are we making since yet?

[sagehen]

arnold (zwicky at csli.stanford.edu) writes:

>on Apr 18, 2005, at 7:40 PM, alison murie wrote:
>
>>  I hear "since" pronounced /sEnce/ more than I hear "sense" pronounced
>> /sInse/.
>
>i forget where you live, sagehen, but there's a general lowering of /I/
>(and /E/), not limited to prenasal position, at work in several parts
>of the country, including (parts of) california.
> ~~~~~~~~~~
Near the Quebec border in northern NY.  I seem to recall once observing on
the list that "Syracuse" is pronounced /sEracuse/ by local people here.
Someone, I think Lynne Murphy, confirmed that as well-attested for this
region. I've noticed the same shift in other instances which I can't at the
moment recall. (Certainly not all short i's are rendered this way:
"chimney," for example can be /chIm at ney/.)
AM

A&M Murie
N. Bangor NY
sagehen at westelcom.com