Mark J. Reed wrote:
> On 3/12/06, John Vertical <johnvertical@...> wrote:
[snip]
>>two vowels, not an /i/ deriving from pre-GWS */E:/ - the spelling "theater"
>>would suggest that the <a> is /ei/.
>
>
> And it is indeed pronounced that way in much of the Southern US.
> /'Ti:.ei.tr\=/.
That 19th century pronunciation was /Ti'ejt@(r)/. It was with a shift of
stress from the middle to the first syllable that gave rise to the more
common modern pronunciations. The Southern US has merely kept the
original second vowel even after it has been destressed, while elsewhere
it has generally shifted to /E/ or /@/.
--
Ray
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