# Voiceless dental and alveolar plosives

The voiceless alveolar, dental and postalveolar plosives (or stops) are types of consonantal sounds used in almost all spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents voiceless dental, alveolar, and postalveolar plosives is ⟨t⟩, and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is t. The voiceless dental plosive can be distinguished with the underbridge diacritic, ⟨t̪⟩ and the postalveolar with a retraction line, ⟨t̠⟩, and the extIPA has a double underline diacritic which can be used to explicitly specify an alveolar pronunciation, ⟨t͇⟩.
The [t] sound is a very common sound cross-linguistically. Most languages have at least a plain [t], and some distinguish more than one variety. Some languages without a [t] are colloquial Samoan (which also lacks an [n]), Abau, and Nǁng of South Africa.
There are only a few languages which distinguish dental and alveolar stops, Kota, Toda, Venda and many Australian Aboriginal languages being a few of them; certain varieties of Hiberno-English also distinguish them (with [t̪] being the local realisation of the Standard English phoneme /θ/, represented by ⟨th⟩).

## Features

Here are features of the voiceless alveolar stop:
* Its manner of articulation is occlusive, which means it is produced by obstructing airflow in the vocal tract. Since the consonant is also oral, with no nasal outlet, the airflow is blocked entirely, and the consonant is a plosive.
* There are three specific variants of [t]:
** 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.
** Denti-alveolar, which means it is articulated with the blade of the tongue at the alveolar ridge, and the tip of the tongue behind upper teeth.
** Alveolar, which means it is articulated with either the tip or the blade of the tongue at the alveolar ridge, termed respectively apical and laminal.
* 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 air is allowed to escape through the mouth only.
* It is a central consonant, which means it is produced by directing the airstream along the center of the tongue, rather than to the sides.
* Its airstream mechanism is pulmonic, which means it is articulated by pushing air solely with the intercostal muscles and abdominal muscles, as in most sounds.

## Varieties

| IPA | Description |
| t | plain t |
| t̪ | dental t |
| t̠ | postalveolar t |
| tʰ | aspirated t |
| tʲ | palatalized t |
| tʷ | labialized t |
| t̚ | t with no audible release |
| t̬ | voiced t |
| t͈ | tense t |
| tʼ | ejective t |
| tˤ | pharyngealized t |

