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

>