free variation in pronunciation

[Alice Faber]

Charles Wells wrote:
>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.

Agreed. Either and neither with /ai/ have always struck me as
pretentious, and, consequently, I pronounce both with /e/, unless I'm
*trying* to be pretentious, not something I often do. But, I think
Lynne was asking about people for whom it's *not* pretentious and who
use the two pronunciations interchangeably.
--
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Alice Faber                                             faber at haskins.yale.edu
Haskins Laboratories                                  tel: (203) 865-6163 x258
New Haven, CT 06511 USA                                     fax (203) 865-8963