Th-alveolarization

Th-alveolarization is a process that occurs in some African varieties of English where the dental fricatives /ð, θ/ merge with the alveolar fricatives /z, s/. It is an example of assibilation.

It is often parodied as ubiquitous to French- and German-speaking learners of English, but is widespread among many foreign learners of English, because the dental fricative "th" sounds are not very common among world languages.

For some speakers of African American Vernacular English, /θ/ is alveolarized to /s/ when it occurs at the end of a syllable and within a word before another consonant, leading to such pronunciations as the following.

bathroom	- /ˈbæs.ruːm/
birthday	- /ˈbɝs.deɪ/

Homophonous pairs

/s, z/ /θ, ð/ IPA Notes ace eighth ˈeɪs bass bath ˈbæs bass in the sense of a kind of fish. Bess Beth ˈbɛs breast breathed ˈbrɛst Brest breathed ˈbrɛst close clothe ˈkloʊz close clothes ˈkloʊz eights eighth ˈeɪts Erse earth ˈɜː(r)s face faith ˈfeɪs force forth ˈfoə(r)s force fourth ˈfoə(r)s frost frothed ˈfrɒst, ˈfrɔːst gross growth ˈɡroʊs lays lathe ˈleɪz laze lathe ˈleɪz louse Louth ˈlaʊs miss myth ˈmɪs moss moth ˈmɒs, ˈmɔːs mouse mouth ˈmaʊs pass path ˈpæs purse Perth ˈpɜː(r)s race wraith ˈreɪs rise writhe ˈraɪz Ross Roth ˈrɒs, ˈrɔːs ryes writhe ˈraɪz sane thane ˈseɪn sane thegn ˈseɪn sank thank ˈsæŋk saw thaw ˈsɔː sawed thawed ˈsɔːd saw Thor ˈsɔː Non-rhotic accents. seam theme ˈsiːm seas seethe ˈsiːz seem theme ˈsiːm sees seethe ˈsiːz seize seethe ˈsiːz sick thick ˈsɪk sin thin ˈsɪn sing thing ˈsɪŋ sink think ˈsɪŋk size scythe ˈsaɪz soar thaw ˈsɔː Non-rhotic acents with horse-hoarse merger. soar Thor ˈsɔː(r) With horse-hoarse merger. soared thawed ˈsɔːd Non-rhotic acents with horse-hoarse merger. song thong ˈsɒŋ, ˈsɔːŋ sore thaw ˈsɔː Non-rhotic acents with horse-hoarse merger. sore Thor ˈsɔː(r) With horse-hoarse merger. sored thawed ˈsɔːd Non-rhotic acents with horse-hoarse merger. sort thought ˈsɔːt Non-rhotic accents. sought thought ˈsɔːt suds thuds ˈsʌdz sunder thunder ˈsʌndə(r) sunk thunk ˈsʌŋk swart thwart ˈswɔː(r)t sword thawed ˈsɔːd Non-rhotic acents with horse-hoarse merger. tense tenth ˈtɛns tents tenth ˈtɛn(t)s whiz with ˈwɪz With wine-whine merger. wizard withered ˈwɪzə(r)d Z thee ˈziː zen then ˈzɛn

See also

• th-stopping
• th-fronting
• List of Th-alveolarization homographs
• Phonemic Disorders