Atlas of Pidgin and Creole Language Structures Online

The sounds [θ] and [ð] (as in English thick and this, respectively) are commonly called interdental fricatives, though Maddieson (2005c: 83) calls them dental nonsibilant fricatives. They represent a less loud and lower-pitched sound than the sibilants [s] and [z]. In Maddieson’s (2005c) world-wide sample, they occur only in about 8% of the languages, so they are quite uncommon. But they are found sporadically on all continents.

Among the languages of APiCS, interdental fricatives are found in 16 languages:

	[θ] and [ð] are major allophones	3
	[θ] and [ð] are minor allophones	6
	[θ] and [ð] exist only in loanwords	3
	Only [ð] exists, as a minor allophone	3
	Only [θ] exists, in a limited way	1
	Neither [θ] nor [ð] exists	60
Representation:		76

11 of these languages are English-based, and they inherited their [θ] and [ð] sounds from English. But the majority of English-based languages have replaced these sounds by [t] and [d], respectively. This can be seen easily for the demonstratives this and that, which appear in the following ways in typical English-based pidgins and creoles:

[θ] and [ð] are major allophones in African American English and in Norf’k. They are found as minor allophones in Bahamian, Belizean and Nicaraguan Creole (three less basilectal Caribbean English Creole varieties). In addition, they are found in the Asian varieties Singlish and Chinese Pidgin English. In other English-based varieties, they are only found in loanwords, or only [θ] or only [ð] are found.

The most striking case of a non-English-based variety with [θ] and [ð] is Portuguese-based Angolar in the Gulf of Guinea, where the former [s] and [z] sounds turned into [θ] and [ð] (except in front of [i]). For some discussion of Angolar interdentals, see Maurer (1992) and Parkvall (2000: 32).