Pronunciation of English th: Encyclopedia II - Pronunciation of English th - Distribution in Modern English

Pronunciation of English th - Distribution in Modern English

The vast majority of words in English with 'th' in them have the voiceless sound, and almost all newly created words follow this. Exceptions:

• A small number of common function words beginning with 'th-' have /ð/ (all others beginning with 'th-' have /θ/). The words in this group are:

• 5 demonstratives: the, this, that, these, those
• 2 personal pronouns each with four forms: thou, thee, thy, thine; they, them, their, theirs
• 7 adverbs and conjunctions: there, then, than, thus, though, thence, thither
• Various compound adverbs based on the above words: therefore, thereupon, thereby, thereafter, thenceforth, etc.

• Most words ending in (and many containing) 'ther', when it follows a vowel or 'r', have /ð/.

• Ending in '-ther', following a vowel: bother, brother, dither, either, father, Heather, lather, mother, other, rather, slither, together, weather, whether, wither, etc. (But not ether or Luther.)
• Ending in '-ther', following an 'r': farther, further. (But panther with /θ/, because not following a vowel or 'r'; Arthur with /θ/, because not written '-ther'.)
• Containing 'ther', following a vowel: northern, southern, smithereens; Caruthers, Gaithersburg, Netherlands, Witherspoon, and similar compound names where the first component ends in '-ther' or '-thers'. Rutherford has either /ð/ or /θ/. Catherine has /θ/.

• Words ending in '-the' -- usually verbs -- have /ð/. Related nouns and adjectives usually end in '-th' and have /θ/.

• Examples: bathe, breathe, clothe, loathe, scathe, seethe, sheathe, soothe, teethe, wreathe, writhe (all verbs). Compare the nouns and adjectives bath, breath, cloth, loath, sheath, sooth, tooth/teeth, wreath.
• Similarly: scythe (verb or noun), tithe (verb or noun), lathe (noun), lithe (adjective), clothes (plural noun). blythe with either /ð/ or /θ/.
• Note also mouth as a verb with /ð/, but as a noun with /θ/, despite the identical spelling; smooth always with /ð/, regardless of part of speech; froth with either /θ/ or /ð/ as a verb, but /θ/ only as a noun.
• Words in '-thing' that are derived from the above verbs follow their pronunciation: bathing, breathing, clothing, loathing, scathing, etc. with /ð/; frothing with either /θ/ or /ð/. (But anything, everything, nothing, something with /θ/, because they are compounds of thing.)

• Some plural nouns ending in 'ths', with a preceding vowel, have /ðz/, although the singulars always have /θ/.

• mouths always ends with /ðz/.
• Certain other words typically end with /ðz/, but a pronunciation with /θs/ also occurs: baths, cloths, oaths, paths, sheaths, truths, wreaths, youths; booths sometimes with /ðz/ (more commonly in British English).
• Others have only /θs/: azimuths, breaths, deaths, faiths, Goths, growths, mammoths, moths, myths, smiths, sloths, zeniths, etc. This includes all words in 'th' preceded by a consonant (earths, hearths, lengths, months, widths, etc.) and all numeric words, whether preceded by vowel or consonant (fourths, fifths, sixths, sevenths, eighths /eɪtθs/, twelfths, fifteenths, twentieths, hundredths /hʌndrədθs/, thousandths, etc.; note that these words involve some of the most complicated and difficult-to-pronounce clusters in the English language).

• A few other words with 'th' in them have /ð/:

• At the end of a word: with (often, but see below); smooth; booth (British English only). See also the above comments on mouth and froth. Compounds involving with follow the simple form: within, without, withdraw, withhold, withstand, wherewithal, etc.
• Between vowels: heathen, fathom, probably a few others.
• In the combination 'rth': worthy, swarthy, Worthington, farthing (but not earthy).
• In the combination 'thm': algorithm, asthma, isthmus, logarithm, rhythm.
• 'brethren'.

All other words, including most words with 'th' between vowels or other voiced sounds (including many words of Old English origin), have /θ/.

• Examples between vowels or voiced sounds: Abernathy, Agatha, anthem, atheist, Athens, athlete, author, bathroom, Bertha, brothel, cathedral, Catherine, Cathy, enthusiasm, ethics, ethnic, Gothic, Hathaway, healthy, Jonathan, lethal, lithium, mathematics, method, methyl, mythical, Othello, Parthian, pathetic, pithy, Southampton, stealthy, sympathy, wealthy, etc.

The digraph <th> is pronounced /t/ in some names, such as Thames and Thomas, and usually Esther and Gunther.

The noun and verb alternations discussed above date back to Old English. The noun alternation in mouth/mouths, for example, is due to the fact that the plural marker in Old English was /as/, and hence the 'th' in the plural form was between vowels. (Note also the similar alternations in wolf vs. wolves and house vs. houses.)

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Distribution in Modern English", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki