--- In
cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "tgpedersen" <tgpedersen@...> wrote:
> BTW what is the connection between English non-emphatic /dh&/,
> emphatic /dhi/ vs. Dutch article 'de' /d&/, demonstrative 'die' /di/?
I think I can answer the English part of the question. The distinction
was originally allophonic, the result of proclisis vs. emphasis. In
English, as in most languages, non-clitic monosyllables have
phonetically long vowels (regardless of whether the language in
question has any *phonemic* vowel-length distinctions). So the
original distinction in English was between clitic /dhE/ ~ /dh&/ and
non-clitic /dhe:/. The Great Vowel Shift made /e:/ change to /i:/,
giving /dhi:/. Presumably, Dutch underwent something similar.
- Rob