Th-fronting

Th-fronting is the pronunciation of the English "th" as "f" or "v". When th-fronting is applied, /θ/ becomes /f/ (for example, three is pronounced as free) and /ð/ becomes /v/ (for example, bathe is pronounced as bave). (Here "fronting" refers to the position in the mouth where the sound is produced, not the position of the sound in the word, with the "th" coming from the tongue as opposed to the "f" or "v" coming from the more-forward lower lip.) Unlike the fronting of /θ/ to /f/, the fronting of /ð/ to /v/ usually does not occur word-initially (for example, while bathe can be pronounced as bave, that is rarely pronounced as *vat) although this was found in the speech of South-East London in a survey completed 1990-4.[1] Th-fronting is a prominent feature of several dialects of English, notably Cockney, Essex dialect, Estuary English, some West Country and Yorkshire dialects, African American Vernacular English, and Liberian English, as well as in many non-native English speakers (e.g. Hong Kong English, though the details differ among those accents).[2]

Uses

Actor Simon Pegg wearing a t-shirt with the slogan Norf London, representing "North London" with th-fronting

The first reference to th-fronting is in the "low English" of London in 1787, though only a single author in that century writes about it, and it was likely perceived as an idiosyncrasy, rather than a full-fledged dialect feature of Cockney English, even into the early half of the twentieth century.[3] The feature was presumed to be reasonably common in London speakers born around 1850 and in Bristol by 1880.[4] The use of the labiodental fricatives [f] and [v] for the dental fricatives [θ] and [ð] was noted in Yorkshire in 1876.[5] In his 1892 book A Grammar of the Dialect of Windhill, Joseph Wright noted variable th-fronting in his district in words such as think, third and smithy.[6]

In some words, th-fronting has been lexicalised. For example, the word without was lexicalised to wivoot in some dialects of Northern England and Scotland.[7]

In the Survey of English Dialects of the 1950s and early 1960s, th-fronting was found in two main areas of England. One was the area around Bristol in the West Country. The other was in the area around London and Essex.[8] It was also noted in the Suffolk dialect by AOD Claxton in 1968, albeit only for certain words (e.g. three and thumb but not thaw or thought).[9]

Comparing his studies over time in Norwich, Peter Trudgill concluded that th-fronting had been completely absent in 1968 and then very common amongst younger people by 1983.[10] Although th-fronting is found occasionally in the middle and upper (middle) class English accents as well, there is still a marked social difference between working and middle class speakers. Th-fronting is regarded as a 'boundary marker' between Cockney and Estuary English, as depicted in the first descriptions of the latter form of English[11][12] and confirmed by a phonetic study conducted by researcher Ulrike Altendorf. Nevertheless, Altendorf points out that th-fronting is found occasionally in middle class (Estuary) speech as well and concludes that "it is currently making its way into the middle class English accent and thus into Estuary English".[13]

In popular music, the singer Joe Brown's 1960s backing band was christened The Bruvvers (that is, "the brothers" with th-fronting). The 1960 musical Fings Ain't Wot They Used T'Be was stated to be a Cockney Comedy. Rock musician Keith Richards is commonly referred to as “Keef”.[14]

Up until the late 20th century th-fronting was common in speakers of Australian English from North Brisbane and the Sunshine Coast of Queensland. This may stem from the relatively high number of London cockneys who settled there during the Queensland gold rushes of the 19th century. The practice is gradually dying out as the influx of interstate and international immigrants increases.

