How to say "either" and "neither"

[Benjamin Torbert]

I was told a story when I was in grade school by my English teacher, I
forget which one, about the genesis of /ai/-ther.  It's almost certainly
apocryphal, but I find it interesting nonetheless.  She said that it had
been /i/-ther for centuries, but when the Hanover kings came to England, so
I guess like starting with George I, they were German speakers and
interpreted as /ai/-ther and then everyone copied them.  The reason I find
this tale interesting is that there's a similar, almost certainly
apocryphal story about the prevalence of /theta/ in Castillian Spanish,
where everybody started copying a king.

BT


On Mon, Apr 22, 2013 at 6:34 AM, Barbara Need <bhneed at gmail.com> wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Barbara Need <bhneed at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: How to say "either" and "neither"
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> 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:
>
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> > 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
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >>
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> >> 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
> >>
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