Dentalisation

/dɛntəlaɪˈzeɪʃən/ noun

Definition

The process of transforming a sound into a dental sound (a sound made with the tongue against the upper teeth), or the state of being dentalized.

Etymology

From dental (relating to teeth) + -isation suffix (British spelling of -ization, from Latin -izare, meaning to make or cause to be). A linguistic/phonetic term from 20th century phonology.

Kelly Says

In linguistics, dentalisation is a tiny sound change that happens across languages—the 't' sound in different languages can be produced slightly differently (some more dental, some more alveolar), and these small shifts accumulate over centuries into different accents.

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