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Re: NATLANG: Long/Short Variations in English

From:Roger Mills <rfmilly@...>
Date:Thursday, May 27, 2004, 20:20
Rob Haden wrote:
> I was wondering if anyone had an explanation for some long/short > variations > of words in English. Here are the words: > > "a": /@/ ~ /a/ vs. /e:/ (< /a:/)
This one I'm unsure about, but one does hear lots of people using [e] where [@] would be expected. Once upon a time, [e] was emphatic, sometimes you can still glimpse emphasis, but not always. Sometimes, it also seems to be replacing "an", so maybe we're getting an alternation [@] before C, [e] before V, parallel to [D@] ~[Di]. Sais pas. A puzzlement.
> "the": /D@/ vs. /Di:/ (< /De:/)
See above. [Di:] is simply the variant called for before an initial vowel. Individual usage does vary, but isn't "supposed" to........ "The man..." [D@'m&n], "the apple..." [Di'(j)&p@l] vs. "_The_ man" ['Di'm&n] emphatic, OK; "the apple" ?*[D@'&p@l] not particularly euphonious, usually requires a glottal stop [D@'?&ap@l] and frankly sounds wrong to fuddy-duddies like me........
> "to": /t_h@/ vs. /t_hu:/ (< /t_ho:/) > "you": /j@/ ~ /ja/ vs. /ju:/
These are simply fast/informal speech vs. slower/more formal.