Questions tagged [dental-fricative]
For questions about the "th" sounds (voiced th /ð/ and voiceless th /θ/).
14
questions
4
votes
1answer
179 views
The “th” sound as a plosive in British dialects
I've noticed that the th sound often becomes a plosive sound in Appalachian English. When and how did this phenomenon start?The only case I know where this happens in the british isles is Irish.Does ...
2
votes
3answers
311 views
Possible diachronic developments of th sounds
What are possible diachronic developments of th sounds?
Of course, I am aware of th-stopping /ð/,/θ/ -> /d/ and of th-fronting/θ/ -> /f/. Are there other developments of ð/ and /θ/ attested in the ...
5
votes
1answer
862 views
Did Persian ever have a hard or soft “th” sound?
Farsi does not distinguish between ث (soft 'th' in Arabic, like "think") and ذ (hard 'th' in Arabic, like "that"). A native Farsi speaker pronounces ث like the 's' in "sing" and ذ like the 'z' in "zoo"...
4
votes
0answers
162 views
The pronunciation of the voiced “th” in English
I speak General American English, and I pronounce voiced "th"'s in two different ways. The first, which is how I pronounce it in "the" and "father," feels somewhat like a stop; part of my tongue ...
6
votes
3answers
697 views
Why is [ð] so rare?
Why is the vocalized dental fricative [ð] so rare across languages? Is it just a coincidence or is there a pattern behind this?
4
votes
1answer
606 views
What is DH- stopping?
I can't seem to find any information on the internet that doesn't confuse me. But basically, is DH-stopping when in words such as 'there' - the 'th' is pronounced as a /d/? so 'dere'
Thanks!
8
votes
4answers
408 views
Any other example of “socially stigmatized phoneme” like the “th” sound in some Venetian dialect?
Older people living in some rural areas north of Venice use the voiceless dental fricative /θ/ for many words, like cena "supper" which is pronounced θena, exactly like in Spanish cena (Castilian, not ...
6
votes
2answers
995 views
West Germanic Th-Stopping
This is just one example: In the word "father", there is the interdental voiced fricative. However, in Old English, the word is fæder with a voiced alveolar stop; it is also fader in Middle English. ...
3
votes
1answer
288 views
When did the /θ/ sound die out in the continental Germanic languages?
I am looking for dates when the /θ/ phoneme (which once written ð and þ in English, and now by the th grapheme) inherited from Proto-Germanic died out in continental Germanic languages.
In other ...
4
votes
4answers
3k views
Voiced “th” in “thank you”?
I have a friend, a native English speaker from Boston, MA, USA (I believe he is mostly Irish American), who is absolutely adamant that the first sound in "thank you" is voiced, rather than voiceless. ...
5
votes
2answers
306 views
Detailed “quality” of /ð/
I've been learning and using English since I was 10. I have always been more or less aware of the /θ/ sound, but it wasn't until I got interested in IPA notation, when I realized English contrasts /ð/ ...
3
votes
2answers
525 views
Realization of word-initial ⟨th⟩ in the English language
This question may or may not be specific to the General American accent.
In words such as thin, thick, and throw, the initial /θ/ doesn't sound the same as the /θ/ in words such as math and wrath. I ...
2
votes
1answer
754 views
ð and ð̞: is there a dental approximant?
I've been helping someone trying to create a conlang, and they are insistent that they want seven sonorant approximants. After a bit of desperation, I settled on wa, "vfwa" (which I can't give a good ...
3
votes
3answers
5k views
Why do some languages not have the “th” sound?
Why some languages don't have the "th" sound? (voiced and voiceless dental fricatives)
They say languages such as French, Turkish etc don't have the "th" sound as in "thin" and "then".
I sometimes ...
