Re: Spken English: What exactly is meant by a stressed a (/e?/) ?

On Fri, 4 Apr 2008 13:29:26 +0200, Athel Cornish-Bowden
<athel_cb@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

On 2008-04-04 13:05:12 +0200, "Mike Lyle"
<mike_lyle_uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> said:

[ ... ]

If by stressing the article you mean pronouncing it /eI/, as in "day",
rather than as a schwa, I would do it quite rarely, but as a synonym of
"one". "Let's have a drink. But I do mean 'A' drink." On the other hand,
it's common among British politicians to use the "day" vowel in
non-emphatic positions, and I have no idea why--it annoys me to buggery.

Those are also the only circumstances in which I would stress it.

Except perhaps for this:

"She is 'A' leading expert, but not 'THE' leading expert."

where the 'a' is stressed to contrast it with the stressed
'the'.

--
Peter Duncanson, UK
(in alt.usage.english)
.

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