Th-stopping is the realization of the dental fricatives as stops—either dental or alveolar—which occurs in several dialects of English. In some accents, such as of Indian English and middle- or upper-class Irish English, they are realized as the dental stops and as such do not merge with the alveolar stops ; thus, for example, tin ( in Ireland and in India) is not a homophone of thin . In other accents, such as varieties of Caribbean English, Nigerian English, Liberian English, and older, rural, or working-class Irish English, such pairs are indeed merged. Variation between both dental and alveolar forms exists in much of the working-class English speech of North America and sometimes southern England. It is also common for babies and toddlers, who are still learning to talk and/or have not fully grown their front teeth capable of producing the th sound. Th-stopping occurred in all continental Germanic languages, resulting in cognates such as German die for "the" and Bruder for "brother".
New York City English For the working class of New York City and its surrounding region, the fricatives and are often pronounced as affricatives or stops, rather than as fricatives. Usually they remain dental, so that the oppositions and are not lost. Thus thanks may be pronounced , , or in decreasing order of occurrence; all are distinct from tanks . The variant has a weakish articulation. The opposition may be lost, exceptionally in the environment of a following (making three homophonous with tree), and in the case of the word with, (so that with a may rhyme with the non-rhotic pronunciation of bitter-bidder; with you may be , following the same yod-coalescence rule as hit you. These pronunciations are all stigmatized.
The opposition seems to be lost more readily, though not as readily as the "Brooklynese" stereotype might lead one to believe. As in many other places, initial is subject to assimilation or deletion in a range of environments in relatively informal and/or popular speech, e.g. who's there ; as in many other places, it is also subject to stopping there . This option extends to one or two words in which the is not initial, e.g. other, which can thus become a homonym of utter-udder. But it would not be usual for southern to be pronounced identically with sudden or breathe with breed.
African-American Vernacular English In African-American Vernacular English, in the words with and nothing, may occur corresponding to standard , with the [t] itself being succeeded by the t-glottalization rule: thus for with and for nothing. Th-stopping is also reported for some other non-initial s, apparently particularly when preceded by a nasal and followed by a plosive, as keep your mouth closed. In initial position, occurs in AAVE just as in standard accents: thin is , without the stopping of West Indian accents.Wolfram 1969, p. 130, does however mention the use of 'a lenis ' as a rare variant. Stopping of initial , however, is frequent, making then pronounced as or sometimes homophonous with den.
Frequency in other accents Th-stopping is also commonly heard, specifically from speakers of working-class origins, in the American English dialects of the Inland North (for example, in Milwaukee, Chicago, Detroit, Cleveland, and Buffalo), the Upper Midwest (for example, in the especially Fennoscandian-descended locals of Minnesota's Iron Range and Michigan's Upper Peninsula), and the Mid-Atlantic region (for example, in Philadelphia and Baltimore). It is also heard in a minority of speakers of England's Estuary dialect (for example, in London), but only in the case of word-initial .van den Doel 2006, p. 251. Many speakers of Philippine English and some speakers of other variants in Asia also have th-stopping.
The dialect of Sheffield in England is sometimes referred to as "dee-dar" because of the th-stopping to change initial to . However, a 1997 study in Sheffield found this was then largely confined to older males.
In certain international radiotelecommunications, such as the NATO phonetic alphabet, the digit code words three and thousand are pronounced and to avoid mispronouncing them as and .
Homophonous pairs
IPANotesate eighth Some accents pronounce ate as Bart bath Non-rhotic accents with trap–bath split.bat bath Without trap–bath split.bayed bathe bet Beth bladder blather blight Blythe blitter blither With intervocalic alveolar flapping.boat both body bothy Without lot–cloth split and with intervocalic alveolar flapping.boot booth breed breathe Brett breath brought broth With lot–cloth split. Also in some accents.cedar seether cent synth With pin–pen merger.cite scythe clot cloth Without cot–caught merger.coot couth D; dee the The before vowels and silent H.D; dee thee Dan than dare their dare there dare they're Darude the rude day they debt death Dee the The before vowels and silent H.Dee thee den then dense thence dents thence dhow thou die thy dine thine dirt dearth with fern–fir–fur merger.dis this doe though does those dough though dow thou dow though drought drouth dye thy eater either With intervocalic alveolar flapping.eater ether With intervocalic alveolar flapping.eight eighth Ent nth fate faith fetter feather With intervocalic alveolar flapping.fit fifth Some accents pronounce fifth as .fodder father With father–bother merger.fort forth fort fourth fraught froth With lot–cloth split.frot froth Without lot–cloth split.got goth, Goth groat growth hart hearth hat hath header heather heart hearth heat heath hitter hither With intervocalic alveolar flapping.hurt earth With H-dropping and fern–fir–fur merger.Ida either Non-rhotic accents.knead neath kneader neither kneed neath ladder lather lade lathe laid lathe latter lather With intervocalic alveolar flapping.letter leather lied lithe load loathe lode loathe loud Louth martyr Martha Non-rhotic accents.mat math matte math mead Meath meat Meath meet Meath met meth mete Meath mitt myth motte moth mutter mother With intervocalic alveolar flapping.naught north Non-rhotic accents.neater neither With intervocalic alveolar flapping.Some accents pronounce neither as .neat neath need neath oat oath oats oaths odes oaths pads paths Without trap–bath split.paid pathe part path Non-rhotic accents with trap–bath split.parts paths pat path Without trap–bath split.pats paths pit pith pity pithy rat wrath Without trap–bath split.rate wraith read wreathe reads wreathes reads wreaths reed wreathe reeds wreathes reeds wreaths ride writhe rot Roth Without lot–cloth split.root ruth, Ruth With yod-dropping.Some accents pronounce root as .route ruth, Ruth With yod-dropping.Some accents pronounce route as .scent synth With pen–pin merger.seed seethe seeder seether sent synth With pen–pin merger.set saith set Seth she'd sheathe sheet sheath side scythe sight scythe sit Sith site scythe smit smith smite Smyth spilt spilth soot sooth Some accents pronounce soot as .sudden southern Non-rhotic accents.sued soothe With yod-dropping.suede swathe Some accents pronounce swathe as .suit sooth With yod-dropping.swat swath Without lot–cloth split.swayed swathe Some accents pronounce swathe as .tank thank tater theta Non-rhotic accents.Some accents pronounce theta as .taught thought team theme teary theory teat teeth teed teethe teeter theta Non-rhotic accents.Some accents pronounce theta as .tent tenth Thai thigh tic thick tick thick ticket thicket tide tithe tie thigh tied tithe tin thin tinker thinker toot tooth tor thaw Non-rhotic accents.tor Thor tore thaw Non-rhotic accents with horse–hoarse merger.tore Thor With horse–hoarse merger.torn thorn With horse–hoarse merger.tort thought Non-rhotic accents.tote Thoth trash thrash trawl thrall tread thread tree three trill thrill true threw true through With yod-dropping.trust thrust tum thumb tump thump turd third With fern–fir–fur merger.udder other utter other With intervocalic alveolar flapping.Utes youths welt wealth wetter weather With intervocalic alveolar flapping.wit width wit with wordy worthy wort worth Some accents pronounce wort as .wrought Roth With lot–cloth split.wrought wroth With lot–cloth split.
See also List of Th-stopping homophones Th-fronting Definite article reduction
References