free variation in pronunciation

Charles Wells charles at FREUDE.COM
Mon Apr 2 17:16:09 UTC 2001


I have always felt that the nye-ther pronunciation was pretentious, and so was
surprised recently when everyone except me in my church choir insisted on that
pronunciation in an anthem we were singing.  (Maybe it's because it is an
Episcopal choir.)  There is certainly no free variation in that group: a 8 to 1
preference for nye-ther.

This may be a difference between the USA and Britain.


>_Either_ and _neither_ have two pronunciations each, and as far as I can
>tell they are in absolutely free variation within certain speech
>communities and even speakers.  Sometimes I've heard the claim that one or
>the other pronunciation is more emphatic, but I've seen little empirical
>evidence to back this up.



Charles Wells,
Emeritus Professor of Mathematics, Case Western Reserve University
Affiliate Scholar, Oberlin College
Send all mail to:
105 South Cedar St., Oberlin, Ohio 44074, USA.
email: charles at freude.com.
home phone: 440 774 1926.
professional website: http://www.cwru.edu/artsci/math/wells/home.html
personal website: http://www.oberlin.net/~cwells/index.html
NE Ohio Sacred Harp website: http://www.oberlin.net/~cwells/sh.htm



More information about the Ads-l mailing list