Inlinguistics, adenti-alveolar consonant ordento-alveolar consonant is aconsonant that isarticulated with a flat tongue against thealveolar ridge and the upper teeth, such as/t/ and/d/ in languages likeFrench,Italian andSpanish. That is, a denti-alveolar consonant is(pre)alveolar andlaminal rather than purely dental.
Although denti-alveolar consonants are often labeled as "dental" because only the forward contact with the teeth is visible, the point of contact of the tongue that is furthest back is most relevant, as it defines the maximum acoustic space of resonance and gives a characteristic sound to a consonant.[1][page needed]
In French, the contact that is the furthest back is alveolar or sometimes slightly pre-alveolar. In Spanish,/t/ and/d/ are laminal denti-alveolar,[2] and/l/ and/n/ are alveolar, but assimilate to a following/t/ or/d/. Similarly, in Italian,/t/,/d/,/t͡s/,/d͡z/ are denti-alveolar, and/l/ and/n/ are alveolar.[3]
Thedental clicks are also laminal denti-alveolar.
