Practice question · Estimate
Roughly what percentage of the world's languages have dental fricatives like the two th sounds of English?
Estimate on a scale from 0% (0) to 50% (50).
Hints
- They are among the rarest consonants there are.
- Well under a tenth of the languages sampled.
Show the answer
8 (answers within ±5 count)
Why
Under ten per cent. The rarity has consequences: they are among the last sounds English-speaking children acquire, among the first that learners substitute, and the reason Jenkins concludes they can be replaced without harming international intelligibility.
Practise Classifying Consonants
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More questions on Classifying Consonants
- Why is the label "voiceless alveolar plosive" a set of instructions rather than a name?
- Arrange these manners of articulation from the most complete obstruction of the airstream to the least.
- How many places of articulation does English use for its consonants?
- Which are true of approximants?
- Complete the classification.
- A student assumes that because /m/ and /p/ are both bilabial consonants, the vocal tract is closed entirely…
- Match each place of articulation to the articulators involved.