Voiceless dental fricative

Voiceless dental fricative
θ
IPA Number	130
Audio sample
source·help
Encoding
Entity(decimal)	θ
Unicode(hex)	U+03B8
X-SAMPA	T
Braille

Thevoiceless dental non-sibilant fricativeis a type ofconsonantalsound used in somespoken languages.It is familiar to English speakers as the 'th' inthink.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 theInternational Phonetic Alphabetthat represents this sound is ⟨θ⟩, and the equivalentX-SAMPAsymbol isT.The IPA symbol is the lowercaseGreeklettertheta,which is used for this sound in post-classicalGreek,and the sound is thus often referred to as "theta".

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

This sound and itsvoiced counterpartare rare phonemes, occurring in 4% of languages in a phonological analysis of 2,155 languages.Among the more than 60 languages with over 10 million speakers, onlyEnglish,northern varieties of theBerber languagesof North Africa, Standard PeninsularSpanish,variousdialects of Arabic,Swahili(in words derived from Arabic), andGreekhave 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 avoiceless alveolar fricative(/s/) (as inIndonesian),voiceless dental stop(/t/), or avoiceless labiodental fricative(/f/); known respectively asth-alveolarization,th-stopping,andth-fronting.

The sound is known to have disappeared from a number of languages, e.g. from most of theGermanic languagesor dialects, where it is retained only inScots,English,andIcelandic,but it isalveolarin the last of these.Among non-GermanicIndo-European languagesas a whole, the sound was also once much more widespread, but is today preserved in a few languages including theBrythonic languages,Peninsular Spanish,Galician,Venetian,Tuscan,Albanian,someOccitandialects andGreek.It has likewise disappeared from many modernvarieties of Arabic(excludingTunisian,Mesopotamian Arabicand various dialects in theArabian Peninsula,as well asModern Standard Arabic).

Features

Features of the voiceless dental non-sibilant fricative:

• Itsmanner of articulationisfricative,which means it is produced by constricting air flow through a narrow channel at the place of articulation, causingturbulence.It does not have the grooved tongue and directed airflow, or the high frequencies, of asibilant.
• Itsplace of articulationisdental,which means it is articulated with either the tip or the blade of the tongue at the upperteeth,termed respectivelyapicalandlaminal.Note that most stops and liquids described as dental are actuallydenti-alveolar.
• Itsphonationis 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 anoral consonant,which means air is allowed to escape through the mouth only.
• It is acentral consonant,which means it is produced by directing the airstream along the center of the tongue, rather than to the sides.
• Theairstream mechanismispulmonic,which means it is articulated by pushing air solely with theintercostal musclesandabdominal muscles,as in most sounds.

