Re: USAGE: Thorn vs Eth

i'm /EI"ti:n/ too. even when speaking high register. but high register
8th is /EItT/ ( altho /tT/ is realised as an affricate rather than a
cluster )

-----Original Message-----
From: Constructed Languages List [mailto:CONLANG@LISTSERV.BROWN.EDU] On
Behalf Of Nihil Sum
Sent: Friday, July 12, 2002 11:35 PM
To: CONLANG@LISTSERV.BROWN.EDU
Subject: Re: Thorn vs Eth


>>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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