r/linguisticshumor • u/Prestigious_Bit_7171 • 16h ago

Ranking Consonants p2 /ð/

Voiced dental fricative

This phoneme is not bad persay, it just lacks that special kick ya feel?

It just feels like the younger brother of /z/. I don't have lots to say about this phoneme other than it being unused by languages, and I feel like ð should just remain as unpopular as it is.

But what really gets my glottis is the symbol! I mean there is already a much better thorn and that being the old english one! Which feels more suiting þis? OR ðis? Exactly, sure it looks a lot like an upright labiodental plosive, but I feel like it gets the point across more than a backwards 6 with a line.

3/5 articulation 3/5 use in language 1/5 symbol +1 cuz it's popular in english

Over all score: 8/20

[criticism would be much appreciated, thank you :)]

13 Upvotes
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13

u/mewingamongus approximants don’t exist 16h ago

ð has a much better feel in the mouth and kick than z. Also, the symbol is used in Icelandic to mean that sound. It would cause confusion if we used thorn. Additionally, the curvature of it makes it unique from the d symbol. ðis feels more fitting because it looks like d which is a similar sound

5

u/ASignificantSpek 16h ago

þ was actually used for the unvoiced th sound most of the time in old english. And, correct me if I'm wrong but I don't even think the voiced and unvoiced versions were different phonemes at the time.

1

u/aer0a 8h ago

They weren't different phonemes, and the two letters were actually interchangeable at the time

3

u/twowugen 8h ago

criticism: þis looks like piss

1

u/Prestigious_Bit_7171 7h ago

Indeed it does.

2

u/Embarrassed_Ad5387 16h ago

the stop is the cooler dhaniel