Occurrence

Language		Word	IPA	Meaning	Notes
Albanian		thotë	[θɔtə]	'says'
Arabic	Modern Standard	ثَوْب		'a dress'	Represented by⟨ث⟩.SeeArabic phonology.
	Eastern Libya	ثِلاثة	[θɪˈlæːθæ]	'three'
	Sanaa,Yemen	يِثَمَّن	[jɪˈθæmːæn]	'it is priced'
	Iraq	ثمانْية	[θ(ɪ)ˈmæːnjæ]	'eight'
	Khuzestan,Iran	الثانْية	[ɪθˈθæːnjæ]	'the second one'
Aragonese		arbuzo	[arˈbuθo]	'bush'
Arapaho		yoo3on	[jɔːθɔn]	'five'
Arpitan	GenevanandSavoyard	marchiê	[maʁθ'ia]	'market'
	Fribourgeois	èthêla	[e'θɛːla]	'star'
	Valaisan	cllâf	[θo]	'key'	Limited tol'Étivaz(VD),Bourg-Saint-Pierre(VS), and a few other villages.
Assyrian		ܒܝܬܐ bèṭa	[beːθa]	'house'	Mostly used in theWestern,Barwari,Tel Keppe,BatnayaandAlqoshdialects; realized as[t]in other varieties.
Asturian		zusmiu	[ˈθusmju]	'juice'
Avestan		𐬑𐬱𐬀𐬚𐬭𐬀‎xšaθra	[xʃaθra]	'kingdom'	Ancient deadsacred language.
Bashkir		дуҫ/ duθ		'friend'
Berber		Ṯmaziɣṯ	[θmæzɪɣθ]	'Berber (language)'(noun)	This pronunciation is common in northern Morocco, central Morocco, and northern Algeria.
Berta		[θɪ́ŋɑ̀]		'to eat'
Burmese		သုံး/thon:	[θòʊ̯̃]	'three'	Commonly realized as an affricate[t̪͡θ].
Cornish		eth	[ɛθ]	'eight'
Emiliano-Romagnol		fâza	[ˈfaːθɐ]	'face'
English	Received Pronunciation	thin	[θɪn]	'thin'
	Western American				Interdental.
Galician	Most dialects	cero	[ˈθɛɾo]	'zero'	Merges with/s/into[s]in Western dialects.SeeGalician phonology
Greek		θάλασσα	[ˈθalasa]	'sea'	SeeModern Greek phonology
Gweno		[riθo]		'eye'
Gwich’in		thał	[θaɬ]	'pants'
Halkomelem		θqet	[θqet]	'tree'
Hän		nihthän	[nihθɑn]	'I want'
Harsusi		[θəroː]		'two'
Hebrew	Iraqi	עברית	[ʕibˈriːθ]	'Hebrew' (language)	SeeModern Hebrew phonology
	Yemenite		[ʕivˈriːθ]
Hlai	Basadung	[θsio]		'one'
Italian	Tuscan	i capitani	[iˌhäɸiˈθäːni]	'the captains'	Intervocalic allophone of/t/.SeeItalian phonologyandTuscan gorgia
Kabyle		ṯafaṯ	[θafaθ]	'light'(noun)
Karen	Sgaw	သၢ	[θə˧]	'three'
Karuk		yiθa	[jiθa]	'one'
Kickapoo		neθwi	[nɛθwi]	'three'
Kwama		[mɑ̄ˈθíl]		'to laugh'
Leonese		ceru	[θeɾu]	'zero'
Lorediakarkar		[θar]		'four'
Malay		Selasa	[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. SeeMalay phonology.
Massa		[faθ]		'five'
Occitan	Gascon	macipon	[maθiˈpu]	'(male) child'	Limited the sub-dialects of the region of Castillonais, in theAriège department.
	Vivaro-Alpine	chin	[θĩ]	'dog'	Limited to Vénosc, in theI sắc re department.
Old Persian		𐎧𐏁𐎠𐎹𐎰𐎡𐎹xšāyaθiya	[xʃaːjaθija]	'king'	This sound does not occur in modern Persian.
Saanich		TÁŦES	[teθʔəs]	'eight'
Sardinian	Nuorese	petha	[pɛθa]	'meat'
Shark Bay		[θar]		'four'
Shawnee		nthwi	[nθwɪ]	'three'
Sioux	Nakoda	ktusa	[ktũˈθa]	'four'
Spanish	European	cazar	[käˈθ̪͆äɾ]	'to hunt'	Interdental. SeeSpanish phonologyandSeseo.This sound is not contrastive in the Americas, southern Andalusia or the Canary Islands.
	Castilian	pared	[paˈɾeθ]	'wall'	Word-final, especially inMadrid.Corresponds to[ð]in standard Spanish.
Swahili		thamini	[θɑˈmini]	'value'	Mostly occurs in Arabic loanwords originally containing this sound.
Tanacross		thiit	[θiːtʰ]	'embers'
Toda		உஇனபஒத	[wɨnboθ]	'nine'
Tutchone	Northern	tho	[θo]	'pants'
	Southern	thü	[θɨ]
Upland Yuman	Havasupai	[θerap]		'five'
	Hualapai	[θarap]
	Yavapai	[θerapi]
Venetian	Eastern dialects	çinque	[ˈθiŋkwe]	'five'	Corresponds to/s/in other dialects.
Wolaytta		shiththa	[ɕiθθa]	'flower'
Welsh		saith	[saiθ]	'seven'
Zhuang		saw	[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-SAMPA	s_m_d
Image

