16. High Front Vowels

Chapter 16 focuses on the evolution of the high front vowels Middle English (ME) /iː/ and /i/, the respective descendants of Price and Kit words. With regard to Price words, the chapter traces the successive stages of diphthongization and examines the complexities of this shift, particularly the development of [əi] versus [ɛi]. Both of these pronunciations were common in North America and numerous other variant forms composing the North American feature pool during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries are identified.The preservation of tense ME short /i/ in the New England Kit vowel is discussed, along with its lengthening in seventeenth-century southern English varieties. Evidence of the survival of this phenomenon is attested in modern varieties of southern American English. I propose that the lengthening of this and other “lax” vowels lies at the origin of the phenomenon known as “breaking” in southern American English.The progressive lowering of [ɪ] to [ɛ], following a string of bridge vowels, is examined, including the stages toward centralization before /r/. For example, “girl”: [gɛɹl] > [gæɹl] > [gɑɹl] > [gəɹl]. Note that US “gal” [gæːl] reflects an intermediate stage of development.