Date:  Thu, 23 Mar 1995 12:12:00 EST

From:  "Dennis.Preston" <22709MGR[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]MSU.EDU>

Subject: <No subject given>



>

> Bill Smith's observations that in the Southern Shift beat sounds like bait a

> bait sounds like bite is right on (and he might have observed that bit sound

> a little like beat and bet a little like bait). The problem is in associatin

> what are traditionally known as tense and lax vowels with the peripheral and

> nonperipheral track that vowels follow in chain shifting. In the Southern

> Shift, in what Labov identifies as Pattern IV, /iy/ and /ey/ are lowering

> along the nonperipheral track and /I/ and /E/ are raising along the peripher

> one.

> One must determine the phonetic attributes of sounds which a particular chan

> may make use of. I assume it is the nonperipheral (lax) onset of the origina

> diphthings of such items as beat and bait which is latched onto by the

> lowering, nonperipheral force (as opposed to the tenser, glide-like aspect o

> their second parts. Chapters 5 and 6 of Labov's new Prinmciples of Linguisti

> Change will give the details (Blackwell, 1994).

> Dennis Preston

> 22709mgr[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]msu,edu

> or

> preston[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]pilot.msu.edu

>