Appendix:Shibboleths

This appendix lists shibboleths, in other words, expressions and phrases whose pronunciations are used to identify non-native speakers of a language or dialect or used as humorous tongue twisters that are difficult or impossible for non-native speakers.

New Zealand English

 * /  (sometimes jocularly spelt )
 * exhibits the centralisation of as, merging with
 * exhibits the centralisation of as, merging with

Northern Irish English

 * vs.
 * some consider aitch to be the form used by Protestants and haitch the form used by Catholics

Social shibboleths

 * supposedly parsed as by chemists and  by others
 * supposedly parsed as by chemists and  by others

Southern USA accent

 * exhibits the monophthongisation of the diphthong as
 * exhibits the monophthongisation of the diphthong as

Dutch

 * ("shield and friend")
 * Used during the to identify Frenchmen in Bruges.
 * Used during World War II to identify Germans from Dutch.
 * Used during World War II to identify Germans from Dutch.
 * Used during World War II to identify Germans from Dutch.

Finnish

 * Used in the 1918 civil war to detect Russians among captured combatants.
 * Used in the 1918 civil war to detect Russians among captured combatants.
 * Used in the 1918 civil war to detect Russians among captured combatants.


 * Consisting of back-to-back phonemes (y, ä, ö; aspirated h, rolling r) hard for any non-native speaker to pronounce without an accent, it was used in WWII to detect Russians from intercepting spoken messages.
 * Consisting of back-to-back phonemes (y, ä, ö; aspirated h, rolling r) hard for any non-native speaker to pronounce without an accent, it was used in WWII to detect Russians from intercepting spoken messages.
 * Consisting of back-to-back phonemes (y, ä, ö; aspirated h, rolling r) hard for any non-native speaker to pronounce without an accent, it was used in WWII to detect Russians from intercepting spoken messages.

French

 * Used to showcase the four French nasal vowels.
 * Used to showcase the four French nasal vowels.
 * Used to showcase the four French nasal vowels.

Georgian

 * Used to showcase the ejective consonants.
 * Used to showcase the ejective consonants.

Hebrew

 * The original shibboleth, mentioned in Judges 12:5–6 of the Hebrew Bible as a word that was used to detect Ephraimites fleeing a military defeat, because they couldn't pronounce it the way those from other tribes did.
 * The original shibboleth, mentioned in Judges 12:5–6 of the Hebrew Bible as a word that was used to detect Ephraimites fleeing a military defeat, because they couldn't pronounce it the way those from other tribes did.

Southern Brazilian accent

 * ("hot milk that hurts the teeth")

Russian

 * (Used to check German spies during World War II, German soldiers had difficulty pronouncing Russian and/or voiced consonants.) (, Behind the Volga there was no land for us. Sniper's Notes, First published in 1981.)

Spanish

 * Used during the to identify Haitians in the Dominican Republic.
 * Used during the to identify Haitians in the Dominican Republic.
 * Used during the to identify Haitians in the Dominican Republic.


 * (Latin America)
 * (Spain)
 * Used during the by Colombians to identify Spanish officials from locals.
 * Used during the by Colombians to identify Spanish officials from locals.

Ukrainian

 * During the 2022 Russo-Ukrainian war, this word was famously used by Ukrainians to identify enemy saboteurs. People from Russia struggle to pronounce it correctly, usually producing something like [pəlʲɪˈnʲitsə] on their first try, with the stressed /i/ being an especially noticeable mistake. The main difficulty for Russians is to pronounce a palatalised /t͡sʲ/, which is extremely rare, especially in such positions. Most Russians also tend to reduce an unstressed /ʲɐ/ to /ʲɪ/.
 * During the 2022 Russo-Ukrainian war, this word was famously used by Ukrainians to identify enemy saboteurs. People from Russia struggle to pronounce it correctly, usually producing something like [pəlʲɪˈnʲitsə] on their first try, with the stressed /i/ being an especially noticeable mistake. The main difficulty for Russians is to pronounce a palatalised /t͡sʲ/, which is extremely rare, especially in such positions. Most Russians also tend to reduce an unstressed /ʲɐ/ to /ʲɪ/.
 * During the 2022 Russo-Ukrainian war, this word was famously used by Ukrainians to identify enemy saboteurs. People from Russia struggle to pronounce it correctly, usually producing something like [pəlʲɪˈnʲitsə] on their first try, with the stressed /i/ being an especially noticeable mistake. The main difficulty for Russians is to pronounce a palatalised /t͡sʲ/, which is extremely rare, especially in such positions. Most Russians also tend to reduce an unstressed /ʲɐ/ to /ʲɪ/.

West Frisian

 * ,,  ;     ,     ("butter, bread, and green cheese; whoever can't say this is no genuine Frisian")
 * Used during the to identify non-Frisians.
 * Used during the to identify non-Frisians.
 * Used during the to identify non-Frisians.