Example

The following is a sample of a speaker of the Cockney accent who has th-fronting:

• http://www.gazzaro.it/accents/sound/Cockney.mp3

My dad came from Wapping and me mum came from Poplar. Me dad was one of eleven kids… and Wapping in them days really was one of the poorest parts of London. I mean they really didn't have shoes on their feet. I'm talking about seventy years ago now. Erm… and Poplar was… sli… just slightly a cut above Wapping; erm… you was either East End respectable or you was sort of East End villain, you know, and my family was respectable on both sides. But me father had a very tough time because his father died when he was nineteen, leaving him the only one working to bring up eleven brothers… ten brothers and sisters and on a Thursday night he'd sometimes go home and the youngest two would be crying in the corner and he'd say “What's the matter with them, ma?” “Oh, well, Harry, you know it's Thursday night, and you don't get paid till tomorrow.” and they literally didn't have any food in the house.

In that recording father, brother and either are pronounced [ˈfɑːvə], [ˈbrʌvə] and [ˈiːvə]; Thursday is pronounced [ˈfɜːzdi].

Increase in use

Th-fronting in the speech of working-class adolescents in Glasgow was reported in 1998, provoking public as well as academic interest. The finding of th-fronting in Glaswegian creates a difficulty for models of language change which hinge on dialect contact associated with geographical mobility since the Glaswegian speakers who used [f] most in the 1997 sample are also those with the lowest geographical mobility. In addition, th-fronting was reported as "a relatively new phenomenon" in Edinburgh in March 2013.[15]

Homophonous pairs

Homophonous pairs

/f, v/	/θ, ð/	IPA	Notes
barf	bath	ˈbɑːf	Non-rhotic accents with trap-bath split.
deaf	death	ˈdɛf
duff	doth	ˈdʌf
elf	health	ˈɛlf	With H-dropping.
even	heathen	ˈiːvən	With H-dropping.
ever	heather	ˈɛvə(r)	With H-dropping.
fain	thane	ˈfeɪn
fain	thegn	ˈfeɪn
fane	thane	ˈfeɪn
fane	thegn	ˈfeɪn
feign	thane	ˈfeɪn
feign	thegn	ˈfeɪn
fie	thigh	ˈfaɪ
fief	thief	ˈfiːf
fin	thin	ˈfɪn
fink	think	ˈfɪŋk
Finn	thin	ˈfɪn
first	thirst	ˈfɜː(r)st
fissile	thistle	ˈfɪsəl	Some accents pronounce fissile as /ˈfɪsaɪl/.
for	thaw	ˈfɔː(r)	Non-rhotic accents.
for	Thor	ˈfɔː(r)
ford	thawed	ˈfɔːd	Non-rhotic accents with horse-hoarse merger.
fore	thaw	ˈfɔː	Non-rhotic accents with horse-hoarse merger.
fore	Thor	ˈfɔː(r)	With horse-hoarse merger.
fort	thought	ˈfɔːt	Non-rhotic accents with horse-hoarse merger.
fought	thought	ˈfɔːt
four	thaw	ˈfɔː(r)	Non-rhotic accents with horse-hoarse merger.
four	Thor	ˈfɔː(r)	With horse-hoarse merger.
Fred	thread	ˈfrɛd
free	three	ˈfriː
frees	threes	ˈfriːz
freeze	threes	ˈfriːz
fresh	thresh	ˈfrɛʃ
fret	threat	ˈfrɛt
frieze	threes	ˈfriːz
fro	throe	ˈfrəʊ
fro	throw	ˈfrəʊ
froze	throes	ˈfrəʊz
froze	throws	ˈfrəʊz
funder	thunder	ˈfʌndə(r)
furred	third	ˈfɜː(r)d
furrow	thorough	ˈfʌrəʊ	Some accents pronounce thorough as /ˈfʌrə/, although some also pronounce furrow as /ˈfʌrə/.
fervour; fervor	further	ˈfɜː(r)və(r)
golf	goth	ˈɡɒf	Some accents pronounce golf as /ˈɡɒlf/.
lave	lathe	ˈleɪv
lever	leather	ˈlɛvə(r)	Some accents pronounce lever as /ˈliːvə(r)/.
live	lithe	ˈlaɪv
loaf	loath	ˈləʊf
loaves	loathes	ˈləʊvz
miff	myth	ˈmɪf
never	nether	ˈnɛvə(r)
oaf	oath	ˈəʊf
phi	thigh	ˈfaɪ
Ralph	wraith	ˈreɪf	Some accents pronounce Ralph as /ˈrælf/, /ˈrɑːlf/ or /ˈrɑːf/
Ralph	wrath	ˈrɑːf	Some accents pronounce Ralph as /ˈrælf/, /ˈrɑːlf/ or /ˈreɪf/. Some accents pronounce wrath as /ˈræf/ or /ˈrɔːf/.
reave	wreathe	ˈriːv
reaves	wreathes	ˈriːvz
reaves	wreaths	ˈriːvz
reef	wreath	ˈriːf
reeve	wreathe	ˈriːv
reeves	wreathes	ˈriːvz
reeves	wreaths	ˈriːvz
rive	writhe	ˈraɪv
roof	ruth	ˈruːf	Some accents pronounce roof as /ˈrʊf/.
sheave	sheathe	ˈʃiːv	Some accents pronounce sheave as /ˈʃɪv/.
sheaves	sheathes	ˈʃiːvz	Some accents pronounce sheaves as /ˈʃɪvz/.
sheaves	sheaths	ˈʃiːvz	Some accents pronounce sheaves as /ˈʃɪvz/.
sliver	slither	ˈslɪvə(r)
whiff	with	ˈwɪf	With wine-whine merger. Some accents pronounce with as /ˈwɪv/ or common reduce it to /ˈwɪ/.

