Voiceless dental fricative
Consonantal sound represented by ⟨θ⟩ in IPA
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A voiceless dental non-sibilant fricative is a type of consonantal sound used in some spoken languages. It is familiar to most English-speakers as the ⟨th⟩ sound in think.
| Voiceless dental fricative | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| θ | |||
| IPA number | 130 | ||
| Audio sample | |||
| Encoding | |||
| Entity (decimal) | θ | ||
| Unicode (hex) | U+03B8 | ||
| X-SAMPA | T | ||
| Braille |   | ||
| |||
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⟩. The IPA symbol is the lowercase Greek letter theta, which is used for this sound in post-classical Greek, and the sound is thus often referred to as "theta".
Dental non-sibilant fricatives (this sound and its voiced counterpart) 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.
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/, voiceless dental stop /t/, or a voiceless labiodental fricative /f/; known respectively as th-alveolarization, th-stopping,[1] and th-fronting.[2]
These sounds are 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.[3][4] 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 modern vernacular varieties of Arabic, like Egyptian Arabic. Standard Arabic, and various dialects like Mesopotamian Arabic still retain the sound and its voiced counterpart /ð/. Similarly in Spanish, /θ/ is present in the Iberian (peninsular) standard pronunciation of ⟨z, ce, ci⟩, but absent in several dialects of Andalusian, Canarian, and Hispanic America as a whole.
On the other hand, there are a very few languages, including Turkmen and Standard Zhuang, where these sounds have replaced /s/ and are even spelled with ⟨s⟩ or its orthographic equivalent.
Features
Features of a 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 that air is not allowed to escape through the nose.
- It is a median consonant, which means it is produced by directing the airstream down the midline of the tongue, rather than to the sides.
- Its airstream mechanism is pulmonic, which means it is articulated by pushing air only with the intercostal muscles and abdominal muscles, as in most speech sounds.
Occurrence
| Language | Word | IPA | Meaning | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Albanian | thotë | [θɔtə] | 'says' | ||
| Arabic | Modern Standard[5] | ثَوْب | ⓘ | 'a dress' | Represented by ⟨ث⟩. See Arabic phonology. |
| Eastern Libyan | ثِلاثة | [θɪˈlæːθæ] | 'three' | ||
| Sanʽani[6][full citation needed] | يِثَمَّن | [jɪˈθæmːæn] | 'it is priced' | ||
| Iraqi | ثمانْية | [θ(ɪ)ˈmæːnjæ] | 'eight' | ||
| Khuzestani[7] | الثانْية | [ɪθˈθæːnjæ] | 'the second one' | ||
| Aragonese | arbuzo | [arˈbuθo] | 'bush' | ||
| Arapaho | yoo3on | [jɔːθɔn] | 'five' | ||
| Arpitan | Genevan and Savoyard | marchiê | [maʁθˈia] | 'market' | |
| Fribourgeois | èthêla | [eˈθɛːla] | 'star' | ||
| Valaisan | cllâf | [θo] | 'key' | Limited to L'Étivaz (VD), Bourg-Saint-Pierre (VS), and a few other villages. | |
| Assyrian | ܒܝܬܐ bèṭa | [beːθa] | 'house' | Mostly used in the Western, Barwari, Tel Keppe, Batnaya and Alqosh dialects; realized as [t] in other varieties. | |
| Asturian | zusmiu | [ˈθusmju] | 'juice' | ||
| Avestan | 𐬑𐬱𐬀𐬚𐬭𐬀 xšaθra | [xʃaθra] | 'kingdom' | ||
| Bashkir | дуҫ / duθ | ⓘ | 'friend' | ||
| Berber[citation needed] | Ṯmaziɣṯ | [θmæzɪɣθ] | 'Berber' (language) | This pronunciation is common in northern Morocco, central Morocco, and northern Algeria. | |
| Berta | [θɪ́ŋɑ̀] | 'to eat' | |||