## Occurrence
### Dental or denti-alveolar

Occurrence of [t̪] in various languages :
| Language | Language | Word | IPA | Meaning | Notes | Notes | Notes |
| Aleut | Aleut | tiistax̂ | [t̪iːstaχ] | 'dough' | Laminal denti-alveolar. | Laminal denti-alveolar. | Laminal denti-alveolar. |
| Armenian | Eastern | տուն | | 'house' | Laminal denti-alveolar. | Laminal denti-alveolar. | Laminal denti-alveolar. |
| Assyrian Neo-Aramaic | Assyrian Neo-Aramaic | ܬܠܬ̱ܐ/ţlo | [t̪lɑ] | 'three' | | | |
| Bashkir | Bashkir | дүрт/dürt | | 'four' | Laminal denti-alveolar | Laminal denti-alveolar | Laminal denti-alveolar |
| Belarusian | Belarusian | стагоддзе | [s̪t̪äˈɣod̪d̪͡z̪ʲe] | 'century' | Laminal denti-alveolar. See Belarusian phonology | Laminal denti-alveolar. See Belarusian phonology | Laminal denti-alveolar. See Belarusian phonology |
| Basque | Basque | toki | [t̪oki] | 'place' | Laminal denti-alveolar. See Basque phonology | Laminal denti-alveolar. See Basque phonology | Laminal denti-alveolar. See Basque phonology |
| Bengali | Bengali | তুমি | [t̪umi] | 'you' | Laminal denti-alveolar, contrasts with aspirated form. See Bengali phonology | Laminal denti-alveolar, contrasts with aspirated form. See Bengali phonology | Laminal denti-alveolar, contrasts with aspirated form. See Bengali phonology |
| Catalan | Catalan | terra | [ˈt̪ɛrə] | 'land' | Laminal denti-alveolar. See Catalan phonology | Laminal denti-alveolar. See Catalan phonology | Laminal denti-alveolar. See Catalan phonology |
| Chuvash | Chuvash | ут | [ut] | 'horse' | | | |
| Czech | Czech | toto | [ˈt̪ot̪o] | 'this' | Laminal denti-alveolar. See Czech phonology | Laminal denti-alveolar. See Czech phonology | Laminal denti-alveolar. See Czech phonology |
| Dinka | Dinka | mɛth | [mɛ̀t̪] | 'child' | Laminal denti-alveolar, contrasts with alveolar /t/. | Laminal denti-alveolar, contrasts with alveolar /t/. | Laminal denti-alveolar, contrasts with alveolar /t/. |
| Dutch | Belgian | taal | [t̪aːl̪] | 'language' | Laminal denti-alveolar. | Laminal denti-alveolar. | Laminal denti-alveolar. |
| English | Dublin | thin | [t̪ʰɪn] | 'thin' | Laminal denti-alveolar. | In Dublin, it may be [t͡θ] instead. | See English phonology. |
| English | Indian | thin | [t̪ʰɪn] | 'thin' | Laminal denti-alveolar. | Corresponds to [θ]. | See English phonology. |
| English | Southern Irish | thin | [t̪ʰɪn] | 'thin' | Laminal denti-alveolar. | Corresponds to [θ]. | See English phonology. |
| English | Ulster | train | [t̪ɹeːn] | 'train' | Laminal denti-alveolar. | Allophone of /t/ before /r/, in free variation with an alveolar stop. | See English phonology. |
| Finnish | Finnish | tutti | [ˈt̪ut̪ːi] | 'pacifier' | Laminal denti-alveolar. See Finnish phonology | Laminal denti-alveolar. See Finnish phonology | Laminal denti-alveolar. See Finnish phonology |
| French | French | tordu | [t̪ɔʁd̪y] | 'crooked' | Laminal denti-alveolar. See French phonology | Laminal denti-alveolar. See French phonology | Laminal denti-alveolar. See French phonology |
| Hakka | Hakka | 他/ta3 | [t̪ʰa˧] | 'he/she' | Laminal denti-alveolar, contrasts with an unaspirated form. | Laminal denti-alveolar, contrasts with an unaspirated form. | Laminal denti-alveolar, contrasts with an unaspirated form. |
| Hindustani | Hindi | तीन/tīn | [t̪iːn] | 'three' | Laminal denti-alveolar. | Contrasts with aspirated form <थ>. | See Hindustani phonology |
| Hindustani | Urdu | تین/tīn | [t̪iːn] | 'three' | Laminal denti-alveolar. | Contrasts with aspirated form <تھ>. | See Hindustani phonology |
| Indonesian | Indonesian | tabir | [t̪abir] | 'curtain' | Laminal denti-alveolar. | Laminal denti-alveolar. | Laminal denti-alveolar. |
| Italian | Italian | tale | [ˈt̪ale] | 'such' | Laminal denti-alveolar. See Italian phonology | Laminal denti-alveolar. See Italian phonology | Laminal denti-alveolar. See Italian phonology |
| Japanese | Japanese | 特別/ tokubetsu | [t̪o̞kɯ̟ᵝbe̞t͡sɨᵝ] | 'special' | Laminal denti-alveolar. See Japanese phonology | Laminal denti-alveolar. See Japanese phonology | Laminal denti-alveolar. See Japanese phonology |
| Kashubian | Kashubian | ptôch | [ptɞx] | 'bird' | Laminal denti-alveolar. | Laminal denti-alveolar. | Laminal denti-alveolar. |
| Kazakh | Kazakh | тұз | [t̪us̪] | 'salt' | Laminal denti-alveolar. | Laminal denti-alveolar. | Laminal denti-alveolar. |
| Kyrgyz | Kyrgyz | туз | [t̪us̪] | 'salt' | Laminal denti-alveolar. | Laminal denti-alveolar. | Laminal denti-alveolar. |
| Latvian | Latvian | tabula | [ˈt̪äbulä] | 'table' | Laminal denti-alveolar. See Latvian phonology | Laminal denti-alveolar. See Latvian phonology | Laminal denti-alveolar. See Latvian phonology |
| Malayalam | Malayalam | കാത്ത് | [kaːt̪ːɨ̆] | 'waiting' | Contrasts /t̪ t ʈ d̪ ɖ/. | Contrasts /t̪ t ʈ d̪ ɖ/. | Contrasts /t̪ t ʈ d̪ ɖ/. |
