minimal pairs

[Ross Clark (FOA LING)]

-----Original Message-----
From: larryt at cogs.susx.ac.uk [mailto:larryt at cogs.susx.ac.uk]
To: Indo-European at xkl.com

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.

Compare "arrhythmia" for a near-minimal contrast.

Ross Clark