Th-alveolarization
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Th-alvealarization is a process that occurs in some African varieties of English where the dental fricatives /ð, θ/ merge with the alveolar stops /z, s/.
In African varieties with the merger, the following words are homophonous:
- zen, then
- zees, these
- sink, think
- sinks, thinks
- sinking, thinking
- sing, thing
- sings, things
- sank, thank
- sin, thin
- path, pass
- myth, miss
- theme, seem
- themes, seems
- breathe, breeze
- maths, mass
- sought, thought
- sick, thick
- sawed, thawed
- mouse, mouth
- sues, soothe
- song, thong
- songs, thongs
- clothe, close
- saw, thaw
- saws, thaws
- sore, thaw
- sores, thaws
- sword, thawed
- bathe, bays
- lathe, lays
- worth, worse
- north, Norse
- growth, gross
- moth, moss
- faith, face
- sort, thought
- sorts, thoughts
- force, fourth
- tense, tenth
- eighth, ace
- fourth, force
- soar, thaw
- soared, thawed
- soaring, thawing
- soars, thaws
For some speakers of African American Vernacular English, /θ/ is alveolarized to /s/ when it occurs at the end of a syllable and within a word before another consonant http://www.rehabmed.ualberta.ca/spa/phonology/features.htm leading to pronunciations like:
- "bathroom" - /b{srum/
- "birthday" - /b3`sdeI/
