At 09:54 4/12/2003 -0400, [log in to unmask] wrote:
> I'm wondering how "the" is pronounced in the following seven cases: the
> United Kingdom, the United Nations, the university, the year, the yen,
> the young, the youth.
Because of the Easter break, I don't think anyone has replied to you.
My opinion would be that in slow careful speech we have the expected [D@]
before the consonant [j], but that in faster conversational speech the
[-@j-] sequence may indeed be slurred into a kind of [i].
In slow speech 'the year' [D@jI@] and 'the ear' [DiI@] are different,
likewise 'the yen' and 'the en(d)', 'the young' and 'the un(grateful)'. But
at conversational speed they may be identical.
Remember, though, that we are inclined to poke fun at people from South
Wales for pronouncing 'year' and 'ear' identically. So the rest of us
certainly *believe* that we always make a difference between them - even
though at some speeds it may be imperceptible for the listener.
John Wells
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