minimal pairs

Larry Trask larryt at cogs.susx.ac.uk
Tue Dec 12 10:23:37 UTC 2000


Robert Whiting writes:

> Now there are those who say that they have no rules for the
> pronunciation of <th>.  Presumably, when they encounter in print
> an unfamiliar word with <th> in it they have to go to the
> dictionary to find out how to pronounce it.  I happen to have
> generalized rules for the pronunciation of <th> so I can usually
> make a guess that will be right about 98 times out of 100 about
> how <th> should be pronounced in an unfamiliar word.  I came
> across one the other day:  'poikilothermic'.  Without going to
> the dictionary I knew two things just by looking at it:  a) it is
> not a native English word, and therefore, b) the <th> is
> pronounced [T].

This is usually a good rule, but there are a few exceptions.  I can
think of 'rhythm', 'logarithm' and 'algorithm', and their derivatives,
all of which have eth in spite of their Greek origin.  There must be a
subrule here, though 'arithmetic' has theta.

There are also a couple of miscellaneous nasties, like 'asthma'
and 'thyme', and, in Britain, 'Anthony'. These, in spite of their
spelling and in spite of their classical origin, fail to contain
any dental fricatives at all.

Larry Trask
COGS
University of Sussex
Brighton BN1 9QH
UK

larryt at cogs.susx.ac.uk

Tel: 01273-678693 (from UK); +44-1273-678693 (from abroad)
Fax: 01273-671320 (from UK); +44-1273-671320 (from abroad)



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