Re: USAGE: Thorn vs Eth

Nihil Sum wrote:
> You hear "fourteen" and "eighteen" as either /fo:rti:n/ , /eiti:n/ or as
> /fortti:n/ , /eitti:n/.
I never hear them with geminated /t/'s.  I was unaware that gemination
existed at all in English except in obvious compounds like "book-keeper"
or "pen-knife", but even in those it's not that unusual to hear single
consonants.

And the spelling "eighteen" suggests that the single /t/ pronunciation
is very old.

On the other hand, a stop that follows an accented syllable may
sometimes sound longer.  Perhaps that's what you're hearing?  I.e.,
sometimes fóurteen, éighteen, etc. and sometimes fourtéen, eightéen.

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