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Rank: Newbie
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Joined: 6/2/2009
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Location: China
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Hi Mandy,
How to pronunce the "dth" sound like in "width or breadth"?
It's hard to pronunce a "d" sound first and then the "th" sound after as is shown in the dictionary.
Thank you.
ps: you looked good in black in the latest video podcast.
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Rank: Super Advanced Member
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Joined: 10/9/2008
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Location: Seattle, WA, USA
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Thanks Squall,
I have good news for you and bad news for you. First, the good news. Not very many words have the combination of d+th. Besides "width" and "breadth," there is "thousandth" and "hundredth." Most of the rest are compound words with "width" and "breadth," like "bandwidth."
The bad news is that this sound combination is extremely common in linked words. Any -ed ending added to a regular verb that ends in a voiced sound can potentially be followed by a voiced or unvoiced th sound and create a "dth" combination. There is no difference in sounds in the "dth" in the word "width" and the phrase "called them." The d sound plus th sound is such a tough sound combination that I did a whole podcast about linking from the -ed ending that highlighted linking to a th sound.
It is important to remember that the d sound is a discontinuous consonant; the sound has two parts. First I stop the air, then I let it go with a puff. The th sounds are continuous consonants, meaning I can hold the sound for a long time. Linking them takes a special technique.
Here's what I said in podcast 52.
Quote:When I want to link a discontinuous consonant to a continuous consonant or a vowel sound the puff of air at the end of the first sound gets taken over by the sound that follows it.
So, in our phrase "called them" the d sound of the word "called" was stopped by my tongue, but when I released the d sound, the th sound of the word them immediately began. The d sound was not fully said. The air was stopped like a d sound, but released as a th sound.
Let me get more specific. The d sound is created by stopping all the air with the tip of my tongue directly behind my top front teeth. To blend into the th sound, I keep the very tip of my tongue loosely in place, and push air out between the tip of my tongue and my tooth ridge.
If you are creating the th sound with your tongue between your teeth instead of behind your top front teeth, you won't be able to do this smoothly.
You can go to the Linking Discontinuous Consonants lesson for more details and examples.
I hope that helps!
Mandy
Subscribe in The American English Pronunciation podcast in iTunes!
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Rank: Newbie
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Joined: 6/2/2009
Posts: 5
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Location: China
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Thank you very much, Mandy. Of course it helps me a lot. However, I think here's little difference between the 'width' and 'called them'. the 'th' in 'width' is an unvoiced th sound while the 'th' in the 'called them' is a voiced th sound. Am i right? And applying the rule you taught us, the d+unvoiced th sound is tougher. Another related question is the 's'+'th' sound like in "sixth", i used to omit the 's' sound by pronouncing the 'th' sound right after the 'k' sound which i know now is wrong. Finally i found my tongue is not swift enough to move from the 'th' position to the 's' postion like in '20th century'. In most cases the word will be like '20s century' or '20th thentury'.  Thank you again
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Rank: Super Advanced Member
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Joined: 10/9/2008
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Location: Seattle, WA, USA
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Hi Squall,
Sorry for the delay in answering your reply to this post... I was just looking through past posts and saw that I had never replied back to you again!
You're right that "called them" is linking to a voiced th, and "width" is linking a d sound to an unvoiced th, however, the tongue position is the same for both sounds. Many of my students do need extra practice with the voiced th, so, yes, it may be a bit more difficult to get. Like all things involving muscle memory, it takes lots of practice!
The linking to the th sound from the s sound in the word sixth and linking in the opposite direction in "20th century" all involves the same concept. Keep the th sound (voiced or unvoiced) closer to the tooth ridge than the front teeth, and getting to or from the th sound should be easier.
Since it's been a month since you last replied, let me know if you've spent any time working on this, and if it's gotten any easier for you. I hope it has!
Cheers,
Mandy
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