Re: CHAT: Phonemic status of English interdentals

Nik Taylor writes:
 > Tristan wrote:
 > >
 > > I'm a firm believer in the non-distinction of [T] and [D] in English. It
 > > took me *aages* to work out what the difference was at first.
 >
 > Perhaps it depends on dialect, or perhaps I'm more sensitive to it, but
 > I've been aware of the difference as long as I can remember.  To me,
 > it's much more distinct than, say, /I/ and /@/ are in unstressed
 > syllables.
 >

My perception is similar.  I don't know if I was 'aware' of the
distinction exactly, but... surely it's obvious that thorn is like f,
and edh is like v?  I'm sure there was a time before I could reliably
distinguish dental from labiodental fricatives, but I don't think I
ever failed to assign them the correct voicedness.