From: Mark E. Shoulson (mark@kli.org)
Date: Mon Feb 07 2011 - 16:28:24 CST
On 02/07/2011 04:56 PM, Charlie Ruland wrote:
> AFAIK the letter þorn, like the present-day English digraph th,
> represented TWO most important consonants: the voiceless/fortis
> apico-dental slit fricative, as in ‘thin’ /θɪn/, and the voiced/lenis
> one of ‘then’ /ðɛn/.
> Charlie
>
I think that is correct, though ð was also used for both sounds (it
seems to be widely believed that þ was only voiceless and ð was only
voiced, but that was not the case). And of course, having two solutions
to a problem only made both of them weaker. I guess that should apply
to "th" also, but apparently instead it made them easier to sweep away
before the digraph.
~mark
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