Raising of unstressed vowels in Eng from schwa to /I/

[Cecil Ward]

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I expect that lots has been written about the raising of schwa vowels in unstressed syllables to /I/ (should be /ɪ/ - small-cap-I) in English in England.

Recent examples heard on the BBC, spoken by reporters and newsreaders :-

        kImju:nIkeit    "communicate"
        sIdæm          "Saddam Hussein"

Perhaps someone would be kind enough could point me some references?

Does anyone know anything about the time-development of this phenomenon. Is this a very recent development? Has it strengthened noticeably in the last few decades?

Does anyone know if this development is known in English outside England?

The phenomenon may be confined to the syllable that immediately precedes the stress, is that correct? I'm not sure what the conditioning factors are.


Cecil Ward.