Oh those booths

[Simon Beattie]

As an Englishman, I say [buːð], and [buːðz] in the plural.  This is also the pronunciation given by the Oxford English Dictionary (online at least).

Simon


-----Original Message-----
From: SEELANGS: Slavic & East European Languages and Literatures list [mailto:SEELANGS at bama.ua.edu] On Behalf Of Paul B. Gallagher
Sent: 31 January 2012 14:10
To: SEELANGS at bama.ua.edu
Subject: Re: [SEELANGS] Oh those booths

Goloviznin Konstantin wrote:

> Hello all,
>
> There is some doubt about pronunciation of the word booths.
> Dictionaries  give two variants for singular of it. Those are [buːð]
> and [buːθ]. Сorrespondingly the plural for them should be [buːðz] and
> [buːθs]. But listening to it on the site www.howjsay.com gives
> [buːðs]. Am I right about my hearing and this time it's  only some
> exception to the rule "after voiced - voiced, after unvoiced -
> unvoiced" or something else?

I hear [buːðs] on the website, as you do, but I find it unnatural; I 
would have [buːθs], but have heard and would accept [buːðz].

As for the singular, I cannot imagine anyone saying [buːð] to rhyme with 
"soothe" and "toothe." In all my travels, I don't think I've ever run 
into a "boothe-sayer."

-- 
War doesn't determine who's right, just who's left.
--
Paul B. Gallagher
pbg translations, inc.
"Russian Translations That Read Like Originals"
http://pbg-translations.com

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