A voiceless coronal stop with a secondary posterior ("emphatic") gesture. The closure is made with the tongue tip and blade, as for English /t/; the clinically important difference sits behind it.
Written by Bodour Imseeh, BSc (Hons), MSc, bilingual Speech and Language Therapist specialising in Arabic–English speech. · Last reviewed 16 September 2026
View the full articulation animation with a free Bilingual SLT account.
Want to see one first? View the free ص /sˤ/ animation →
This is a broad Arabic guide; realisations vary across dialects and speakers.
The closure itself is the familiar part. The tongue tip and blade meet the ridge or the teeth, the soft palate is raised, and the closure is released — the same sequence as an English /t/.
What differs is behind the closure. The back of the tongue is drawn further back than for a plain coronal stop, narrowing the pharyngeal space while the front closure is held. The animation shows that as a broad posterior gesture rather than a single marked point, because the research does not establish one consistent height or configuration for it. Reported placements range from the mid oropharynx to lower in the pharynx, and the sources do not reconcile.
The figure therefore shows that the gesture is present, not where it peaks.
The part that differs is not visible. The closure is shared with plain /t/, so a mirror shows a client nothing about the component that is actually in contrast. Cues aimed at the visible articulators tend to reinforce the part that is already correct.
The difference carries on the vowel. Emphasis spreads onto neighbouring segments, so the adjacent vowel often carries more audible information than the consonant does. Judging the consonant alone is judging the wrong window.
Timing differences need instruments. /tˤ/ is reported with significantly shorter voice onset time than plain /t/. That is a measurement, not a listening cue, and it should not be inferred by ear.
The reverse error matters as much. A clinician working from English norms may record a correct ط as a distorted or backed /t/. The contrast is unfamiliar rather than disordered.
Scope: broad Arabic This guide shows broad Arabic reference descriptions, not one speaker's or region's pronunciation. Realisation varies across Arabic varieties. Use a client's own dialect and speech community as the comparison when deciding whether a production is expected, variable or needs support.
A different dialectal realisation is not an error and not a therapy target without dialect-specific assessment. Compare a client against speakers of their own variety, not against this figure.
The configuration is also reported to shift with vowel context — toward uvularisation before a high back /uː/. A static contour cannot show that, and the animation does not attempt to.
There is no intervention section on this page, and that is deliberate.
No ط-specific intervention protocol, prompt set or therapy approach is presented, because none is supported by the evidence reviewed for this resource. That is a statement about the evidence, not a judgement that nothing has been published anywhere.
What follows is about listening and assessing, not about what the figure shows:
Approaches described for other sounds should not be assumed to transfer to ط.
These pages are drawn from Arabic Speech Sounds, a clinical reference covering nine Arabic speech sounds.
All Arabic speech sounds — the index, including the five sounds covered without an animation
What the figure represents
What it does not represent
Soft palate. Drawn raised with the port closed. That is the oral-stop schematic convention used throughout this resource, not a ط-specific imaging measurement.
Sources. Altairi, Brown, Watson & Gick (2017), on simultaneous dorsum and root retraction. Al-Solami (2017), Canadian Acoustics 45(1), 25–35, reporting the root component as inconsistent across speakers. Al-Tamimi, Alzoubi & Tarawnah (2009), Folia Phoniatrica et Logopaedica 61(4), 247–253, videofluoroscopy of Jordanian speakers. Al-Tamimi & Heselwood (2011), in Hassan & Heselwood (eds.), Instrumental Studies in Arabic Phonetics, 165–192, on mid-oropharyngeal constriction and vowel-context shift. Khattab, Al-Tamimi & Heselwood (2006), on voice onset time.
Is ط just a "harder" English /t/?
No. The closure is much the same as an English /t/. The difference is a secondary gesture further back in the vocal tract, which changes the surrounding vowels.
Can I see the difference in a mirror?
No. The closure is shared with plain /t/, and the part that differs sits behind what a mirror shows.
My client's ط sounds "heavy". Is that an error?
Not on that basis. A correct emphatic production often sounds heavy or throaty to an ear trained on English. Compare against speakers of the client's own variety.
Should I target the tongue tip?
The tip is usually already doing the right thing. The contrast is not at the tip.
Are there therapy steps on this page?
No. No ط-specific intervention protocol is presented, because none is supported by the evidence reviewed here.
© 2026 Bilingual SLT. Original animation and text. You may use this page with your own clients, and when teaching colleagues within your own organisation. Do not republish it, upload it elsewhere, adapt it into another resource, or present it as your own.
