Voiced and Unvoiced Th

[studentabc]

Hello. I have been having trouble on the th pronunication. I know there are two types of them--the voiced and the unvoiced, but sometimes they get a little bit confusing. For example the slangs: What the hell, what the heck, look at this
These phrases are difficult to pronounce, considering the TH and the intonation. Does anyone know any methods to improve the TH?

~please reply
thanks

[Tdol]

In expressions like 'what the hell', we don't emphasise the word 'the' usually, so you need to practise weak forms. What's your mother tongue?

[studentabc]

what is practicing weak forms? my mother tongue is korean..

[Tdol]

A weak form is an unstressed form of a words or sound, where it is given little prominence in the phrase. Vowel sounds are often reduced to the schwa (uh) when weak.
When we say 'what the hell', 'the' is not an important word, so we give it less importance and it can almost disappear, so we say what-th-hell, all run together into one unit, almost swallowing the definite article- it sounds like a single unit, not three separate words. In spoken English, we run words together a lot.

[Steven D]

Originally Posted by studentabc

Hello. I have been having trouble on the th pronunication. I know there are two types of them--the voiced and the unvoiced, but sometimes they get a little bit confusing. For example the slangs: What the hell, what the heck, look at this
These phrases are difficult to pronounce, considering the TH and the intonation. Does anyone know any methods to improve the TH?

~please reply
thanks

The "th" sound is attached to "what".

Whath'_hell....

The vowel sound is weak - schwa -, and it turns out the "th" sound is not actually voiced in rapid speech. "Weak form" refers to the vowel sound.

What's taking place here is "elision". http://dictionary.reference.com/search?r=8&q=elision

There is a sound that is eliminated and a sound that changes when people say "what the hell" very fast.

People speak fast and don't think of slowing down to say "what - the hell".

Try this with other interrogatives. After "how" "th" is voiced. "how the hell"

[HaraKiriBlade]

You said your mother language is Korean... hmm... Let me take a stab at this.

Dear teachers, if you'll pardon me for using non-English language... I'm just going to romanize it.

hyuh kut ul wee areh ippal sai e gat da dat ta ga tte myun suh sori rul nap ni da.

Phew... that was hard. Hope it helped.

'th' in 'the' is always voiced. Correct me if I'm wrong.

[Steven D]

Originally Posted by HaraKiriBlade

You said your mother language is Korean... hmm... Let me take a stab at this.

Dear teachers, if you'll pardon me for using non-English language... I'm just going to romanize it.

hyuh kut ul wee areh ippal sai e gat da dat ta ga tte myun suh sori rul nap ni da.

Phew... that was hard. Hope it helped.

'th' in 'the' is always voiced. Correct me if I'm wrong.

Yes, "th" in "the" is always voiced. However, sometimes there's an exception. This can happen in rapid speech when it's linked to a word that ends in "t".

The books are here, but the CDs aren't.

The books are here, buthe CDs aren't. - Try saying it fast, and listen to what happens. One might say it's still voiced when speaking fast, but it's a lot weaker than when speaking slowly and not linking it to "but".

Can you get the CDs please?

Can you gethe CDs please?