I’m not disagreeing with your larger point but I don’t necessarily buy the part of your explanation saying
This is easily demonstrable since “a” and “the” have the same vowel sound in fluent speech (for most dialects of English), but while we get “a cat” but “an apple”, we don’t get “the cat”, but “then apple”
because in most dialects (at least of American English) “the” before a consonant uses ə while before a vowel sound it’s ē.
I don’t think that’s accurate, but I’d be happy to see a source proving me wrong. I looked briefly, but wasn’t able to find a paper dealing with that alternation specifically (though I didn’t look very long, and there may very well be one).
Also, I’m pretty sure that for the dialects that do use “strong the”, they also use “strong a” in exactly the same environments, which to my mind makes it a non-issue.
Either way, there are plenty of other ways to get a word-final unstressed schwa followed by a word-initial stressed vowel, and we never see an “n” repair in any of those other situations either - the important point is that this is a process centered entirely around a single lexical item, and it doesn’t make sense for a process affecting a single lexical item in a common environment to be “easing pronunciation”.
Also, I’m pretty sure that for the dialects that do use “strong the”, they also use “strong a” in exactly the same environments, which to my mind makes it a non-issue.
It is well established and the basis of this conversation that in the context in question (bevor a vowel), “an” is used and not “strong a”. I don’t know how you come to this conclusion.
Geoff is fine. I’ve brought up his videos in some sociolinguistics discussions I’ve had recently, but he’s no substitute for peer-reviewed research, and he’s a bit too light on theory to appeal to me casually. Too much of the “what”, too little of the “why”.
I’m not disagreeing with your larger point but I don’t necessarily buy the part of your explanation saying
because in most dialects (at least of American English) “the” before a consonant uses ə while before a vowel sound it’s ē.
I don’t think that’s accurate, but I’d be happy to see a source proving me wrong. I looked briefly, but wasn’t able to find a paper dealing with that alternation specifically (though I didn’t look very long, and there may very well be one).
Also, I’m pretty sure that for the dialects that do use “strong the”, they also use “strong a” in exactly the same environments, which to my mind makes it a non-issue.
Either way, there are plenty of other ways to get a word-final unstressed schwa followed by a word-initial stressed vowel, and we never see an “n” repair in any of those other situations either - the important point is that this is a process centered entirely around a single lexical item, and it doesn’t make sense for a process affecting a single lexical item in a common environment to be “easing pronunciation”.
It is well established and the basis of this conversation that in the context in question (bevor a vowel), “an” is used and not “strong a”. I don’t know how you come to this conclusion.
Also check out this amasing video by the one and only Dr Geoff Lindsey about weak forms if you want to educate yourself and of cause the on topic one about the indefinte article that also talks about “strong the”
Geoff is fine. I’ve brought up his videos in some sociolinguistics discussions I’ve had recently, but he’s no substitute for peer-reviewed research, and he’s a bit too light on theory to appeal to me casually. Too much of the “what”, too little of the “why”.