contrastive stress on "an"

Tue Nov 13 19:58:39 UTC 2007

I agree with dInIs, except that I need the /n/. WRT pomposity, I had
in mind hanginn' in the 'hood, where the usual usage, beginning with
my age group - I learned the now mainly-literary forms at home and not
merely in class -  has slowly changed: "I don' mean UH [^] chick, I
mean THUH [T^] chick." I could say /ej aen/ and /Di/ without startling
anybody own dih caona, but I would think twice, even among a group of
white people, though I snobbishly despise "UH" and "THUH" as the
emphatic forms.

-Wilson

On 11/13/07, Dennis R. Preston <preston at msu.edu> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       "Dennis R. Preston" <preston at MSU.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: contrastive stress on "an"
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Larry,
>
> Both /ey/ and /aen/ sound good to me; I think the contrastive stress
> does away with the /n/ requirement in the first (and I don't have the
> /n/ in colloquial usage anyhow). Fun variationist project: Does
> contrastive stress on "an" more often realize itself as /ey/ for
> speakers who don't have the nasal?
>
> dInIs
>
>
>
> >---------------------- Information from the mail header
> >-----------------------
> >Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> >Poster:       Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
> >Subject:      Re: thee for the
> >-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> >At 9:48 AM -0500 11/13/07, Wilson Gray wrote:
> >>How about emphatic "ay" for "a"? "I don't mean A man, I mean THE man."
> >>I still make this distinction, but it's beginning to feel a little
> >>pompous.
> >>
> >>-Wilson
> >
> >I still hear this a lot in contrastive (and not necessarily pompous)
> >contexts.  (Im on high alert for these because it's something I've
> >written about in papers.)  The tricky thing (for some speakers,
> >anyway) is when you want to contrast an "an" indefinite with a
> >"the(e)" definite, since "ayn" is impossible (unless you're referring
> >to the objectivist) and stressed "AEN" sounds a bit weird:
> >
> >It's not just A solution, it's THE solution.
> >??It's not just AN answer, it's THE answer.
> >
> >It's not THE factor, but it's A factor.
> >??He's not THE expert, but he's AN expert.
> >
> >LH
> >
> >>
> >>On 11/12/07, James Harbeck <jharbeck at sympatico.ca> wrote:
> >>>   ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> >>>-----------------------
> >>>   Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> >>>   Poster:       James Harbeck <jharbeck at SYMPATICO.CA>
> >>>   Subject:      thee for the
> >>>
> >>>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >>>
> >>>   A restaurant in the Agincourt part of Toronto (often called
> >>>   Asiancourt because of its high percentage of Chinese and other East
> >>>   Asian residents) is called Thee Asian Kitchen. You can find its
> >>>   website at http://www.theeasiankitchen.com/ . It serves Thai,
> >>>   Japanese, and Chinese cuisine. My initial take on it is that this is
> >>>   intended to be a somehow "classier" or more formal/archaic rendering
> >>>   of "the". It could, on the other hand, be a Thai name ("thee" is, I
> >>>   think, a word in Thai).
> >>>
> >>>   A little looking on the web finds Thee Bungalow,
> >>>   http://www.theebungalow.com/ , in San Diego -- it has apparently been
> >>>   there for 30 years. You can also find assorted hits if you Google
> >>>   |thee shoppe|, for instance http://www.theeamishshoppe.com/ and
> >>>   http://www.theeclockmaker.com/ .
> >>>
> >>>   Evidently this isn't especially uncommon or new (well, of course,
> >>>   "thee" can be seen for "the" in some Middle English texts) in
> >>>   signage, but I have to say I'm far more used to seeing "Ye" (always
> >>>   reanalyzed, of course -- nobody knows about thorn these days!). For
> >>>   this area in particular (Toronto and, more specifically, Agincourt),
> >>>   I think the "thee" is something new. The only other business I can
> >>>   find with "thee" in its name in the Toronto area in yellowpages.ca is
> >>>   Thee Place for Paws Grooming Studio in Barrie (an exurb of Toronto).
> >>>   I find three "Ye Oldes". (Googling "ye olde" gets 1,890,000; "thee
> >>>   olde" gets 3,630, but it would seem that "thee" can be used without
> >>>   the "olde" whereas "ye" always seems to get it -- I'm sure if anyone
> >>>   has exceptions I'll hear of it.)
> >>>
> >>>   I wonder whether "thee" use in this way is on the increase or
> >>>   decrease or is level.
> >>>
> >>>   Just incidentally, "kermit thee frog" gets 381 ghits. But I don't
> >>>   have a sense (purely impressionistically) that "thee" for emphatic
> >>>   "the" is really current.
> >>>
> >>>   James Harbeck.
> >>>
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> >>
> >>
> >>--
> >>All say, "How hard it is that we have to die"---a strange complaint to
> >  >come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
> >>-----
> >>                                                -Sam'l Clemens
> >>
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>
> --
> It should be the chief aim of a university professor to exhibit
> himself [sic] in his own true character - that is, as an ignorant man
> thinking, actively utilizing his small share of knowledge. Alfred
> North Whitehead
>
> Dennis R. Preston
> University Distinguished Professor
> Department of English
> Morrill Hall 15-C
> Michigan State University
> East Lansing, MI 48824-1036 USA
> Office: (517) 353-4736
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--
All say, "How hard it is that we have to die"---a strange complaint to
come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
-----
                                              -Sam'l Clemens

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