AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE PRONUNCIATION OF THE FRICATIVES /θ/ AND /ð/ EXPERIENCED BY THE STUDENTS AT THAI PHIEN HIGH SCHOOL – PROBLEMS AND SOLUTIONS

Abstract

In the process of analysis, we only take the problematic sounds /θ/ and /ð/ into consideration, other segments constituting the words- in some case they are wrongly pronounced- are ignored. Other aspects of pronunciation in the larger sense, say intonation, stress or rhyme, are not included in the analysis. In addition, the term “consonants”, which generally refer to both consonant letters and consonant sounds, indicate consonant sounds/ phonemes only within this study. Finally as the focus is on two sounds /θ/ and /ð/, exceptions to the enunciation of ‘th’- like /t/ in Thailand, Thomas or silent ‘th’ in “asthma”, “isthmus”…are left out .