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Interdental consonants are produced by placing the tip of the tongue between the upper and lower front teeth. That differs from typicaldental consonants, which arearticulated with the tongue against theback of the upper incisors. No language is known to contrast interdental and dental consonants.
Interdental consonants may be transcribed with theextIPA subscript, plus superscript bridge, as in ⟨n̪͆t̪͆d̪͆θ̪͆ð̪͆r̪͆ɹ̪͆l̪͆ɬ̪͆ɮ̪͆⟩, but it is more common to transcribe them as advanced dentals, as in ⟨n̪̟t̪̟d̪̟θ̟ð̟r̪̟ɹ̪̟l̪̟ɬ̪̟ɮ̪̟⟩, or even as advanced alveolars, as in ⟨n̟t̟d̟r̟ɹ̟l̟ɬ̟ɮ̟⟩.
Interdental consonants are rare cross-linguistically. Interdental realisations of otherwise-dental or alveolar consonants may occur as idiosyncrasies or as coarticulatory effects of a neighbouring interdental sound. The most commonly-occurring interdental consonants are the non-sibilant fricatives (sibilants may be dental but do not appear as interdentals). Apparently, interdentals do not contrast with dental consonants in any language.
Voiced and voiceless interdental fricatives[ð̟,θ̟] appear inAmerican English as the initial sounds of words like 'then' and 'thin'. InBritish English, the consonants are more likely to be dental[ð,θ].
An interdental[l̟] occurs in some varieties ofItalian, and it may also occur in some varieties of English though the distribution and the usage of interdental[l̟] in English are not clear.
Interdental approximants[ð̞] are found in about a dozenPhilippine languages, includingKagayanen (Manobo branch), KaragaMandaya (Mansakan branch),Kalagan (Mansakan branch),Southern Catanduanes Bicolano, and several varieties ofKalinga,[1]as well as in theBauchi languages of Nigeria.[2]
Interdental[ɮ̟] occurs in some dialects ofAmis.Mapuche has interdental[n̟],[t̟], and[l̟].
In mostIndigenous Australian languages, there is a series of "dental" consonants, writtenth,nh, and (in some languages)lh. They are alwayslaminal (pronounced by touching with the blade of the tongue) but may be formed in one of three different ways, depending on the language, the speaker, and how carefully the speaker pronounces the sound. They areapical interdental[t̺͆~d̺͆n̺͆l̺͆] with thetip of the tongue visible between the teeth, as inth in American English;laminal interdental[t̻͆~d̻͆n̻͆l̻͆] with the tip of the tongue down behind the lower teeth, so that theblade is visible between the teeth; anddenti-alveolar[t̻̪~d̻̪n̻̪l̻̪], that is, with both the tip and the blade making contact with the back of the upper teeth and alveolar ridge, as in Frencht,d,n,l.