Re: USAGE: Thorn vs Eth

Muke Tever wrote:
> Well, I know I have geminate /t/ in them.  It is easier to tell as it does not
> turn into [4] as ordinary intervocalic /t/ does (compare "fourteen" with
> "sorting", "eighteen" with "Nadine"?)
Well, sorting is stressed on the first syllable, while fourteen can be
stressed on either depending on context.  I'd say eightéen potátoes, for
example, but éighteen mén, to avoid having two stressed syllables in a
row, and /t/ doesn't become flap before stressed vowels, as in
[p_h@'t_hej*ow] "potato".  Altho, eighteen with initial stress still has
[t_h], but then, so do "thirteen", "fourteen", "fifteen", "sixteen",
"seventeen", and "nineteen".  Seventeen has secondary stress on the
-teen if the following word does not have primary stress.  So, perhaps
it's because the /tin/ syllable has underlying stress that it remains
/t/ rather than /*/

> Well, we also have "eighth" with one <t> standing for /tT/
Presumably because English doesn't allow {tth}, but it does allow {tt}.

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