Consonants Initial fricative voicing

Parry (1999: 39) records the use of initial /v/ where RP has initial /f/ in first, four, furrow in south-eastern Powys, Monmouthshire, south Pembrokeshire and in south Gower. He also records one instance of /ð/ for /θ/ in third in west Powys (Parry 1999: 40). Such Initial Fricative Voicing, as Wells (1982: 343) calls it, is associated with west-country accents of England, where traditionally it can affect /f, θ , s, ʃ /. Penhallurick (1994: 145–148) provides evidence of voicing of initial /f, s/ in the southern half of the Gower Peninsula from the seventeenth century to the late twentieth century, though by the 1980s it was very much a relic feature in Gower English. Where it occurs, or has occurred, in Welsh English, Initial Fricative Voicing is no doubt due to longstanding influence from west English English.