Re: THEORY: free variation [was: Re: [OT] Re: Conlangea Dreaming]

Perhaps one case of free variation we can all agree on:  _economic_ (and all
its derivatives), where the first vowel may be /iy/ or /E/ at will, at least
in the US-- i.e. not dependent on style, register or dialect.

The /a/ pronunciation of tomato strikes me as eastern US; maybe southern
too; /ey/ almost everywhere else, certainly in the midwest..  (I've never in
my life heard /p@tato/).

My own case:  most of the time _rather_ /r&D@r/-- it's what I grew up with
and have reverted to since moving back to the midwest; in
careful/Eastern/tony/Anglophilic/academic  mode, /rAD@(r)/.