Pronunciation of "either" / "neither"
Berkeley Brett
1) How do you pronounce "either" and "neither" (with the long "e"
sound, or the long "i" sound)?
and
2) Do you know the regional breakdowns of these pronunciations?
Thanks in advance for any thoughts you might care to share on EITHER
question!
--
Brett
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Skitt
> Just two quick questions:
>
> 1) How do you pronounce "either" and "neither" (with the long "e"
> sound, or the long "i" sound)?
>
> and
>
> 2) Do you know the regional breakdowns of these pronunciations?
>
> Thanks in advance for any thoughts you might care to share on EITHER
> question!
I do it either way, as the mood strikes me. I don't believe there are any
regional divisions for those pronunciations, but I could be wrong.
--
Skitt
has lived in these places:
http://www.geocities.com/opus731/places.html
Adrian Bailey
news:5c637428-31f0-4a59...@a35g2000prf.googlegroups.com...
> Just two quick questions:
>
> 1) How do you pronounce "either" and "neither" (with the long "e"
> sound, or the long "i" sound)?
both
> 2) Do you know the regional breakdowns of these pronunciations?
I'm not sure there is one. I think the E pronunciation is the more usual
one, but the I pronunciation is more "educated".
Adrian
Mark Brader
> 1) How do you pronounce "either" and "neither" (with the long "e"
> sound, or the long "i" sound)?
Either way. Or either way. Either one of those.
> 2) Do you know the regional breakdowns of these pronunciations?
I have no idea.
--
Mark Brader | Either the universe works in a predictable, analyzable
Toronto | way or it works spasmodically, with miracles, action at
m...@vex.net | a distance and wishful thinking as the three fundamental
| forces. People tend to take one view or the other.
| -- Frank D. Kirschner
Joe Fineman
> I do it either way, as the mood strikes me. I don't believe there
> are any regional divisions for those pronunciations, but I could be
> wrong.
According to the OED, the two pronunciations have been mixing it up
for several centuries. I used to waver myself, but then I heard that
the I pronunciation had been introduced into English by George III &
was a Germanism. As a good American in small matters, I thenceforth
confined myself to the E pronunciation, tho I soon learned that the
history was wrong.
--
--- Joe Fineman jo...@verizon.net
||: The difference between people & cats is that cats know what :||
||: people are for. :||
Steve Hayes
wrote:
>Just two quick questions:
>
>1) How do you pronounce "either" and "neither" (with the long "e"
>sound, or the long "i" sound)?
>
>and
>
>2) Do you know the regional breakdowns of these pronunciations?
I use the long I sound, but my mother used the ee sound.
Perhaps it's generational rather that geographical, just as my son says "AS
well" while I say "As WELL".
--
Steve Hayes from Tshwane, South Africa
Web: http://hayesfam.bravehost.com/stevesig.htm
Blog: http://methodius.blogspot.com
E-mail - see web page, or parse: shayes at dunelm full stop org full stop uk
R H Draney
>
>Berkeley Brett writes:
>> 1) How do you pronounce "either" and "neither" (with the long "e"
>> sound, or the long "i" sound)?
>
>Either way. Or either way. Either one of those.
>
>> 2) Do you know the regional breakdowns of these pronunciations?
>
>I have no idea.
Let's call the whole thing off....r
--
"He come in the night when one sleep on a bed.
With a hand he have the basket and foods."
- David Sedaris explains the Easter rabbit
jerry_f...@yahoo.com
> Just two quick questions:
>
> 1) How do you pronounce "either" and "neither" (with the long "e"
> sound, or the long "i" sound)?
>
> and
>
> 2) Do you know the regional breakdowns of these pronunciations?
>
> Thanks in advance for any thoughts you might care to share on EITHER
> question!
Just to be different from those whose posts I've seen, I always say
"eether".
My impression, just an impression, is that in the U.S.
"eyether" (/'aIDR/) is most common in the suburban northeast, but I've
heard it everywhere I've lived.
Sal?
--
Jerry Friedman
Oleg Lego
>Just two quick questions:
>
>1) How do you pronounce "either" and "neither" (with the long "e"
>sound, or the long "i" sound)?
Ayther way.
>and
>
>2) Do you know the regional breakdowns of these pronunciations?
>
>Thanks in advance for any thoughts you might care to share on EITHER
>question!
--
WCdnE
Wood Avens
>Just two quick questions:
>
>1) How do you pronounce "either" and "neither" (with the long "e"
>sound, or the long "i" sound)?
>
>and
>
>2) Do you know the regional breakdowns of these pronunciations?
>
Considering this question, it struck me that it was a long time since
I heard anyone in England pronounce either of them with a long ee.
Probably half-a-dozen fellow-Brits will be along in a minute to
demonstrate the smallness of the circle of my acquaintances.
--
Katy Jennison
spamtrap: remove the first two letters after the @
James Silverton
news:hMqdnfkMb_dN7PXa...@comcast.com...
