Minimal Pair List Consonants /ð/ versus /ʤ/, 15 pairs
The /ð/ sound is spelled with <th>. The /ʤ/ sound is spelled with <ge>, <dge> or <j>.
This is a contrast between a dental fricative and an affricate, both voiced and close together in the mouth. Nevertheless, the contrast does not cause problems.
The mean density value is 0.7%. The list makes 11 semantic distinctions, a loading of 73%.
burthen burgeon
burthened burgeoned
burthening burgeoning
burthens burgeons
lather larger
leather ledger
leathers ledgers
than Jan
thee G
them gem
then gen
these G's
they J
they jay
though Jo
.
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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.
