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

From:tristan alexander mcleay <zsau@...>
Date:Tuesday, July 3, 2001, 4:25
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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Raymond Brown <ray.brown@...>