linguistics Linguistics is the scientific study of language. The areas of linguistic analysis are syntax (rules governing the structure of sentences), semantics (meaning), Morphology (linguistics), morphology (structure of words), phonetics (speech sounds ...

, a denti-alveolar consonant or dento-alveolar consonant is a

consonant In articulatory phonetics, a consonant is a speech sound that is articulated with complete or partial closure of the vocal tract, except for the h sound, which is pronounced without any stricture in the vocal tract. Examples are and pronou ...

that is articulated with a flat tongue against the

alveolar ridge The alveolar process () is the portion of bone containing the tooth sockets on the jaw bones (in humans, the maxilla and the mandible). The alveolar process is covered by gums within the mouth, terminating roughly along the line of the mandib ...

and the upper teeth, such as and in languages like French,

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

and

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

. That is, a denti-alveolar consonant is (pre)alveolar and

laminal A laminal consonant is a phone (speech sound) produced by obstructing the air passage with the blade of the tongue, the flat top front surface just behind the tip of the tongue, in contact with upper lip, teeth, alveolar ridge, to possibly, ...

rather than purely dental. Although denti-alveolar consonants are often labeled as " dental" because only the forward contact with the teeth is visible, the point of contact of the tongue that is furthest back is most relevant, as it defines the maximum acoustic space of resonance and gives a characteristic sound to a consonant. In French, the contact that is the furthest back is alveolar or sometimes slightly pre-alveolar. In Spanish, and are laminal denti-alveolar, and and are alveolar, but assimilate to a following or . Similarly, in Italian, , , , are denti-alveolar, and and are alveolar. The

dental click Dental (or more precisely denti-alveolar) clicks are a family of click consonants found, as constituents of words, only in Africa and in the Damin ritual jargon of Australia. In English, the ''tut-tut!'' (British spelling, "tutting") o ...

s are also laminal denti-alveolar.

References

Sources

* * {{IPA navigation Place of articulation Dental consonants Alveolar consonants