Let's take a closer look at the description of the KIT vowel in GIM 8 and concentrate on those variants which are considered to belong to either GB or CGB.For the purpose of easier reference I took the liberty to modify the corresponding figure (number 13 on p.115). This is what my version of it looks like (the five variants are assumed to be numbered consecutively 1 to 5 from top to bottom, i.e. "i (finally)" is no.1):
Variant no. 1 is to be heard from GB speakers in final unstressed position as in heavy, bickie, bevy, many. Variant no. 2 represents the typical GB pronunciation of the KIT vowel in stressed position, e.g. in pit, lip, sit.
There is another variant used by GB speakers in non-final unaccented position, e.g. in the word visible. The penultimate is unstressed and the vowel tends to be more centralised. This fact is not visualised in the original figure of GIM 8. You can see it as variant no. 3 in my modified version. Next, we have variant no. 4, which represents the diphthongisation of the KIT vowel in monosyllabic words by CGB speakers (e.g. dib, fig with [ɪə]). Variant no.5 is the CGB allophone to be heard in final positions of words such as university or liberty.
My thanks to Alan Cruttenden for elucidating me on these variants.
My thanks to Alan Cruttenden for elucidating me on these variants.
There seems potential for overlap with other phonemes here.
ReplyDeleteFor number 1, is there not a case for considering this an allophone of /i:/? There are plenty of people in England who use a long vowel in the words that you've mentioned, although it might be argued that a lengthened pronunciation falls outside GB.
Number 4 would obviously overlap with the NEAR vowel /ɪə/. Would you not say that CGB speakers have a different phoneme in these words to other speakers? I imagine that this would depend on the strength of the second element. If it's more of an off-glide, then I'd be happier to treat it as an allophone of /ɪ/.
I don't understand the distinction between an off-glide and the second part of a diphthong. I always thought they were exactly the same thing.
DeleteOne more term that hasn't been (re)defined for special use in Gim8
DeleteAn offglide is a short sound section made audible when the vocal organs adopt a position anticipating the formation of the next sound. In American English the ash vowel in words such as rank often has an offglide; it's shorter than the diphthong in the word rain.
DeleteI was referring to weak vowels that are written as superscripts. This is most common for ə but it could happen for other vowels as well. For example, I might sometimes say "toilet" as [tɔ:ɪlət] with the ɪ superscripted (which can't be done in this comment form).
DeleteVariant 1 is nearer in quality to the FLEECE vowel - I quite agree. As for the [ɪə], Cruttenden describes it thus: "CGB speakers often diphthongise this vowel [...]"; I guess that CGB speakers will make a distinction between bid and beard the way you describe it: for bid it's more like an offglide.
ReplyDeleteAdditionally to what I wrote yesterday: Cruttenden uses a superscript schwa in his transcriptions of the CGB prons of words such as men, said, get, which indicates an offglide rather than a full-fledged diphthong.
ReplyDeleteAnd another addendum: Alan Cruttenden has just informed me that he'd rather not use the offglide superscript diacritic in the cases under discussion.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the further information.
DeleteReturning to your earlier example, would Cruttenden's typical CGB speaker have bid and beard as homophones?