Minimal Pair List Consonants /ð/ versus /ʧ/, 22 pairs
The /ð/ sound is spelled with <th>. The /ʧ/ sound is spelled with <ch> or <tch>.
This is a contrast between a voiced dental fricative and a voiceless affricate, close together in the mouth. The contrast does not cause problems.
The mean density value is 1.4%. The list makes 15 semantic distinctions, a loading of 68%.
bother botcher
bothers botchers
breathe breach
breathing breaching
leather lecher
leathers lechers
leathery lechery
teethe teach
teething teaching
that chat
their chair
theirs chairs
there chair
these cheese
thine chine
those chose
thou chow
with which
with witch
withies witches
wreathe reach
wreathing reaching
.
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John Higgins
John Higgins retired in 2000, having spent the bulk of his career as a British Council English Language Officer working in Thailand, Turkey, Egypt and Yugoslavia and the last fifteen years in lectureships at Bristol University and then running an M.Sc. programme at Stirling University. His main field was EFL, with a special interest in CALL (computer-assisted language learning) in which, together with Tim Johns of Birmingham, he was responsible for important developments in methods and materials.
His publications include A Guide to Language Laboratory Material Writing, Universitetesforlaget, 1969, Computers and Language Learning, Collins, 1984, Language Learners and Computers, Longman, 1988, and Computers in English Language Learning, Intellect Press, 1992, together with numerous papers, reviews and pieces of software. He maintains a web page on minimal pairs and homographs for teachers of English pronunciation skills.
