Adults versus Teenagers: Realisations of the English Voiceless Dental Fricative by Dutch Speakers

Abstract

This study investigates the realisations of the English voiceless dental fricative [θ] by Dutch teenage and adult speakers of English. Forty-two Dutch participants were asked to complete a production task containing thirty occurrences of /θ/ equally divided over syllable-initial, medial and syllable-final position. The results indicated that Dutch L2 speakers of English realise /θ/ most often as accurate [θ], inaccurate [t] and [f]. Position of /θ/ matters most for accurate realisation as [θ] in medial position, where [t] is more frequent than [θ]. The number of [d] realisations is highest in medial position, and [f] realisations is highest for syllable-final position. Data reveals that adults generally realise /θ/ as [t]. By contrast, teenagers generally have a higher number of both target [θ] and [f] realisations. This difference between the two groups is a significant trend for ScoreF. Teenagers also report more contact with the English language than the adult participants.