pronunciation

[Catlady (Rita Prince Winston)]

--- In HPFGU-OTChatter at yahoogroups.com, Random832 <random832 at ...> wrote:

> No idea - but, I can think of plenty of exact pairs for voiced/ 
> voiceless "th" - "mouth" as noun vs verb is one. I was asking if
> there were any for her two different voiceless ones.
>

"Mouth" as verb is pronounced differently than "mouth" as noun?

My friend Lee told me that "the minimum meaningful difference test"
for voiced/unvoiced "th" is met by "either/ether".

My two different unvoiced "th" pronunciations don't change the
meanings of any words because they are, I believe, a matter of dialect
pronunciation. I'd understand what Tweetybird meant if he said: "I
fink I saw a puddytat on Fursday" instead of "I sink I saw a puddytat
on Fursday". Characters in old gangster films said: "De boss" and "dem
bums" and someone faking a French accent says "Ze bozz" and "zem
boomz" and both are understood.

It's just that in MY dialect, saying "eevver/eeffer" is natural and
saying "eezzer/eesser" is weird, while saying "I sink" is natural and
"I fink" is weird. 

I suppose I also perceive two pronunciations of voiced "th", as "De
brovver and de movver". When people say 'mudder' or 'muzzer' (or, for
that matter, 'in times when a man can't speak aloud, a man's best
friend is his mutter'), I recognise what they mean, but it's not how
I'd pronounce it myself. Dem and dose, zem and zose, but not vem and
vose, anyone?