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I have found that, in speaking, there are subtle differences in the way words are pronounced based upon the context.
For me it is "only natural" to change "THE" from a short sound to a long sound when preceeding a word that begins with a vowel.
I say, (phonetically) "`Thee` educated man" but "`Thu` mild-mannered man".
Is there a word for this? Is it common or simply my 1950's Philadelphia* upbringing?
*"Did you ever notice how many people are FROM Philadelphia?" - W.C. Fields
"I am certain there is too much certainty in the world" -Michael Crichton
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Is there a word for this?Yes, phonology. In other words, it's how languages works. For example, hard as it may be to believe, the sounds represented by t in top, stop, and spot are all different (aspirated voiceless, unaspirated voiceless, and unreleased alveolar stops). There is a phoneme t in English that has several different realizations or allophones based upon considerations like position and context.
Ceci n'est pas un seing.
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Pooh-Bah
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I do the same Parkin and I've never even had a philly cheese steak.
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Nothing to do with phonology ParkinT, but you've got a nice new photo.
Nice image!
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Sandhi
Sandhi is a kind of phonological change. For me, the change in the word the is not conditioned by the word that follows (beginning with a vowel), but rather emphasis. A favorite bit of dialog from A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum illustrates this:
X: The (thee) Miles Gloriosus?
Y: The the (thee) himself.
Sandhi is a linguistic term used by Sanskrit grmmarians. It can refer to the changes to the beginnings and endings of words based on what preceeds or follows. The following sentence and its counterpart with the words in isolation (sandhi undone):
raamo vanam gacchati ||
Rama goes to the forest.
raamah | vanam | gacchati ||
Rama (nom sg), forest (acc), s/he goes
The ending -ah (originally an -as, cf. Latin -us, Greek -os) becomes an -o before voiced consonants. Editions of the Rigveda have the individual lines in both forms to make it easier to understand the hymns.
Ceci n'est pas un seing.
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Quote:
but you've got a nice new photo.
Nice image!
Thanks. That was taken just outside my house here in Orlando!
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Thank you (all) for your input. I am gaining an education in Latin 
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Quote:
For me, the change in the word the is not conditioned by the word that follows (beginning with a vowel), but rather emphasis.
I think there's a little of each at work here. Certainly the emphasis thing can be seen, but PT's thee V-word vs thuh C-word thing is also present in many idiolects, too.
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Quote:
Sandhi
Sandhi is a kind of phonological change. For me, the change in the word the is not conditioned by the word that follows (beginning with a vowel), but rather emphasis. A favorite bit of dialog from A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum illustrates this:
X: The (thee) Miles Gloriosus?
Y: The the (thee) himself.
Sandhi is a linguistic term used by Sanskrit grmmarians. It can refer to the changes to the beginnings and endings of words based on what preceeds or follows. The following sentence and its counterpart with the words in isolation (sandhi undone):
raamo vanam gacchati ||
Rama goes to the forest.
raamah | vanam | gacchati ||
Rama (nom sg), forest (acc), s/he goes
The ending -ah (originally an -as, cf. Latin -us, Greek -os) becomes an -o before voiced consonants. Editions of the Rigveda have the individual lines in both forms to make it easier to understand the hymns.
Sorry for butting in, Nuncle, but is there no gender whatsamacallit in Skrt? Pardon my resorting to such highly technical terms, but I mean that in Hindi "I go" if said by me would be main jaata hoon, or main jaa raha hoon for "I am going", but main jaatii hoon, or main jaa rahii hoon, if said by my dear wife.
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