Re: Strange vowel shifts...

At 22:00 25.11.2002 +0000, Joe wrote:

>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)
Are you sure it is not [I:dZ]?



/ B.Philip Jonsson B^)>
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No man forgets his original trade: the rights of nations and of kings sink
into questions of grammar, if grammarians discuss them.
-Dr. Samuel Johnson (1707 - 1784)