[net.nlang] "I have it" vs "I have to"

jc@mit-athena.UUCP (John Chambers) (03/29/85)

Hey, I just noticed something curious that might be worth a few
comments from y'all out there.  In the the phrase "I have it",
I pronounce the 'v' voiced; while in "I have to" I pronounce
the 'v' unvoiced. 

This might be considered assimilation, but no: "I have time"
has a voiced 'v'.  Also, if I listen to myself in introspective
mode, it is obvious that my English-generating subroutines 
treat the two meanings as two different words.  They are
homographs; they are spelled the same, but have different
pronunciations and meaning.

Anyone else out there whose native English dialect treats this
differently?  I am a native of the Seattle area, so I suspect
that this is a West-Coastism.  In sloppy-speech mode, I might
add that "I have to ..." comes out "I haftuh ...".  (Boy, would
it be nice if we had IPA symbols in ASCII.)
-- 

			John Chambers [...!decvax!mit-athena]

If you're not part of the solution, then you're part of the precipitate.

friesen@psivax.UUCP (Stanley Friesen) (04/03/85)

In article <136@mit-athena.UUCP> jc@mit-athena.UUCP (John Chambers) writes:
>Hey, I just noticed something curious that might be worth a few
>comments from y'all out there.  In the the phrase "I have it",
>I pronounce the 'v' voiced; while in "I have to" I pronounce
>the 'v' unvoiced. 
>
>This might be considered assimilation, but no: "I have time"
>has a voiced 'v'.  Also, if I listen to myself in introspective
>mode, it is obvious that my English-generating subroutines 
>treat the two meanings as two different words.  They are
>homographs; they are spelled the same, but have different
>pronunciations and meaning.
>
	I do it the same.  The basic reason is that "have to"
is essentially a "helping" or auxillary verb nearly synonymous
to "must", while "have" by itself is a normal(main) verb meaning
essentially "own/possess/hold". Thus your observations show that
in modern English the whole of "have to" is a *single* word,
showing normal *intra*word assimilation.
-- 

				Sarima (Stanley Friesen)

{trwrb|allegra|cbosgd|hplabs|ihnp4|aero!uscvax!akgua}!sdcrdcf!psivax!friesen
or {ttdica|quad1|bellcore|scgvaxd}!psivax!friesen

sullivan@harvard.ARPA (John M. Sullivan) (04/05/85)

> In the the phrase "I have it",
> I pronounce the 'v' voiced; while in "I have to" I pronounce
> the 'v' unvoiced. 
> This might be considered assimilation, but no: "I have time"
> has a voiced 'v'.
> 			John Chambers [...!decvax!mit-athena]

This could just be realted to the position of stress on 'have' in
'have to' and on the direct object in the other examples.
But I agree that the 'have to' use seems like a different word.

-- 
John M. Sullivan
sullivan@harvard

long@oliveb.UUCP (A Panther Modern) (04/07/85)

sullivan@harvard.ARPA (John M. Sullivan) writes:
| > In the the phrase "I have it",
| > I pronounce the 'v' voiced; while in "I have to" I pronounce
| > the 'v' unvoiced. 
| > This might be considered assimilation, but no: "I have time"
| > has a voiced 'v'.
| > 			John Chambers [...!decvax!mit-athena]
| 
| This could just be realted to the position of stress on 'have' in
| 'have to' and on the direct object in the other examples.
| But I agree that the 'have to' use seems like a different word.

    The 'have to' use is a different word, meaning "must".  Does anyone know
how these two uses of 'have' have evolved?
						Dave Long
-- 
	gnoL evaD						Beware of
{msoft,allegra,gsgvax,fortune,hplabs,idi,ios,			Black ICE
 nwuxd,ihnp4,tolrnt,tty3b,vlsvax1,zehntel}!oliveb!long