Date: Wed, 5 Nov 1997 08:56:06 +0000

From: Jim Rader jrader[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]M-W.COM

Subject: Re: /gIt/ vs. /gEt/



The articulation of get with [I] is recorded in Peter Levins rhyme

dictionary (1570) and by Christopher Cooper (1685). Dobson includes

it in instances of early raising of Middle English e* to i*

between [g] or [j] and a dental; other examples occur in together ,

yes , yesterday , and yeast . There are plenty of examples of

/gIt/ in English dialects (see Wright and the Survey of English

Dialects dictionary). Despite the antiquity of this pronunciation it

still seems to be some sort of register marker when people actually

spell it git as in git-go ..



Jim Rader