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#101885 04/27/03 04:55 PM
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wwh Offline OP
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I noticed that when I say this, the first "there" is pronounced with a "schwa", while the
second and third have a long ''a'. My dictionary doesn't discuss it. I think it is used
as a pronoun, as in German "es gibt" or in French "io y a". Grammarians please comment.


#101886 04/27/03 04:58 PM
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I pronounce them identically, except for perhaps a bit of syllabification of the first in preparation for the contraction.



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#101887 04/27/03 05:36 PM
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The second has a lower fundamental tone and a full glottal stop between as a distinguisher.

Speaking "There, there, it's not so bad", even with the comma, doesn't seperate the two theres as well.


#101888 04/27/03 05:38 PM
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The second has a lower fundamental tone and a full glottal stop between as a distinguisher.


nope. higher. and no glottal.





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#101889 04/27/03 05:45 PM
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You speak funny...


#101890 04/27/03 05:51 PM
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prob'ly





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#101891 04/27/03 09:34 PM
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Dr Bill, yes, "there" is used as the French and German phrases you cited; it's not quite a pronoun in this context, is it? I don't know the term for this, but I'm sure *someone does. I think it all boils down to a question of stress: the second "there" is the subject of the phrase and therefore deserves the strongest stress.

As for how it's *sung, I'd do it like eta.


#101892 04/27/03 10:14 PM
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I wouldn't go so far as to say a schwa, but I'd do it with a little less emphasis and therefore a little less eh to the sound of the first there. As far as the grammar of the phrase there's (a(n), no) X, it is mirrored in several other Indo-European languages: German es gibt and the French il y a, as have been mentioned, and Spanish hay. The German, Spanish and French do not have distinct singular and plural forms as some fastidious grammarians would demand of the English. The English there's is, notwithstanding the grammarians' insistence otherwise, increasingly commonly seen in both singular and plural contexts.


#101893 04/28/03 07:28 AM
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I still make the distinction between there're and there's, but as you say, Faldo, it does seem to be optional these days. Funnily, though, most people seem to still write the agreement correctly.


#101894 04/28/03 08:32 AM
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That reminds me of the German example phrase
"Wenn hinter Fliegen Fliegen fliegen, fliegen Fliegen Fliegen nach". (When flies fly behind flies, flies follow flies). You have to use intonation correctly here


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