Consonants TH

Rural white southern English shows all of the mutations of /θ/ and /ð/ that African American speech is better known for, but they generally do not occur as often. Thus /θ/ may be realized as [t~tθ], usually by lower-status speakers, or, in syllable codas (e.g., both, birthday), occasionally as [f]. The [f] variant is much rarer in white speech than in African American speech. Mutations of /ð/ are more common. Realizations of /ð/ as [d~dð] may be increasing among young white males, though more study is needed. Assimilation of /ð/ to a preceding consonant, as in in nere for in there or up pat hill for up that hill, is fairly common. None of these variants can be described as a strictly Southern phenomenon.