Thevoiceless denti-alveolar sibilantis the only sibilant fricative in some dialects ofAndalusian Spanish.It has no official symbol in theInternational Phonetic Alphabet,though its features would be transcribed ⟨s̻̪⟩ or ⟨s̪̻⟩ (using the ⟨◌̻⟩, the diacritic marking alaminal consonant,and ⟨◌̪⟩, the diacritic marking adental 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-calleds coronalors planabecause 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:

• Itsmanner of articulationissibilantfricative,which means it is generally produced by channeling air flow along agroovein 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-frequencyturbulence.
• Itsplace of articulationisdenti-alveolar,which means it is articulated with a flat tongue against thealveolar ridgeand upper teeth.
• It is normallylaminal,which means it is pronounced with the blade of the tongue.
• Itsphonationis 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 anoral consonant,which means air is allowed to escape through the mouth only.
• Itsmanner of articulationisfricative,which means it is produced by constricting air flow through a narrow channel at the place of articulation, causingturbulence.
• Theairstream mechanismispulmonic,which means it is articulated by pushing air solely with theintercostal musclesandabdominal muscles,as in most sounds.

Occurrence

Language		Word	IPA	Meaning	Notes
Spanish	Andalusian	casa	[ˈkäs̻̪ä]	'house'	Present in dialects withceceo.SeeSpanish phonology

See also

• Voiced dental fricative
• Voiceless alveolar non-sibilant fricative
• Voiced dental sibilant
• Voiceless alveolar retracted sibilant
• Sibilant consonant#Possible combinations
• Pronunciation of English th
• Index of phonetics topics

References

• Dalbor, John B. (1980), "Observations on Present-Day Seseo and Ceceo in Southern Spain",Hispania,63(1), American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese: 5–19,doi:10.2307/340806,JSTOR340806
• Einhorn, E. (1974),Old French: A Concise Handbook,Cambridge University Press,ISBN0-521-09838-6
• Hall, Robert A. Jr. (1944). "Italian phonemes and orthography".Italica.21(2). American Association of Teachers of Italian: 72–82.doi:10.2307/475860.JSTOR475860.
• Hickey, Raymond (1984), "Coronal Segments in Irish English",Journal of Linguistics,20(2): 233–250,doi:10.1017/S0022226700013876,S2CID145672742
• Ladefoged, Peter(2005),Vowels and Consonants(2nd ed.), Blackwell
• Ladefoged, Peter;Maddieson, Ian(1996).The Sounds of the World's Languages.Oxford: Blackwell.ISBN0-631-19815-6.
• 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 fromthe original(PDF)on 2021-02-25,retrieved2008-11-15
• 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,S2CID145316121
• Regueira, Xosé Luís (1996), "Galician",Journal of the International Phonetic Association,26(2): 119–122,doi:10.1017/s0025100300006162,S2CID241094214
• Thelwall, Robin (1990), "Illustrations of the IPA: Arabic",Journal of the International Phonetic Association,20(2): 37–41,doi:10.1017/S0025100300004266,S2CID243640727
• Versteegh, Kees (2001),The Arabic Language,Columbia University Press,ISBN978-0748614363
• Watkins, Justin W. (2001),"Illustrations of the IPA: Burmese"(PDF),Journal of the International Phonetic Association,31(2): 291–295,doi:10.1017/S0025100301002122,S2CID232344700
• Wells, John C(1982),Accents of English,vol. second,Cambridge:Cambridge University Press,ISBN0-521-24224-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,hdl:10261/265245

External links

• List of languages with[θ]onPHOIBLE
• Discrimination of Unvoiced Fricatives using Machine Learning Methods