dentaalisissa

Dentaalisissa is a Finnish grammatical form meaning “in dental” or “in the dental region,” used in linguistics to refer to sounds articulated with the tongue against the upper teeth. The base adjective dentaalinen denotes dental or dentally produced, and dentaalisissa is the inessive plural form used in phrases such as “dentaalisissa äänteissä” to indicate that a feature occurs in dental sounds.

Dental sounds are produced with the tongue tip or blade near the upper teeth and form a distinct category within articulatory places of articulation. They are typically contrasted with alveolar sounds, which are produced at the alveolar ridge behind the teeth, and with interdental sounds, where the tongue is positioned between the teeth. In practice, the dental versus interdental distinction varies among descriptions. Common examples discussed in linguistic literature include the voiceless and voiced fricatives often described as dental or interdental, such as /θ/ and /ð/, and dental stops like /t̪/ and /d̪/ in some languages. Some languages also have dental nasals or approximants.

In linguistic descriptions, dentaalisissa terms frequently appear when comparing dental and alveolar systems or when processes affect sounds in the dental region, such as assimilation or consonant harmony. The presence and distinctness of a dental series vary across languages: some maintain a robust dental set, while others merge dental with alveolar categories. The term is commonly used in Finnish-language phonology and general phonetics to specify articulation place.

Etymology: dentaalinen derives from dentaal- from Latin dens, dent-, via international scientific vocabulary; Finnish inflection yields dentaalisissa in the appropriate grammatical context. See also dental consonant, interdental consonant, alveolar consonant.