See also

• List of th-fronting homophones
• Th-stopping

References

1. Laura Tollfree, South East London English: discrete versus continuous modelling of consonantal reduction, p.172 in Urban Voices, edited by Paul Folkes and Gerard Docherty, published 1999 by Arnold, London
2. Wells, John C. (1982). Accents of English. 2. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 96–97, 328–30, 498, 500, 553, 557–58, 635. ISBN 0-521-24224-X.
3. The Oxford Handbook of the History of English, edited by Terttu Nevalainen, Elizabeth Closs Traugot. Oxford University Press. p. 71.
4. Of Varying Language and Opposing Creed': New Insights Into Late Modern English, edited by Javier Pérez-Guerra. Verlag Peter Lang. p. 38.
5. Upton, Clive (2012). "Modern Regional English in the British Isles". In Mugglestone, Lynda (ed.). The Oxford History of English. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 395.
6. A Grammar of the Dialect of Windhill, Joseph Wright, page 91
7. English Dialect Dictionary, Volume 6, page 525, entry for without
8. Britain, David; Cheshire, Jenny, eds. (2003). "Dialect levelling and geographical diffusion in British English". Social Dialectology: In Honour of Peter Trudgill. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing. p. 233.
9. Claxton, AOD. The Suffolk Dialect of the Twentieth Century. The Boydell Press. p. 78. ISBN 0851151442.
10. Trudgill, Peter (1988). "Norwich revisited: Recent linguistic changes in an English urban dialect". English World-Wide. 9: 33–49. doi:10.1075/eww.9.1.03tru.
11. Rosewarne, David (1984). "Estuary English". Times Educational Supplement, 19 (October 1984)
12. Wells, John (1994). Transcribing Estuary English - a discussion document. Speech Hearing and Language: UCL Work in Progress, volume 8, 1994, pages 259-267
13. Altendorf, Ulrike (1999). Estuary English: is English going Cockney? In: Moderna Språk, XCIII, 1, 1-11
14. McNair, James (20 August 2005). "Keith Richards: Being, Keef". The Independent. Archived from the original on 5 December 2008. Retrieved 24 January 2011.
15. Schleef, Erik; Ramsammy, Michael (2013). "Labiodental fronting of /θ/ in London and Edinburgh: a cross-dialectal study" (PDF). English Language & Linguistics. Cambridge. 17 (1): 25–54. doi:10.1017/S1360674312000317.