Strange vowel shifts...

Is it just me, or have I noticed a (rather restricted) vowel shift starting
in English. I talk of the ending '-age', as in 'sausage', 'cabbage', and the
name of my home town, Wantage.

Originally, I believe, it was [Age].  This, of course, shifted to [ejdZ], and
again to [@dZ].  Currently it is usually sitting quite comfortably between
[@dZ] and [IdZ].  However, in the speech of one person, I have noticed a
strange thing...they pronounce it [i:dZ].  Is this an early person to adopt
it, or is it just a freak occurence, do you think? Any ideas on whether it
may spread further?

(BTW, I'm talking about British English)

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