If you’re an American who has ever watched British shows, you may be familiar with a sound the Brits make that’s virtually missing from American speech — substituting “th” with the letters “f” or “v.” It’s called TH-fronting and it results in words like “thing” becoming “fing,” or “brother” becoming “bruvver.” It can also make “three” and “free” sound identical. The TH-sounds that exist in most types of English are technically known as dental fricatives. There are just two of them: soft TH, placed in the middle or end of words; and hard TH, placed at the beginning of words like “this.” Both of these sounds are produced by placing the tongue tip between the teeth or just behind the upper teeth. While not every native speaker of English does TH-fronting, it seems to be more prevalent in England. Up until the late 20th century TH-fronting was common in speakers of Australian English from North Brisbane and the Sunshine Coast of Queensland. This may stem from the relatively high number of London cockneys who settled there during the Queensland gold rushes of the 19th century.
