, S2CID 145316121
  • Regueira, Xosé Luís (1996), "Galician", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 26 (2): 119–122, doi:10.1017/s0025100300006162, S2CID 241094214
  • Thelwall, Robin (1990), "Illustrations of the IPA: Arabic", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 20 (2): 37–41, doi:10.1017/S0025100300004266, S2CID 243640727
  • Versteegh, Kees (2001), The Arabic Language, Columbia University Press, ISBN 978-0748614363
  • Watkins, Justin W. (2001), "Illustrations of the IPA: Burmese" (PDF), Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 31 (2): 291–295, doi:10.1017/S0025100301002122, S2CID 232344700
  • Wells, John C (1982), Accents of English, vol. second, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, ISBN 0-521-24224-X
  • Molina Martos, Isabel (December 2016), "Variación de la -/d/ final de palabra en Madrid: ¿prestigio abierto o encubierto?", Boletín de filología (in Spanish), 51 (2): 347–367, doi:10.4067/S0718-93032016000200013
  • García Mouton, Pilar; Molina Martos, Isabel (1 January 2016), "La –/d/ final en el atlas dialectal de Madrid (ADIM): un cambio en marcha", Lapurdum (in Spanish) (19): 283–296, doi:10.4000/lapurdum.3375
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