Dental Fricatives

As a small child, I used to mispronounce [T] and [D] as [f] and [v]
respectively. This pronunciation is common in some dialects of English,
notably Cockney. However, speakers of languages where the dental fricatives
are absent tend to render them as [s] and [z] when attempting to pronounce
English words. People who lisp and Spaniards make the opposite change. Why
the difference? To my ears, dental fricatives sound more like [f] and [v]
than they do [s] and [z].

Pete Bleackley

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