Questions tagged [dental-fricative]
For questions about the "th" sounds (voiced th /ð/ and voiceless th /θ/).
17
questions
2
votes
1
answer
116
views
Allophones of dental fricatives (/θ/, /ð/) in English
I've noticed in my own speech (West Riding of Yorkshire, male, born in the '90s) two different ways I have of pronouncing phonemes /θ/ and /ð/:
The tip of my tongue sits in the gap between my top and ...
11
votes
1
answer
2k
views
Is the rarity of dental sounds explained by babies not immediately having teeth?
Dental consonants, which involve the corona of the tongue contacting the teeth (typically the upper teeth) are known to be rare throughout the world’s languages. More specifically, phonemic ...
0
votes
0
answers
165
views
Are there any examples in any language of words beginning with the sound [θð]?
While I have some difficulty pronouncing a hypothetical word ending with [θð], it seems perfectly possible to have such a sound at the beginning or in the middle of a word.
Is the sound [θð] ever used ...
4
votes
1
answer
359
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
3
answers
362
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
1
answer
2k
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
0
answers
184
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 ...
7
votes
3
answers
1k
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
1
answer
1k
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!
9
votes
4
answers
511
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
2
answers
1k
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. ...
4
votes
1
answer
363
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 ...
7
votes
4
answers
5k
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
2
answers
390
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
2
answers
635
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
1
answer
1k
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
3
answers
6k
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 ...