Before a vowel,t’ is usually written and pronounced as if appended to the following word.
InHe can't make up his mind if he wants one or t’other (= He can't make up his mind if he wants one or the other)t’other is pronounced[ˈtʊðə] as if spelledtother. Sometimes, especially after a consonant, it is pronounced as a glottal stop as below.
Before a consonant,t’ is pronounced as a glottal stop following the preceding word.
InI’m going down t’ road to see me mam ( = I’m going down the road to see my mother),down t’ is pronounced[daʊnʔ] asdown followed by a glottal stop.
t’ is sometimes not pronounced at all, having no glottal stop, resulting in a slight pause or lengthening of the preceding sound.
This still remains distinct from the form without a definite article: comparein t’ woods[ɪnː ˈwʊdz] within woods[ɪn ˈwʊdz].
Speakers to whom the usage is not native sometimes pronounce it[tʰ] or[tʰə], either deliberately in mockery or unconsciously in ignorance. However,t' is said when it is used forto the.
1On can also function as a first person plural (although agreeing with third person singular verb forms). 2Vous is also used as the polite singular form. 3Ils andeux are also used when a group has a mixture of masculine and feminine members. 4 These forms are also used as third person plural reflexive.
Third person pronominal forms used as formal terms of address to refer to second person subjects (with the first letter frequently capitalised as a sign of respect, and to distinguish them from third person subjects). Unlike the singular forms, the plural forms are mostly antiquated terms of formal address in the modern language, and second person plural pronouns are almost always used instead.
2
Also used as indefinite pronoun meaning “one”, and to form the passive.
Its use is optional when followed by a vowel sound, and connects to the next word directly without a space, i.e. botht’art as one word andta’ art as two words are correct.
Jacob Poole (d. 1827) (before 1828) William Barnes, editor,A Glossary, With some Pieces of Verse, of the old Dialect of the English Colony in the Baronies of Forth and Bargy, County of Wexford, Ireland, London: J. Russell Smith, published1867,page86
