There is a group of (probably) unrelated English accents, from Southeast England, North Country, and African-American Vernacular, that pronounces f for the unvoiced th, especially initially (frew the woods instead of through the woods), and v for the voiced th, especially later in a word (muvver for mother). We associate it most strongly with Cockney here.
You can keep up from context when talking about the Bayeux Tapestry and the Frone of England or "his wife Ediff," but throughout the whole discussion I never did stop smirking every time they discussed the Oath Panel.
A similar development in Post-Proto-Italic is why we speak of facts rather than thacts and barbers rather than barders.
ReplyDeleteWhat is your take on the regional pronunciations of "roof"? The standard pronunciation is "rufe." (as in "rude.") I grew up in NE CT pronouncing it "ruf." as in "put." I and someone from my hometown once had a discussion on that with someone from Hartford, who pronounced it the standard way.
ReplyDeleteI'll give it a look, but my first thought was of my stepfather from North Haven, who for the road-word route said "rout" even after living in New Hampshire for decades, which said "root." My older stepbrother said "rout," and remained a Yankees fan, my younger stepbrother said "root" and was a Red Sox fan.
ReplyDeleteAs literacy was high throughout New England since the early 17th C there had to be more interaction between what was printed and what was heard than occurred in other regions or indeed, most of England. But I don't know why. I'll see what was up if I can.