2C, 2D: Pronunciation of the Letters, f, þ/ð, and h

For Exercise 2C, listen to each sound clip (click on the Old English word) and then reproduce the pronunciation you hear (it will be helpful to refer to the descriptions in A Gentle Introduction as well).

For Exercise 2D, read each word aloud, then click to check your pronunciation.

If you have difficulty loading the audio files, please listen along with the YouTube video.

The consonants s, f, and þ, ð are pronounced as follows:

• s is pronounced like Modern English s at the beginning of a word, at the end of a word, or if it is next to an unvoiced consonant within a word, but like Modern English z if it comes between two vowels or between a vowel and a voiced consonant within a word.
• f is pronounced like Modern English f at the beginning of a word, at the end of a word, or if it is next to an unvoiced consonant within a word, but like Modern English v if it comes between two vowels or between a vowel and a voiced consonant within a word.
• þ and ð are pronounced like Modern English th in the word thin (i.e. the unvoiced sound) at the beginning of a word, at the end of a word, or if one of them is next to an unvoiced consonant within a word, but like Modern English th in the word that (i.e. the voiced sound) if one of them comes between two vowels or between a vowel and a voiced consonant within a word. (These two letters are alternate writings of the same consonant sound.)

• The letter h is pronounced just like Modern English h if it occurs at the beginning of a word.
  • If it occurs after a vowel, it is pronounced as a kind of rough breathing, with the tongue tense and pressed towards, but not touching, the roof of the mouth. The actual sound depends on what kind of a vowel it comes after.
  • If it is after a vowel that is pronounced at the front of the mouth (for example, i or e), it is also pronounced
    at the front of the mouth, and ../sounds like the consonant you hear in the
    German word “ich.” (If you don’t know German, you can approximate this sound by pronouncing the sh sound of Modern English with your teeth farther apart, your lips laxer, and your tongue quite a bit tenser.)
  • If the h is after a vowel that is pronounced at the
    back of the mouth (for example, o or a),
    it is pronounced at the back of the mouth, and ../sounds like the Scots pronunciation of last consonant sound in the word loch. If you don’t know what that means and Braveheart is out of the video store, you can get closest to this sound by hawking as if to spit.