It's "thei'" not "they"!

[Miller]

*Originally posted by pizzabrat *
“except when said ‘ay’, like ‘neighbor’ and ‘weigh’”

The “ei” in their makes an “ay” sound. What’s intersting is that in your accent “there” and “their” are homophones, but they don’t have to be. A person that would drop the “r” in “their” would do the same for “there”. “There” would then become “theh”, and not be a homophone for “their”.

With respect, I don’t think that’s how language, and dialect in particular, works. Accents arise from how people speak, not how people write. By your logic, someone who was illiterate would be less likely to use this construction, as they wouldn’t even know that “there” and “their” have different spellings, let alone make the jump to pronouncing “their” as one pronounces “weigh.”

Hopefully, one of the several linguists who post to the boards will find this thread and gives us a more definitive answer.

[EddyTeddyFreddy]

Libertarian, the word is Ebonics, not Eubonics. It’s a back formation from “ebony”.

The prefix “eu” would mean “good”, not at all what’s at play in this situation.

[Miller]

I’m trying to think of a joke about confusing “ebonics” with “eugenics”, but I can’t think of one that would get a laugh anywhere outside of a cross-burning.