Voiceless dental fricative

The voiceless alveolar stop is a type of consonant. The letter for this sound in the International Phonetic Alphabet is ⟨θ⟩. The X-SAMPA symbol for this sound is ⟨T⟩. The English language has this sound, and it is the sound represented by the "th" in thing and thanks.

Voiceless dental fricative
θ
IPA number	130
Encoding
Entity (decimal)	θ
Unicode (hex)	U+03B8
X-SAMPA	T
Kirshenbaum	T
Sound

Features

• The airstream mechanism is pulmonic. It means that we produce this sound by pushing air solely with the lungs and diaphragm, as in most sounds.
• Its phonation is voiceless. It means that we produce this sound 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.
• We produce it at dental. It means that we produce this sound with the tongue at the upper teeth, the lower teeth, or both the upper teeth and the lower teeth. (Many stops and liquids that we say it is dental consonants are actually denti-alveolar consonants.)
• Its behavior is fricative. It means that we produce this sound by constricting air flow through a narrow channel at the place of articulation, to make turbulence.

Examples

Language		Word	IPA	Meaning
Albanian		thotë	[θɔtə]	'says'
Arabic	Modern Standard	ثَوْب	[θawb]	'a dress'
	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'
Arapaho		yoo3on	[jɔːθɔn]	'five'
Assyrian		ܒܝܬܐ bèṭa	[beːθa]	'house'
Avestan		𐬑𐬱𐬀𐬚𐬭𐬀‎ xšaθra	[xʃaθra]	'kingdom'
Bashkir		дуҫ / duθ	[duθ]	'friend'
Berber		Ṯmaziɣṯ	[θmæzɪɣθ]	'Berber (language)'(noun)
Berta		[θɪ́ŋɑ̀]		'to eat'
Burmese		သုံး / thon:	[θòʊ̯̃]	'three'
Catalan		theta	[ˈθetɐ]	'theta'
Cornish		eth	[ɛθ]	'eight'
Emiliano-Romagnol		fâza	[ˈfaːθɐ]	'face'
English	Received Pronunciation	thin	[θɪn]	'thin'
	Western American English		[θ̪͆ɪn]
Galician	Most dialects	cero	[ˈθɛɾo]	'zero'
Greek		θάλασσα	[ˈθalasa]	'sea'
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'
	Yemenite		[ʕivˈriːθ]
Hlai	Basadung	[θsio]		'one'
Icelandic		það	[θaːð]	'that'
Italian	Tuscan	i capitani	[iˌhäɸiˈθäːni]	'the captains'
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'
Massa		[faθ]		'five'
Occitan	Gascon	macipon	[maθiˈpu]	'(male) child'
	Vivaro-Alpine	chin	[θĩ]	'dog'
Early Old French		améṭ	[aˈmeːθ]	'loved, beloved (masculine)'
Old Persian		𐏋 XŠ / xšāyaθiya	[xʃaːjaθija]	'Shah'
Saanich		TÁŦES	[teθʔəs]	'eight'
Sardinian	Nuorese	petha	[pɛθa]	'meat'
Shark Bay		[θar]		'four'
Shawnee		nthwi	[nθwɪ]	'three'
Sioux	Nakoda	ktusa	[ktũˈθa]	'four'
Spanish	European Spanish	cazar	[käˈθ̪͆är]	'to hunt'
Swahili		thamini	[θɑˈmini]	'value'
Tanacross		thiit	[θiːtʰ]	'embers'
Toda		உஇனபஒத	[wɨnboθ]	'nine'
Turkmen		sekiz	[θekið]	'eight'
Tutchone	Northern	tho	[θo]	'pants'
	Southern	thü	[θɨ]
Upland Yuman	Havasupai	[θerap]		'five'
	Hualapai	[θarap]
	Yavapai	[θerapi]
Venetian	Eastern dialects	çinque	[ˈθiŋkwe]	'five'
Wolaytta		shiththa	[ɕiθθa]	'flower'
Welsh		saith	[saiθ]	'seven'
Zhuang		saw	[θaːu˨˦]	'language'
Zotung	Standard dialect of Lungngo	kacciade	[kəˈθʲaːðɛ]	'I go'

References

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