| Mapudungun | Mapudungun | füṯa | [ˈfɘt̪ɜ] | 'husband' | Interdental. | Interdental. | Interdental. |
| Marathi | Marathi | तबला | [t̪əbˈlaː] | 'tabla' | Laminal denti-alveolar, contrasts with aspirated form. See Marathi phonology | Laminal denti-alveolar, contrasts with aspirated form. See Marathi phonology | Laminal denti-alveolar, contrasts with aspirated form. See Marathi phonology |
| Nepali | Nepali | ताली | [t̪äli] | 'clappinɡ' | Contrasts with aspirated form. See Nepali phonology | Contrasts with aspirated form. See Nepali phonology | Contrasts with aspirated form. See Nepali phonology |
| Nunggubuyu | Nunggubuyu | darag | [t̪aɾaɡ] | 'whiskers' | Laminal denti-alveolar. | Laminal denti-alveolar. | Laminal denti-alveolar. |
| Odia | Odia | ତାରା/tara | [t̪ärä] | 'star' | Laminal denti-alveolar, contrasts with aspirated form. | Laminal denti-alveolar, contrasts with aspirated form. | Laminal denti-alveolar, contrasts with aspirated form. |
| Pazeh | Pazeh | [mut̪apɛt̪aˈpɛh] | [mut̪apɛt̪aˈpɛh] | 'keep clapping' | Dental. | Dental. | Dental. |
| Polish | Polish | tom | | 'volume' | Laminal denti-alveolar. See Polish phonology | Laminal denti-alveolar. See Polish phonology | Laminal denti-alveolar. See Polish phonology |
| Portuguese | Many dialects | montanha | [mõˈt̪ɐɲɐ] | 'mountain' | Laminal denti-alveolar. Likely to have allophones among native speakers, as it may affricate to [tʃ], [tɕ] and/or [ts] in certain environments. See Portuguese phonology | Laminal denti-alveolar. Likely to have allophones among native speakers, as it may affricate to [tʃ], [tɕ] and/or [ts] in certain environments. See Portuguese phonology | Laminal denti-alveolar. Likely to have allophones among native speakers, as it may affricate to [tʃ], [tɕ] and/or [ts] in certain environments. See Portuguese phonology |
| Punjabi | Punjabi | ਤੇਲ/تیل | [t̪eːl] | 'oil' | Laminal denti-alveolar. | Laminal denti-alveolar. | Laminal denti-alveolar. |
| Russian | Russian | толстый | [ˈt̪ʷo̞ɫ̪s̪t̪ɨ̞j] | 'fat' | Laminal denti-alveolar. See Russian phonology | Laminal denti-alveolar. See Russian phonology | Laminal denti-alveolar. See Russian phonology |
| Scottish Gaelic | Scottish Gaelic | taigh | [t̪ʰɤj] | 'house' | Apical dental. Contrasts between aspirated and unaspirated forms. | Apical dental. Contrasts between aspirated and unaspirated forms. | Apical dental. Contrasts between aspirated and unaspirated forms. |
| Serbo-Croatian | Serbo-Croatian | туга/tuga | [t̪ǔːgä] | 'sorrow' | Laminal denti-alveolar. See Serbo-Croatian phonology | Laminal denti-alveolar. See Serbo-Croatian phonology | Laminal denti-alveolar. See Serbo-Croatian phonology |
| Sinhala | Sinhala | අත | [at̪ə] | 'hand' | | | |
| Slovene | Slovene | tip | [ˈt̪îːp] | 'type' | Laminal denti-alveolar. See Slovene phonology | Laminal denti-alveolar. See Slovene phonology | Laminal denti-alveolar. See Slovene phonology |
| Slovak | Slovak | toto | [ˈt̪ot̪o] | 'this' | Laminal denti-alveolar. See Slovak phonology | Laminal denti-alveolar. See Slovak phonology | Laminal denti-alveolar. See Slovak phonology |
| Somali | Somali | matag | [mat̪ag] | 'vomit' | Dentalization of alveolar plosive. | Dentalization of alveolar plosive. | Dentalization of alveolar plosive. |
| Spanish | Spanish | tango | [ˈt̪ãŋɡo̞] | 'tango' | Laminal denti-alveolar. See Spanish phonology | Laminal denti-alveolar. See Spanish phonology | Laminal denti-alveolar. See Spanish phonology |
| Swedish | Swedish | tåg | [ˈt̪ʰoːɡ] | 'train' | Laminal denti-alveolar. See Swedish phonology | Laminal denti-alveolar. See Swedish phonology | Laminal denti-alveolar. See Swedish phonology |
| Telugu | Telugu | తప్పు | [t̪apːu] | 'wrong' | Contrasts between aspirated and unaspirated forms. | Contrasts between aspirated and unaspirated forms. | Contrasts between aspirated and unaspirated forms. |
| Turkish | Turkish | at | [ät̪] | 'horse' | Laminal denti-alveolar. See Turkish phonology | Laminal denti-alveolar. See Turkish phonology | Laminal denti-alveolar. See Turkish phonology |
| Ukrainian | Ukrainian | брат | [brɑt̪] | 'brother' | Laminal denti-alveolar. See Ukrainian phonology | Laminal denti-alveolar. See Ukrainian phonology | Laminal denti-alveolar. See Ukrainian phonology |
| Uzbek | Uzbek | | – | | Laminal denti-alveolar. Slightly aspirated before vowels. | Laminal denti-alveolar. Slightly aspirated before vowels. | Laminal denti-alveolar. Slightly aspirated before vowels. |
| Vietnamese | Vietnamese | tuần | [t̪wən˨˩] | 'week' | Laminal denti-alveolar, contrasts with aspirated form. See Vietnamese phonology | Laminal denti-alveolar, contrasts with aspirated form. See Vietnamese phonology | Laminal denti-alveolar, contrasts with aspirated form. See Vietnamese phonology |
| Zapotec | Tilquiapan | tant | [t̪ant̪] | 'so much' | Laminal denti-alveolar. | Laminal denti-alveolar. | Laminal denti-alveolar. |

