Re: USAGE: Thorn vs Eth
| From: | Nihil Sum <nihilsum@...> |
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| Date: | Friday, July 12, 2002, 22:35 |
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>>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
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