"long" and "short" vowels

[Paul A Johnston, Jr.]

Wilson,

Britishers are divided on this issue, and the sound is undergoing change (or, rather, the [i] variant is spreading socially and geographically).  [I] is the traditional RP form, and is still used by many "best" speakers, as well as vernacular speakers in large portions of the East and North Midlands (where realizations can go down as far as a centralized [E]) and sections of the North.  The Southwest, most of the Southeast outside of East Anglia (which traditionally had [@]!), Liverpool,  Newcastle and "Estuary English" have [i] or some realization associated with [i:].  Scots has either [i] or [e], depending on the height of the preceding vowel.  A few areas have [@i]--Birmingham, for one (where you could argue for it being an underlying /i:/); Dundee and the rest of Angus for another, (where it is probably an underlying /e:/) .  [I] is nearly universal in the SED records, though.

Paul Johnston

----- Original Message -----
From: Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM>
Date: Friday, June 12, 2009 12:40 pm
Subject: Re: "long" and "short" vowels

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: "long" and "short" vowels
> -------------------------------------------------------------------
> ------------
>
> A question for Michael, actually: does short [i] appear in word-final
> position and not [I}? I've paid only casual attention to BrE, but it
> seems to me that, as in Southern AmE and in BE, the better class of
> speakers of BrE - not necessarily speakers of real RP; BrE-speaking
> friends who, IMO, speak RP, have informed me that I am mistaken, e.g.,
> Nick Ostler - use [I] in word-final position.
>
> -Wilson
>
> On Fri, Jun 12, 2009 at 3:32 AM, Tom
> Zurinskas<truespel at hotmail.com> wrote:
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> > Sender: Â  Â  Â  American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster: Â  Â  Â  Tom Zurinskas <truespel at HOTMAIL.COM>
> > Subject: Â  Â  Â "long" and "short" vowels
> > -----------------------------------------------------------------
> --------------
> >
> > Formulate what you think the terms "long" and "short" vowels are
> and see the site below to see if you are correct.
> >
> > http://www.worldwidewords.org/pronguide.htm
> >
> > Tom Zurinskas, USA - CT20, TN3, NJ33, FL5+
> > see truespel.com
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> --
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