th…

The Standard English "th" sounds are very rare, found only in ca 7.5% of the languages of the world. Linguistically they are called 'dental/alveolar non-sibilant fricatives' and the phonetic symbols for them are /θ/ for the voiceless sound in "think" (/θɪŋk/) and /ð/ for the voiced sound in "them" (/dɛm/). Phonetically they are very quiet and hard to perceive. In Shaetlan, just like in most varieties of English and Scots around the world, these sounds have mostly hardened to the more perceptible plosives /t/ and /d/ as in tink (/θɪŋk/) and dem (/dɛm/), except inside some words (like ithoot 'without', pronounced /əθ'ut/).

Pictures: Julie Dennison.