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The voiceless dental non-sibilant fricative is a type of Consonant al sound used in some Spoken Language s. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is , and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is T. The IPA symbol is the Greek letter Theta , which is used for this sound in Greek , and the sound is thus often referred to as "theta". It is familiar to English speakers as the 'th' in thing. The dental 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 teeth, as they are with other Dental Consonant s. Many commonly spoken languages, such as German , French , Japanese , and Chinese , lack this sound. Native speakers of those languages sometimes have difficulty enunciating or distinguishing it, and replace it with a Voiceless Alveolar Fricative or a Voiceless Dental Plosive (or even a Voiceless Labiodental Fricative , see Hong Kong English ). FEATURES Features of the voiceless dental fricative:
IN ENGLISH The voiceless dental fricative occurs in English , and it is the sound denoted by the 'th' digraph in ''thing'' and ''bath''. It is different from the sound represented by 'th' in ''this'' and ''the'', which is the Voiced Dental Fricative . In Old English , the letters þ and ð were used interchangeably for this sound and the Voiced Dental Fricative , but they have been dropped from modern usage in favour of the 'th' digraph. Although the same digraph is used for the voiced and voiceless forms, these sounds are not interchangeable in spoken English. ''See also: Pronunciation Of English Th '' OTHER LANGUAGES The voiceless dental fricative is relatively rare among the world's languages. Spanish Peninsular Spanish uses the letter "z" (or "c" before i and e); this is believed to have evolved from an earlier "ts" sound. Dialects in Andalusia and Latin America , however, have changed this sound to /s/. Greek Modern Greek uses the letter θ (''theta''), which was used for the IPA symbol. Albanian Albanian uses the digraph "th"; unlike English, however, "th" is ''not'' used for its voiced counterpart (as in ''this soothes''). Instead, the diagraph "dh" is used for that purpose. Welsh Welsh uses the diagraph "th"; unlike English, however, "th" is ''not'' used for its voiced counterpart (as in ''this soothes''). Instead, the diagraph "dd" is used for that purpose. Icelandic Icelandic uses the letter þ (thorn) for a similar sound, a Voiceless Alveolar Non-sibilant Fricative . Þ is used only if the fricative is the first letter in the word, ð is used otherwise but never as the first letter. Old English used both þ and ð (eth) indiscrimately for both the voiceless and voiced dental fricative; in modern English both were replaced by the diagraph "th". Northern Sami Northern Sami uses the letter ŧ. Hebrew In most vocalizations of modern Hebrew this consonant is not used, but Ancient Hebrew used the letter ת (''thav'' without dagesh. With dagesh it becomes תּ, ''tav'')) for this sound. In several vocalizations, this distinction has been retained (''e.g.'', Teimani ). Arabic Arabic uses the letter "ﺙ" (''theh''). Swahili Swahili have adopted the sound from Arabic in loan words, and spell it "th". Turkmen In Turkmen, /θ/ is spelled with the letter "s", and /ð/ is written with "z". SEE ALSO |
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