The replacement of interdental fricatives [θ, ð] by stops [t, d]

Interdental fricatives are highly marked sounds: they are rare in the languages of the world and learned late by children. The substitutions for interdental fricatives most frequently reported in the literature are the dental stops [t, d]. They are well known as variables throughout most of the United States, and maybe wherever English is spoken. As Rubrecht (1971:152) mentions, the paradigm “dis, dat, dese, dose” is well-known in Louisiana to describe how Cajuns talk. There is no lack of speculation about the sources of the substitutions but one fact is fairly clear, all of them are stigmatized.