Re: USAGE: Thorn vs Eth

Quoting Nik Taylor <fortytwo@...>:

> Kendra wrote:
> > I'm curious as to how many natural languages have th and dh, as I heard
> that
> > not many do. Anyone? :)
>
> Modern Greek for one.  Castilian Spanish has /T/ and [D] as an allophone
> of /d/.  Icelandic has /T/ and /D/.  I can't think of any others
> off-head.  Those are fairly rare.
I guess depending on your political affiliation*, Scots has both
as well.  Some other languages that have a phonemic /T/:
Karuk, Walapai, Havasupai, Yavapai, Mojave, Atsugewi, Wintu, Central
Sierra Miwok, Santa Clara Tewa, Arapaho, Mahican, Shawnee, Kickapoo,
Fox, Sauk, Iowa-Oto, Dhegiha, Choctaw, Chickasaw, Halkomelem,
Pentlatch, the Saanich dialect of the Northern Straits, the Sliammon
dialect of Comox, and some dialects of Tuscarora and Chasta Costa.
(These are just the North American ones I could find.)  Since
the difference between [T] and [D] is a matter of VOT, and VOT
ranges widely across languages, many of the above languages are
likely to have phonetic [D]s as well.

*(Is Scots a language separate from English? Certainly the SNP would
have us think so.)

=====================================================================
Thomas Wier          "...koruphàs hetéras hetére:isi prosápto:n /
Dept. of Linguistics  mú:tho:n mè: teléein atrapòn mían..."
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