How to say "either" and "neither"

[Barbara Need]

And in eighth grade, in Andover, MA (a long time ago), I used the "UK"
pronunciation and was called on it by a classmate—and I replied, "You
can pronounce it [ai]ther way." I have not tracked my use over the
years, but I suspect the UK pronunciation predominates, but I might,
sometimes, use the "US" one. Language varies; that is what makes it
interesting.

Barbara
Etna

On 22 Apr 2013, at 6:36 AM, Tom Zurinskas wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Tom Zurinskas <truespel at HOTMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: How to say "either" and "neither"
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Interestingly, thefreedictionary.com has the word "either" spoken in
> US as ~eether and in UK as EYE-ther ~iether (~ie as in "tie").  I
> noticed that Rachael Maddow who was raised in California says
> ~iether.  But she got her political science doctorate at Oxford,
> where it would be ~iether.
>
> I think prez Obama says ~iether as well.
>
> I wonder what "unnatural" sounds like.  http://www.manythings.org/audio/sentences/256.html
>
> Interesting "dialect blog" site   http://dialectblog.com/
>
>
> Tom Zurinskas, Conn 20 yrs, Tenn 3, NJ 33, now Fl 9.
> See how English spelling links to sounds at http://justpaste.it/ayk
>
>
>
>
>
>
>>
>> ---------------------- 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: How to say "either" and "neither"
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>> On Apr 21, 2013, at 11:06 PM, Tom Zurinskas wrote:
>>
>>> Several times on TV news for "either" I've been hearing EYE-ther
>>> instead of EE-ther which is what the dictionaries say is US accent
>>> and what I'm used to. Is someone promoting EYE-ther. Perhaps UK.
>>>
>>>
>> I'd say invest in some new dictionaries. The ones I have list both
>> pronunciations; either seems natural to me. The /i/ pronunciation
>> is more frequent in the U.S. to be sure, but variation doesn't mean
>> a plot, or even a promotion campaign. Maybe, as the song suggests,
>> you could call the whole thing off.
>>
>> LH
>>
>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org