Date:  Tue, 21 Mar 1995 22:25:49 -0500

From:  "William H. Smith" <Wh5mith[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]AOL.COM>

Subject: 'see' or 'say'



Has anyone else heard the onset of front tense vowels being lowered beyond

the adjacent lax vowels? In northeast Georgia I hear /i/ realized as [ey],

so that 'see' sounds like 'say'; and /e/ realized as [aey] ([ae] = ash), or

even as [ay], so that 'day' may sound like 'die'. (The area has

monophthongal /ay/, so there is no merger.)

I haven't read Labov's book on sound change, but isn't this in violation of

his principle (if I understand it correctly) that peripheral vowels tend to

move upward?

Bill Smith

Piedmont College

wh5mith[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]aol.com