Re: What do you call it

I think the term you want is "free variation"... however...

I think "thee" [Di] is more likely used before words that start with
vowels... "the apple" [Di &pl=]... whereas "thuh" [D@] is more likely
used before words that start with consonants... "the car" [D@ kar],
"the year" [D@ jir]...

-tim
http://www.zece.com/conlang/




#
# When a single word has two alternate pronunciations, amongst the same
# population (that is, each and every person would say it either way, freely),
# depending on context or a desire to make it rhyme?  I see this with "the"
# all the time -- when someone says it normally, it *usually* rhymes with the
# vowel in "sun."  But, quite often, people switch it to rhyming with "see" or
# "be" -- sometimes to make it rhyme (in the new O-Town song, "I Showed Her,"
# I counted an even number of "the" as "thee" and "the" as "thuh" instances,
# entirely based on when they needed to rhyme and when they were just in the
# middle of a sentence).  Other times, I've heard it used as "thee" when
# someone is trying to sound snooty, or whatever.  I've also noticed that when
# I read a piece of text using "the", sometimes I read it one way and
# sometimes the other -- but when I give my sister the same text, she'll
# choose to say it all the same way I did, even if she wasn't hearing me.  So,
# anyway, is there a name for this phenomenon, or have I just lost my mind
# (some more)?
#
# Sarah Marie Parker-Allen
# lloannna@surfside.net
# http://www.geocities.com/lloannna.geo
# http://lloannna.blogspot.com
#
# "I will not turn into a snake. It never helps." -- Rules for the Evil
# Overlord
#
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