> Berkeley Brett wrote:
>
>> Just two quick questions:
>>
>> 1) How do you pronounce "either" and "neither" (with the long
>> "e"
>> sound, or the long "i" sound)?
>>
>> and
>>
>> 2) Do you know the regional breakdowns of these
>> pronunciations?
>>
>> Thanks in advance for any thoughts you might care to share on
>> EITHER
>> question!
>
> I do it either way, as the mood strikes me. I don't believe
> there are any regional divisions for those pronunciations, but
> I could be wrong.
> --
It's good to know I'm not the only who who does it!
--
Jim Silverton
Potomac, Maryland
Peter Moylan
> 1) How do you pronounce "either" and "neither" (with the long "e"
> sound, or the long "i" sound)?
Both ways, with perhaps a slight preference for the "ee" versions.
--
Peter Moylan, Newcastle, NSW, Australia. http://www.pmoylan.org
For an e-mail address, see my web page.
Fred Springer
> Just two quick questions:
>
> 1) How do you pronounce "either" and "neither" (with the long "e"
> sound, or the long "i" sound)?
>
> and
>
> 2) Do you know the regional breakdowns of these pronunciations?
British. But the ee sound has also become quite common in British
English in recent years.
This answer is supported by three separate pronunciation dictionaries
I've looked at:
Daniel Jones, English Pronouncing dictionary, 11th ed 1956
Jack Windsor Lewis, Concise Pronouncing dictionary of British And
American English, 1972
Oxford BBC Guide to Pronunciation, 2006
The original pronunciation was with a long I, as is clear from the
spelling of the OED's oldest cited Old English use of the word in 893.
Anglo Saxon spelling was a much more reliable guide to the sound of a
word than modern English spelling.
Evan Kirshenbaum
> Berkeley Brett wrote:
>
>> Just two quick questions:
>>
>> 1) How do you pronounce "either" and "neither" (with the long "e"
>> sound, or the long "i" sound)?
>>
>> and
>>
>> 2) Do you know the regional breakdowns of these pronunciations?
>>
>> Thanks in advance for any thoughts you might care to share on EITHER
>> question!
>
> I do it either way, as the mood strikes me. I don't believe there are
> any regional divisions for those pronunciations, but I could be wrong.
I think you are. I picked up /aITR/ (long "i") sometime after moving
to California from Chicago in 1982, and my mom still notices it. I
actually use both, but it seems to be systematic. In "either X or Y"
or "either one", it's (usually) /aITR/, but in "me, either" or
"either/or" it's /iTR/ (long "e").
--
Evan Kirshenbaum +------------------------------------
HP Laboratories |Ye knowe ek, that in forme of speche
1501 Page Mill Road, 1U, MS 1141 | is chaunge
Palo Alto, CA 94304 |Withinne a thousand yer, and wordes
| tho
kirsh...@hpl.hp.com |That hadden prys now wonder nyce and
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|Us thenketh hem, and yet they spake
http://www.kirshenbaum.net/ | hem so
| Chaucer
Christian Weisgerber
> I think you are. I picked up /aITR/ (long "i") sometime after moving
> to California from Chicago in 1982, and my mom still notices it. I
> actually use both, but it seems to be systematic. In "either X or Y"
> or "either one", it's (usually) /aITR/, but in "me, either" or
> "either/or" it's /iTR/ (long "e").
/T/? Really?
--
Christian "naddy" Weisgerber na...@mips.inka.de
Evan Kirshenbaum
> Evan Kirshenbaum <kirsh...@hpl.hp.com> wrote:
>
>> I think you are. I picked up /aITR/ (long "i") sometime after moving
>> to California from Chicago in 1982, and my mom still notices it. I
>> actually use both, but it seems to be systematic. In "either X or Y"
>> or "either one", it's (usually) /aITR/, but in "me, either" or
>> "either/or" it's /iTR/ (long "e").
>
> /T/? Really?
No. I have no idea where that came from. /D/, of course.
--
Evan Kirshenbaum +------------------------------------
HP Laboratories |It is a popular delusion that the
1501 Page Mill Road, 1U, MS 1141 |government wastes vast amounts of
Palo Alto, CA 94304 |money through inefficiency and sloth.
|Enormous effort and elaborate
kirsh...@hpl.hp.com |planning are required to waste this
(650)857-7572 |much money
| P.J. O'Rourke
http://www.kirshenbaum.net/
Peter Moylan
> na...@mips.inka.de (Christian Weisgerber) writes:
>
>> Evan Kirshenbaum <kirsh...@hpl.hp.com> wrote:
>>
>>> I think you are. I picked up /aITR/ (long "i") sometime after moving
>>> to California from Chicago in 1982, and my mom still notices it. I
>>> actually use both, but it seems to be systematic. In "either X or Y"
>>> or "either one", it's (usually) /aITR/, but in "me, either" or
>>> "either/or" it's /iTR/ (long "e").
>> /T/? Really?
>
> No. I have no idea where that came from.
From the eithernet, I imagine.
> /D/, of course.