### Alveolar

Occurrence of [t] in various languages :
| Language | Language | Word | IPA | Meaning | Notes |
| Adyghe | Adyghe | тфы | | 'five' | |
| Arabic | Egyptian | توكة/tōka | [ˈtoːkæ] | 'barrette' | See Egyptian Arabic phonology |
| Assyrian | Assyrian | ܒܝܬܐ/bèta | [beːta] | 'house' | Most speakers. In the Tyari, Barwari and Southern dialects θ is used. |
| Cantonese | Cantonese | 跌/dit | [ti:t̚˧] | 'fall' (v.) | See Cantonese Phonology |
| Cantonese | Cantonese | 鐵/鉄/tit | [tʰi:t̚˧] | 'iron' | See Cantonese Phonology |
| Chechen | Chechen | тарсал/tarsal | [tɑːrsəl] | 'squirrel' | |
| Danish | Standard | dåse | [ˈtɔ̽ːsə] | 'can' (n.) | Usually transcribed in IPA with ⟨d̥⟩ or ⟨d⟩. Contrasts with the affricate [t͡s] or aspirated stop [tʰ] (depending on the dialect), which are usually transcribed in IPA with ⟨tˢ⟩ or ⟨t⟩. See Danish phonology |
| Dutch | Dutch | taal | [taːɫ] | 'language' | See Dutch phonology |
| English | Most speakers | tick | | 'tick' | See English phonology |
| English | New York | tick | | 'tick' | Varies between apical and laminal, with the latter being predominant. |
| Hebrew | Hebrew | תמונה | [tmuˈna] | 'image' | see Modern Hebrew phonology |
| Hungarian | Hungarian | tutaj | [ˈtutɒj] | 'raft' | See Hungarian phonology |
| Kabardian | Kabardian | тхуы | | 'five' | |
| Khmer | Khmer | តែ/tê | [tae] | 'tea' | See Khmer phonology |
| Korean | Korean | 대숲/daesup | [tɛsup̚] | 'bamboo forest' | See Korean phonology |
| Kurdish | Northern | tu | [tʰʊ] | 'you' | See Kurdish phonology |
| Kurdish | Central | تەوێڵ | [tʰəweːɫ] | 'forehead' | See Kurdish phonology |
| Kurdish | Southern | تێوڵ | [tʰeːwɨɫ] | 'forehead' | See Kurdish phonology |
| Luxembourgish | Luxembourgish | dënn | [tən] | 'thin' | Less often voiced [d]. It is usually transcribed /d/, and it contrasts with voiceless aspirated form, which is usually transcribed /t/. See Luxembourgish phonology |
| Malayalam | Malayalam | കാറ്റ് | [kaːtːɨ̆] | 'wind' | Contrasts /t̪ t ʈ d̪ ɖ/. | Contrasts /t̪ t ʈ d̪ ɖ/. |
| Maltese | Maltese | tassew | [tasˈsew] | 'true' | |
| Mandarin | Mandarin | 地/dì | [ti˥˩] | 'ground' | See Mandarin Phonology |
| Mandarin | Mandarin | 梯/tī | [tʰi˥˥] | 'ladder/stairs' | See Mandarin Phonology |
| Mapudungun | Mapudungun | füta | [ˈfɘtɜ] | 'elderly' | |
| Nunggubuyu | Nunggubuyu | darawa | [taɾawa] | 'greedy' | |
| Nuosu | Nuosu | ꄉ/da | [ta˧] | 'place' | Contrasts aspirated and unaspirated forms |
| Portuguese | Some dialects | troço | [ˈtɾɔsu] | 'thing' (pejorative) | Allophone before alveolar /ɾ/. In other dialects /ɾ/ takes a denti-alveolar allophone instead. See Portuguese phonology |
| Tagalog | Tagalog | matamis | [mɐtɐˈmis] | 'sweet' | See Tagalog phonology | See Tagalog phonology |
| Thai | Thai | ตา/ta | [taː˧] | 'eye' | Contrasts with an aspirated form. |
| West Frisian | West Frisian | tosk | [ˈtosk] | 'tooth' | See West Frisian phonology |

