1) The tip of the tongue softly touches the back of the upper front teeth (it can also touch the lower front teeth) The tongue does not usually protrude out of the mouth in British English. It is behind the teeth.
2) The sides of your tongue are touching the sides of your upper teeth. If you are not doing this then you will feel air blow against the inside of your cheeks. 3) Breathe out and you will feel air pass between your tongue and the upper teeth.
The Two TH Sounds: /θ/ and /ð/
There are two TH sounds in English. Both are made with the tongue in the position described above. The difference is as follows:
1. /θ/ is voiceless (i.e. the vocal folds do not vibrate) and fortis (i.e. there is more muscular effort and breath force). 2. /ð/ can be voiced (i.e. the vocal folds vibrate) and it is lenis (i.e. there is less muscular effort and breath force).
/θ/ and /ð/ do not occur in many languages. For this reason, non-native English speakers may substitute the sounds as follows: /θ/ may be replaced by one of the following: /t/ /f/ /s/ /ð/ may be replaced by one of the following: /d/ /v/ /z/
Notice that /θ/ is usually replaced with another voiceless/fortis sound and /ð/ is usually replaced with another potentially voiced/lenis sound. You’ll find more information on the next few pages.
