Re: USAGE: ei and ej (was: Front vowel tensing)

Dan Jones wrote:

>tristan alexander mcleay wrote:
>
>>Anything to do with australian or british phonemics i've seen uses /ai/
>>as a single syllable. /naif/ vs /naiji:v/ is what i have, /p&i/ vs
>>
>/p&ijIN/.
>
>>And, IME (experience), the brits use /eI/ for 'pay', unless they are
>>northern and use [e:].
>>
>
>I don't know why but the phrase "unless they are northern" made me giggle.
>You seem to imply that all non-RP dialects are "northern". Also, I would
>think of /pe:/ as much more of a posh pronunciation than my /p&@j/.
>
What I say and what I mean don't always correspond. What I meant was
they used a diphthong (or triphthong (or quadrophthong?)), unless
they're northern (I think. Or something.), when its a monophthong. And
anyway, I never said that was a law, or anything. I did put a disclaimer
there.

And I would think /Ei/, /e:/, /ei/ all posher than my /&i/.

>>and so its /peI/ vs /peIIN/, I think.
>>
>
>/p@jIN/, actually, if people are civilised and come from the midlands. Bear
>in mind that most English people (the distinction is still preserved in
>Wales and Scotland IIRC) pronounce the verb ending -ing as /In/, anyway.
>
By this stage, I think its clear what I meant. I never was too good at
communicating my ideas. There simply aren't enough words to discribe
half-thoughts.

Maybe I should just keep my mouth closed. Then I can't say something
unclear.

Tristan

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