Denti-alveolar

In linguistics, a denti-alveolar consonant is a consonant that is articulated with a flat tongue against the alveolar ridge and upper teeth, such as IPA|/t/ and IPA|/d/ (but not IPA|/l/ or IPA|/n/) in languages such as Spanish and French. That is, a denti-alveolar consonant is one that is alveolar and laminal.

Although denti-alveolar consonants are often labeled as "dental", because only the forward contact with the teeth is visible, it is the rear-most point of contact of the tongue that is most relevant, for this is what defines the maximum acoustic space of resonance and will give a consonant its characteristic sound. [SOWL]

In the case of French, the rear-most contact is alveolar or sometimes slightly pre-alveolar. Spanish IPA|/t/ and IPA|/d/ are laminal denti-alveolar, [Harvcoltxt|Martínez-Celdrán et al|2003|p=257] while IPA|/l/ and IPA|/n/ are alveolar (though they assimilate to a following IPA|/t/ or IPA|/d/). Similarly, Italian IPA|/t/, IPA|/d/, IPA|/t͡s/, IPA|/d͡z/ are denti-alveolar, while IPA|/l/ and IPA|/n/ are alveolar. [Harvcoltxt|Rogers|d'Arcangeli|2004|p=117]

The dental clicks are also laminal dental or alveolar.

References