There is no such thing as a 'British' accent as there are loads of different accents in the UK.
This post will focus on pronunciation in the standard southern British English accent, which is a variant of what's known as RP, or received pronunciation. It's the accent that you'll see transcribed in the Oxford or Cambridge dictionaries.
Today, you'll learn about how to pronounce THÂ in this British accent.
Here's a video explaining everything, or just keep reading below.
How To Pronounce TH: Tongue Placement
The first important thing is to know what speakers of this accent do with their tongue: they have their tongue in one of two places:
The tongue is just in-between the teeth;
Or the tip of the tongue just behind the back of the top teeth.
The one that lots of people in the UK tend to use, and in my opinion is a little easier, is placing the tongue just in-between the teeth. It doesn't have to be out very far, just a little bit. However, and it's a big however, the most important thing is to touch your teeth as lightly as you can. The pressure between your tongue and your teeth makes a massive, massive difference.
If you touch the teeth with the tongue as lightly as possible, the sound is allowed to escape over the tongue, which makes it a long hissing or buzzing sound.
S and Z sounds belong to the same family as TH. Say Z and notice that it is a long buzzing sound. The tongue is in a different place but the quality is similar to that of a TH in words like 'this', 'that' and 'them'. Try saying an S and notice that it is a long hissing sound - it's just air. The tongue is in a different place but the quality is similar to that of a TH in words like 'thing', 'thought' and 'Thursday'.
Voiced and Voiceless
The second important thing is that there are two types of TH: voiceless and voiced. There are lots of sounds made in this accent that are made in exactly the same way and are only different in whether or not they are voiced and voiceless.
Voiced sounds are made of vibration.
Voiceless sounds are made only of air.
S and Z are made with part of the tongue close to the gum ridge but an S is voiceless whereas a Z is voiced.
P and B are made with the lips closing and then opening suddenly but P is voiceless whereas a B is voiced.
You can tell whether a sound is voiced or voiceless by putting a couple of fingers on your larynx, which is just on the front of your throat, underneath your chin. Try S and Z and notice that for S there is no sensation whereas for Z their is a buzzing feeling on your fingers.
Here are some voiced TH words to practice:
these, those, there, slither, gather, wither, with, loath, seethe
Here are some voiceless TH words to practice:
thing, Thursday, thanks, mathematics, Matthew, Bartholomew, both, eighth
Phonetic Symbols
You cannot tell from the writing which is a voiced and which is a voiceless TH. The only way you can know for certain, other than getting help with a coach, is to look for the phonetic transcription in a dictionary.
ð is the phonetic symbol for a voiced TH
θ is the symbol for a voiceless TH
If in doubt, go to a dictionary. You may not understand all the symbols, but if you see one of those two then you'll know that it's a voiced or a voiceless TH respectively.
How To Do A Britsh Accent Course - free
Before I share with you some sentences that you can practice with, it's just worth knowing that I have a free course on the standard southern British English accent.
Here are some practice sentence:
Putting on her thimble, Beth threaded the needle. Father Benjamin sat in the cathedral listening to the thunder.
Keith was a thick set man with thinning hair and crooked teeth.
Both Ruth and Garth sat beneath the shelter, their teeth chattering and as the snow thawed.
I also have a comprehensive eBook with 12 hrs of audio, that covers this and every aspect of pronunciation and intonation in a Standard Southern British English accent.
Written by...
Ashley Howard MA, a UK voice coach with 18+ years experience, can help you speak the way you've always wanted to speak.
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