Re: Probability of Article Replacement?

On Tuesday 25 February 2003 8:27 pm, John Cowan wrote:
> Joe scripsit:
> > I think one may be discarded by a process of elision.  'the' is doing
> > this in some english dialects, especially after a glottal stop.  It
> > usually still is there, as a very weak [@]. ie. 'at the pool' [&?@ puM/].
>
> I would understand that as "at a pool", so I doubt that version will catch
> on, since it obliterates an essential distinction.
Well, it seems to be quite common in England, which means, I suppose that it
has 'caught on', to some degree.  Anyway, there are a few other effects -
first, it glottalises the final consonant: (eg. Mac the cat [m&k_?_}@k&?] ( I
know, that was a rather random example, but hey).  In some cases, the schwa
is completely ommited, and the preceding vowel [m&:kk&?].

As I mentioned before, it is very weak, almost so weak as to be undetectable.
So I can predict, at least in those dialects, that the definite article is
heading towards oblivion.

It's odd...colloquial British speech is so far removed from standard english
that it's barely similar. In TV programmes(even soaps) it's hugely watered
down.  And my dialect(which is what I'm taking these examples from), is
pretty RP-ish.  The standard greeting in British youth culture is 'alright?'.
It generally sounds like [O@i?], with a rising tone.  I sometimes wonder how
(or if) Americans can understand us Brits having a conversation with each
other in allegro colloquial speech.

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