IPA phoneme /ð/

In English, both in Received Pronunciation and in General American, the IPA phonetic symbol /ð/ corresponds to the initial consonant sound in words like "the", and "that" and the middle one in "mother" and "gather".

/ð/ is a voiced consonant; its unvoiced counterpart is IPA phoneme /θ/. Both phonemes are consistently spelled "th". See Decoding exercises: "th".

Common words[edit]

With initial /ð/:

• Grammar words: than - that - the - their - them - then - there - these - they - this - those - though - thus

/ð/ in mid-position:

• Grammar words: although - another - either - neither - other - rather - together - whether - within /wɪðˈɪn, wɪθˈɪn^AmE/ - without /wɪˈðaʊt, wɪθˈaʊt^AmE/
• Content words: bother - brother - clothing - father - farther - feather - further - gather - leather - mother - Netherlands - northern - rhythm - southern /ˈsʌðərn/ - weather

With final /ð/:

• Grammar word: with /wɪð/ or /wɪθ/
• Content words: breathe - smooth

Less common words[edit]

• /ð/ in mid-position : heathen, heather, worthy
• With final /ð/: bathe, booth /buːð,^BrE buːθ^AmE/, clothe, loathe, soothe, teethe

Irregular plurals[edit]

Some words ending in /θ/ have a plural ending in /ðz/

• baths - mouths - paths - youths

Anticipated pronunciation difficulties depending on L1[edit]

Preconceived ideas and other interferences from L1 obviously interfere in many cases with how students perceive - and pronounce - sounds/words in English. The following section aims to point out some of the most typical difficulties teachers and students may encounter regarding pronunciation.

Spanish[edit]

The main difficulty is the difference between /ð/ and /d/, that is, they may have difficulty distinguishing between "they" and "day". In Spanish both sounds are allophones. This means that to the Spanish ear [aˈðjos], and [aˈdjos] are heard as the same word, even if only [aˈðjos] is the natural pronunciation of "adiós".

Since in Spanish [d] always follows [n], a sentence such as "can they go?" may be uttered as */kən deɪ ˈgəʊ/.

Spain[edit]

Many Spanish speakers from Spain don't distinguish clearly between /ð/ and /θ/ and when they see "th" tend to pronounce it /θ/, a sound which corresponds to the letter "z" in Spanish. They even replace the [ð] sound of castillian Spanish by [θ]. For example, the name of the satirical website La Verdaz is a phonetic rendering of "La Verdad" in a regional accent from Spain.

See also[edit]

• Decoding exercises: "th"
• Pronunciation
• Pronunciation exercises: /d/ vs /ð/
• Pronunciation exercises: /θ/ vs /ð/
• TH-fronting

External links[edit]

• British Library: Learning - Sounds Familiar?