Date: Sat, 8 Apr 1995 07:19:03 -0500

From: "Timothy C. Frazer" mftcf[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]UXA.ECN.BGU.EDU

Subject: Re: Southern Shift?



Help! I thought the nuclei of the first two (/I/ and /E/) were at first lax.

Or am I only thinKing from the point of view of my dialect? Aren'tthey

tense only as a RESULT of the shift? And



And aren't the last three originally tense, having become lax on AFTER

the shift?



On Fri, 7 Apr 1995, Garland D. Bills wrote:



On Fri, 7 Apr 1995, Wayne Glowka wrote:

I will defer to a professional, but I'd say the opposite is true in Central

Georgia.



BIT sounds like [bixt] x = schwa

BET sounds like [bext]

BEET sounds like [bxit]

BAIT sounds like [b[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]eit] or [baeit]

Full of [bxinz],



It will be noted that Wayne's examples support exactly what D[ix]nis (that

is, Labov) was saying. The syllabic nuclei of the first two are

peripheral (tense) and therefore rising. The nuclei of the last three are

non-peripheral (lax) and therefore falling.



Garland D. Bills E-mail: gbills[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]unm.edu

Department of Linguistics Tel.: (505) 277-7416

University of New Mexico FAX: (505) 277-6355

Albuquerque, NM 87131-1196 USA