| Burmese[8] | သုံး / thon: | [θòʊ̯̃] | 'three' | Commonly realized as an affricate [t̪͡θ].[9] | |
| Bengali | থ়ওয়াব | [θɔwɐb] | ˈreward' | Only occurs in loanwords. See Bengali phonology | |
| Catalan[10] | Most dialects | theta | [ˈθetə] | 'theta' | Can be replaced by /s/ in Spanish names and loanwords. See Catalan phonology |
| Some Aragonese speakers | cinc | [ˈθiŋk] | 'five' | Corresponds to /s/ and /z/ in other varieties. See Catalan phonology | |
| Cornish | eth | [eːθ] | 'eight' | ||
| Emiliano-Romagnol[11] | fâza | [ˈfaːθɐ] | 'face' | ||
| English | Most dialects | thin | ⓘ | 'thin' | See English phonology |
| Galician | Most dialects[12] | cero | [ˈθɛɾʊ] | 'zero' | Merges with /s/ into [s] in Western dialects.[12] See Galician phonology |
| Greek | θάλασσα | [ˈθalasa] | 'sea' | See Modern 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) | See Modern Hebrew phonology |
| Yemenite | [ʕivˈriːθ] | ||||
| Hlai | Basadung | [θsio] | 'one' | ||
| Icelandic | þing | [θiŋk] | 'thing' (assembly) | ||
| Italian | Tuscan[13] | i capitani | [iˌhäɸiˈθäːni] | 'the captains' | Intervocalic allophone of /t/.[13] See Italian phonology and Tuscan 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. See Malay phonology. | |
| Massa | [faθ] | 'five' | |||
| Occitan | Gascon | macipon | [maθiˈpu] | '(male) child' | Limited the sub-dialects of the region of Castillonais, in the Ariège department. |
| Vivaro-Alpine | chin | [θĩ] | 'dog' | Limited to Vénosc, in the Isère department. | |
| Old Persian | 𐎧𐏁𐎠𐎹𐎰𐎡𐎹 xšāyaθiya | [xʃaːjaθija] | 'king' | Does not occur in modern Persian. | |
| Saanich | TÁŦES | [teθʔəs] | 'eight' | ||
| Sardinian | Nuorese | petha | [pɛθa] | 'meat' | |
| Scottish Gaelic | Tayinloan and Jura | sruthan | [θɾuʔan] | 'stream' | Dialectal allophone of /s̪/ before /ɾ/ in certain Argyll dialects. |
| Shark Bay | [θar] | 'four' | |||
| Shawnee | nthwi | [nθwɪ] | 'three' | ||
| Sioux | Nakoda | ktusa | [ktũˈθa] | 'four' | Varies with [s]. |
| Spanish | European[14] | cazar | [käˈθ̪͆äɾ] | 'to hunt' | Interdental. See Spanish phonology and Seseo. This sound is not contrastive in the Americas, southern Andalusia or the Canary Islands. |
| Castilian | pared | [paˈɾeθ] | 'wall' | Word-final, especially in Madrid.[15][16] Corresponds to [ð] in standard Spanish. | |
| Swahili | thamini | [θɑˈmini] | 'value' | Mostly occurs in Arabic loanwords originally containing this sound. | |
| Tanacross | thiit | [θiːtʰ] | 'embers' | ||
| Toda | [wɨnboθ] | 'nine' | |||
| Turkmen | sen | [θɛn] | 'you' | Realization of the /z/ phoneme | |
| 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 dental approximant
| Voiceless dental approximant | |
|---|---|
| θ̞ |
A voiceless dental approximant is a similar sound with less turbulent airflow. It is reported for some dialects of Chilean Spanish. The IPA has no dedicated symbol that represents this sound, but it may be transcribed as ⟨θ̞⟩ (a lowered [θ]), or ⟨θ̞᫈⟩ (a lowered and advanced [θ]) if interdental.
| Language | Word | IPA | Meaning | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Spanish | Chilean[17][18][19] | socito | [θ̞oˈθ̞it̪o] | 'partner/buddy' (dim) | Allophone of /s/; may be either dental [θ̞] or interdental [θ̞᫈]. In variation with numerous other allophones (depending on position) with varying degrees of stigmatization, with up to 15 allophones of /s/ in total: three approximants [θ̞, θ̞᫈, s̞], ten fricatives [θ, θ̟, s, s͎, s̠, z, ɕ, ʂ᫈, h, ɦ], one affricate [ts], and one null phone [∅].[18] |