Phoneme Of The Week #2: The Dental Approximant
/ð̞/
audio source
Per the combined inventories of Phoible and Wikipedia for this sound, the dental approximant occurs in roughly 14 languages- 8 from Wikipedia, 6 from Phoible. - combined list here
/ð̞/ is an approximant that, along with its fricative version(s), is often called interdental rather than dental, because instead of being produced simply with the tongue touching the back upper teeth, the tongue is positioned between the upper and lower teeth. No language is known to contrast /ð̞/ and its fricative sister /ð/, the latter of which English speakers recognize as the sound in father, the, this, bother.
This sound on Wikipedia
This sound on Phoible
Glottist's notes: I definitely didn't forget to post this week's phoneme... at least Sunday is easy to remember in the future! This sound is kept in the same article as its fricative version, the voiced dental non-sibilant fricative. The approximant uses the ̞ symbol, while the fricative does not. Honestly, no matter how many times I listen to and make this sound, it still sounds and feels lateral. And then when I go to the actual dental lateral approximant... nope, it's not lateral.
