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Re: USAGE: Thorn vs Eth

From:Nihil Sum <nihilsum@...>
Date:Friday, July 12, 2002, 22:35
>>I was wondering: is there anyone who actually pronounces sixth as /sIksT/ >>like every dictionary I've seen says? For some reason I have a hard time >>pronouncing /sT/.
I do. fifth /fIfT/ sixth /sIksT/ ... Now here's a weird one: almost everyone I know (self included)says "eighth" like /eitT/, while on TV I sometimes hear /eiT/. More of an "eight-th" than an "eigh-th". An extra /t/ sound! It makes sense though, because the word is "eight" + "th". BUT... You hear "fourteen" and "eighteen" as either /fo:rti:n/ , /eiti:n/ or as /fortti:n/ , /eitti:n/. It makes sense with 18, since it's made of "eight" plus "teen"... but I hear the extra /t/ in 14 all the time. I just noticed, also an extra /t/ in "thirteen" /fortti:n/ (am I using the IPA stuff correctly here?) Merriam Webster, that odd hermit woman who writes nothing but dictionaries, confirms that these extra "t"s are acceptable. I know a lot of dialects don't have them though. An Australian friend of mine never says them: "thir-teen", "four-teen" and even "eigh-teen" (where there SHOULD be one!)
>while my width is normally /wIdT/ ...
Mine too. /wIdT/ or /witT/. I hear both very often (I've been listening very closely to people since this thread came up). NS _________________________________________________________________ Join the world’s largest e-mail service with MSN Hotmail. http://www.hotmail.com

Replies

Nik Taylor <fortytwo@...>
Tristan McLeay <kesuari@...>
Joe <joe@...>
Matthew Butt <m.butt@...>