### Postalveolar

Occurrence of [t̠] :
| Language | Word | IPA | Meaning | Notes |
| Yele | dêê | [t̠əː] | 'tongue' | Contrasts /t̪ t̪͡p t̪ʲ t̠ t̠͡p t̠ʲ/. |

### Variable

Occurrence of a voiceless plosive variable between alveolar and dental positions :
| Language | Language | Word | IPA | Meaning | Notes |
| Arabic | Modern Standard | تين‎/tīn | [tiːn] | 'fig' | Laminal denti-alveolar or alveolar, depending on the speaker's native dialect. See Arabic phonology |
| English | Broad South African | talk | [toːk] | 'talk' | Laminal denti-alveolar for some speakers, alveolar for other speakers. |
| English | Scottish | talk | [tʰɔk] | 'talk' | Laminal denti-alveolar for some speakers, alveolar for other speakers. |
| English | Welsh | talk | [tʰɒːk] | 'talk' | Laminal denti-alveolar for some speakers, alveolar for other speakers. |
| German | Standard | Tochter | [ˈtɔxtɐ] | 'daughter' | Varies between laminal denti-alveolar, laminal alveolar and apical alveolar. See Standard German phonology |
| Greek | Greek | τρία tria | [ˈtɾiä] | 'three' | Varies between dental, laminal denti-alveolar and alveolar, depending on the environment. See Modern Greek phonology |
| Malay | Malay | تڠکڤ/tangkap | [t̪äŋ.käp̚] | 'catch' | More commonly dental. Often unreleased in syllable codas. See Malay phonology |
| Norwegian | Urban East | dans | [t̻ɑns] | 'dance' | Varies between laminal denti-alveolar and laminal alveolar. It is usually transcribed /d/. It may be partially voiced [d̥], and it contrasts with voiceless aspirated form, which is usually transcribed /t/. See Norwegian phonology |
| Persian | Persian | توت | [t̪ʰuːt̪ʰ] | 'berry' | Varies between laminal denti-alveolar and apical alveolar. See Persian phonology |
| Slovak | Slovak | to | [t̻ɔ̝] | 'that' | Varies between laminal denti-alveolar and laminal alveolar. See Slovak phonology |