[tied] Re: PIE Word Formation (1)

--- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "Brian M. Scott" <BMScott@...> wrote:

>
> At 11:50:09 AM on Tuesday, April 4, 2006, Rob wrote:
>
> > --- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "Piotr Gasiorowski"
> > <gpiotr@> wrote:
>
> [...]
>
> >> Anyway, reduction in monosyllabic words can be blocked if
> >> it should yield unsyllabifiable output. E.g. English lost
> >> its final schwas ca. 1300, but not in grammatical words
> >> like <the> (the schwa has been restored even in sandhi
> >> forms like <th'Omnipotent>, once common)
>
> > In pronouncing "the Omnipotent" myself, I find that it is
> > very difficult to discern the schwa in the article from
> > the initial vowel from the noun.
>
> I wouldn't expect a schwa, but I'm a little surprised by
> [DA:m...]: the more usual pronunciation, I think, is
> [DiAm'nIp&t&nt] (where the [i] can vary towards [I] and the
> [A] towards [&]).

Yes, of course it can be pronounced that way too. The latter method,
IIRC, comes from monosyllabic lengthening of "the" (i.e. /De:/ >
/Di:/) before another vowel and/or for emphasis. However, some
dialects of English (e.g. Southern American English, my main dialect
now) tend to pronounce "the" as [D@] before consonants and [D] before
vowels, with compensatory lengthening of the following vowel. This
seems to be the way I handle it. Another example: "the apple" =
['D{:pl=].

- Rob