Jan 05, 2012 01:53 PM
While the “th” sounds (phonemes) are very common in the English language, they no longer exist in most other languages. The speakers of some dialects in the United States – such as African American English and some of the accents that can be observed in cities like New York – use pronunciations of the “th” phonemes that differ from Standard American English. For these reasons, it is easy to understand why these sounds are typically mispronounced by a large percentage of non-native speakers of English in the United States.
According to “the speech accent archive,” which was created by Steven H. Weinberger at George Mason University, the following languages other than English have one or both of the “th” sounds in their phonetic inventories: Albanian, Arabic, Burmese, Danish, Fijian, Greek, Icelandic, Spanish, and Welsh. Only Castilian or European Spanish includes the “th” phonemes.
The two different types of “th” phonemes are voiceless and voiced. They are both formed in a similar way. The tongue tip is placed between the teeth and sometimes protrudes slightly. Air is forced between the tongue and the upper teeth. When a voiceless “th” sound is produced by itself, the vocal cords do not vibrate. The vocal cords do vibrate when a voiced “th” sound is produced. More force is used to form the voiceless “th” than the voiced “th.” This difference can be felt by placing one’s hand in front of the mouth as the two sounds are pronounced.
Phonemes can occur at the beginning, middle, or end of words. “Thanks,” “healthy,” and “truth” are some words that include voiceless “th” sounds. “The,” “mother,” and “breathe” are examples of words with voiced “th” sounds.
When non-native speakers of English pronounce words that contain “th” phonemes, they have to learn both how to form the two different sounds and whether specific words contain voiceless or voiced “th” phonemes. There are a larger number of different words in the English language with voiceless “th” sounds than voiced “th” sounds. However, more words with voiced “th” phonemes are used on a regular basis. In their book, The Reading Teachers Book of Lists, Third Edition, authors Edward Bernard Fry, Ph.D., Jacqueline E. Kress, Ed. D., and Dona Lee Fountoukidis, Ed.D. included a list of the first 100 most commonly used English words, which are ranked based on their frequency of occurrence. The first word that is listed is “the” – which is pronounced using a voiced “th” sound. There are three additional words containing voiced “th” phonemes that are among the first 25 most commonly used words : “that,” “they,” and “this.” The remaining words on the list that have voiced “th” sounds are “there,” “their,” “other,” “then,” “them,” “these,” and “than.” There is one word with a voiceless “th” phoneme that is on the list – “with.” Since words with “th” sounds – especially with voiced “th” phonemes – occur so frequently, the “th” sound is an important one for non-native speakers to master.
Non-native speakers of English who are from India often substitute a “t” phoneme for a voiceless “th” sound and a “d” phoneme for a voiced “th” sound. When these errors in pronunciation are made, it may be difficult for their listeners to distinguish similar words from each other. Some examples of words that might be confused are “thought” and “taught”, “path and “pat,” “they” and “day,” and “loathe” and “load.”
It is rare for non-native speakers who were not taught to accurately articulate English phonemes such as the “th” sounds to master them without direct professional assistance. Enrolling in an accent modification training program with a speech-language pathologist can have a major impact on a non-native speaker’s ability to be readily understood. Increased success in conveying one’s ideas can lead to many additional opportunities.
Celia C. Goldstein, M.A., CCC-SLP holds a certificate of clinical competence in speech-language pathology and is licensed in Tennessee. She earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Virginia and a master’s degree from Vanderbilt University. She has more than twenty-five years of experience as a speech-language pathologist and has had additional training in accent modification. Ms. Goldstein is the granddaughter of immigrants.
celiagoldsteintn@comcast.net 615-776-8674
