9 ms·

I can't think of any pair of English words that are distinguished by a voiced vs unvoiced dental fricative at the same location, c.f. 'sue' and 'zoo'. Does any

I can't think of any pair of English words that are distinguished by a voiced vs unvoiced dental fricative at the same location, c.f. 'sue' and 'zoo'. Does any such pair exist?

crazygringo 8y ago
Took me a while (I taught EFL for years and it never came up), but I can come up with two: - "thy" and "thigh" - "either" and "ether"
- garmaine 8y ago
  It’s tellig that the first involves an archaic word no longer in use. And in my pronunciation (coastal California) the second pair differ in the vowel not the consonant. I pronounce them both as in “thy”.
  - crazygringo 8y ago
    "either" can be pronounced two ways in the first vowel, "ee" (like "eek!") or "eye" (like "eyeball"). Same as "neither". To compare with "ether" I'm assuming the first. But "ether" can only be pronounced with unvoiced "th". If you pronounce it voiced, that would be very unusual. Are you sure? Check out: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ether https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ether
    - garmaine 8y ago
      The question is about the "th". Neither one I pronounce voiced.
      - dahart 8y ago
        > Neither one I pronounce voiced. Before you said you use "thy" for both, which is voiced. So you say "aythur" like "Arthur" for the word either?
- dahart 8y ago
  Maybe bath and bathe? Breath and breathe? Also found this, which agrees with yours and adds teethe::teeth, and wreathe::wreath. https://www.quora.com/What-are-some-minimal-pairs-between-voiced-and-voiceless-%E2%80%9Cth%E2%80%9D-in-English https://www.quora.com/What-are-some-minimal-pairs-between-vo...
  - crazygringo 8y ago
    Bath/bathe and breath/breathe also change their vowels, so they wouldn't count. But teeth/teethe is another good one! As for wreathe, that too... I didn't even know that was a word. :)
    - dahart 8y ago
      Ah, right. Wreathe: me neither.
    - pwinnski 8y ago
      Off the top of my head, I think it's a verb form: to surround something. Smoke wreathed around the altar as the chime rang through the hall.

I can't think of any pair of English words that are distinguished by a voiced vs unvoiced dental fricative at the same location, c.f. 'sue' and 'zoo'. Does any such pair exist?

crazygringo 8y ago

Took me a while (I taught EFL for years and it never came up), but I can come up with two: - "thy" and "thigh" - "either" and "ether"

garmaine 8y ago
It’s tellig that the first involves an archaic word no longer in use. And in my pronunciation (coastal California) the second pair differ in the vowel not the consonant. I pronounce them both as in “thy”.
- crazygringo 8y ago
  "either" can be pronounced two ways in the first vowel, "ee" (like "eek!") or "eye" (like "eyeball"). Same as "neither". To compare with "ether" I'm assuming the first. But "ether" can only be pronounced with unvoiced "th". If you pronounce it voiced, that would be very unusual. Are you sure? Check out: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ether https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ether
  - garmaine 8y ago
    The question is about the "th". Neither one I pronounce voiced.
    - dahart 8y ago
      > Neither one I pronounce voiced. Before you said you use "thy" for both, which is voiced. So you say "aythur" like "Arthur" for the word either?
dahart 8y ago
Maybe bath and bathe? Breath and breathe? Also found this, which agrees with yours and adds teethe::teeth, and wreathe::wreath. https://www.quora.com/What-are-some-minimal-pairs-between-voiced-and-voiceless-%E2%80%9Cth%E2%80%9D-in-English https://www.quora.com/What-are-some-minimal-pairs-between-vo...
- crazygringo 8y ago
  Bath/bathe and breath/breathe also change their vowels, so they wouldn't count. But teeth/teethe is another good one! As for wreathe, that too... I didn't even know that was a word. :)
  - dahart 8y ago
    Ah, right. Wreathe: me neither.
  - pwinnski 8y ago
    Off the top of my head, I think it's a verb form: to surround something. Smoke wreathed around the altar as the chime rang through the hall.