Interdental fricatives

The stopping of voiced and voiceless interdental fricatives is one of the most stereotypical variables in English phonology, characterized by well-known icon such as dis, dat, and dem for this, that, and them. Studies of interdental fricatives in Bahamian varieties (Shilling 1978, 1980; Holm 1980; Wells 1982) show both similarities and differences with respect to the realization of the phonemes /θ/ and /ð/. Afro-Bahamians show a clear preference for stopping for both voiced and voiceless interdentals in all positions, as in tank for thank, toot for tooth, dat for that, and smood for smooth. Stopping of interdentals is, of course, the Caribbean creole model and the norm for the US creole Gullah. In syllable-coda position, there is little labialization of /θ/ as [f] and /ð/ as [v], respectively, (e.g. [tuf] for ‘tooth’ or [briv] for ‘breathe’) as found in African American Vernacular English (AAVE). In most respects, then, Afro-Bahamians are more likely to follow the creole norm of stopping than the North American AAVE model, in which stopping is favored in syllable-onset position and mostly restricted to [d] for /ð/. However, the levels of stopping in Afro-Bahamian speech do not appear to be as high as they are in other Afro-Caribbean varieties. Anglo-Bahamian speech is much more inclined to follow the widespread English norm, with some stopping for the voiced interdental /ð/ and infrequent stopping of the voiceless phoneme /θ/.

The stopping of voiceless interdentals serves as an important ethnolinguistic divide between Afro-Bahamian and Anglo-Bahamian speech, and quantitative studies of interdental fricatives in The Bahamas have revealed the significance of this disparity. At the same time, these studies have indicated some unpredictable results. Although it is not surprising to see a preference for the stopped variants among Afro-Bahamians, studies of outlying black and white speech communities in Abaco show that Anglo-Bahamians are more likely than their black cohorts to delete or assimilate initial stops. That is, white speakers are more likely to produce ‘at’s all for that’s all or an’nen for and then, although it is not a particularly frequent phonetic production for either group.