thee or tha?

[Bailey]

I got into an argument last night about the two pronunciations of the; I tried to explain it's the way they are used if it's Thee or tha. but the other persoin insisted it was regional, I know she was wrong.

mark trying-to-keep-the-peace-but-correct Bailey

[sluggo]

I got into an argument last night about the two pronunciations of the; I tried to explain it's the way they are used if it's Thee or tha. but the other persoin insisted it was regional, I know she was wrong.

mark trying-to-keep-the-peace-but-correct Bailey

We know too Seems to me it's "thƏ" (that's spozta be a schwa off the AAaccented character list but not working)
-unless singularity is stressed, then "thee".

[Bailey]

OooooooooooooKay, I'm sure she'll understand that.

mark not-too-sure-what-with-the-boxes-and-all Bailey

[sluggo]

OooooooooooooKay, I'm sure she'll understand that.

mark not-too-sure-what-with-the-boxes-and-all Bailey

The box is supposed to come out as a schwa, looking like e upside down, representing a nonspecific and very unstressed (remember that?) vowel-grunt. I tried to paste it from the "More Emoticons and Accented Characters" bank but it doesn't work and shows as a box. Almost equivalent to what you first wrote as tha but with no stress (remember that?).

Just give 'er the link, that'll keep her busy. Or else she might expand for us on regional dialects?

[Palewriter]

If we're only talking about the definite article, then as far as I know, it's /ðə/ unless it's followed by a vowel. Then it's /ði:/.

It's not regional unless, of course, the person you were arguing with was a) your spouse and/or b) extremely attractive in which case all rules default to the "you're absolutely right, dear"-rule.

-- PW

[Huny]

I got into an argument last night about the two pronunciations of the; I tried to explain it's the way they are used if it's Thee or tha. but the other persoin insisted it was regional, I know she was wrong.

mark trying-to-keep-the-peace-but-correct Bailey

With me, it just depends on the word that follows "the" that determines how I pronounce it. Of course I can't think of any examples right now because my brain had suddenly developed a severe case of gridlock.

[Bailey]

With me, it just depends on the word that follows "the" that determines how I pronounce it. Of course I can't think of any examples right now because my brain had suddenly developed a severe case of gridlock.

exactly, I had that same problem last night.


mark can't-think-of-the-right-word Bailey

[Perry]

See pronounciation here. I tried to just copy the entry here, but the pronounciation characters didn't paste.

[Palewriter]

See pronounciation here. I tried to just copy the entry here, but the pronounciation characters didn't paste.

Jeez, Perry, save yourself the bother of pasting. I made the same point in one sentence about three posts ago.

Of course, my characters didn't really come across that well either, but then I've always suspected that I had a serious character flaw.

-- PW

[Bailey]

Dang, PW, you are right again, she was also right, I had to give in, even though I knew I was correct.

mark never-can-win-one Bailey

[Perry]

See pronounciation here. I tried to just copy the entry here, but the pronounciation characters didn't paste.

Jeez, Perry, save yourself the bother of pasting. I made the same point in one sentence about three posts ago.

Of course, my characters didn't really come across that well either, but then I've always suspected that I had a serious character flaw.

-- PW

Yes you did. But I thought that a bit of corroboration was in order.

[Palewriter]

Yes you did. But I thought that a bit of corroboration was in order.

Totally.

-- PW