their
/ᴛʜâr/
adjective
- Used as a modifier before a noun. their accomplishments; their home town.
- (Usage Problem) His, her, or its.
Somebody told me today that these two are homophones. You must be kidding me. I consider myself pretty well-versed in many varieties of English, but would never consider them homophones. Is "ei" in "their" really not pronounced as /eɪ/ (like ate, fame), but just as flat /ɛ/?
What are the meanings of there, their, and they’re?
When should you use there, their, and they’re?
Example of there, their, and they’re
Videos
I'm from Victoria, Australia, and I've noticed that no-one I know and no-one I've ever heard does this except me, most of my friends can't even hear the difference.
I don't know how to write this phonetically but the difference is, as well as I can describe it, like the difference between 'air' and 'aya' only less distinct than 'aya' would be.
EDIT: While recording I may have modified it by thinking about it too hard, but I think this is close to how I would say the two in conversation (as I don't distinguish between 'their' and 'there').
EDIT: I posted this question because I couldn't find anything on it using Google, is there a name for this or is it a relatively unknown phenomenon (the pronunciation of these words not as homophones)?