Re: OT: pronunciation question

The question was raised [rejzd]:
> "Do you guys, gals, etc., differentiate [Ej] and [e]?"
>
Standard Midwestern Am.Engl., i.e. me:  [e] -- the pure vowel, without [j]
offglide-- just possibly in unstressed position, as "concentrate, rebate";
even possibly when stressed before a final voiceless stop-- "debate, bake,
tape". Only a spectrogram would definitively prove either one. Otherwise it
very clearly has an off-glide.

The corresponding mid back vowel _seems_ to behave the same-- possibly pure
[o] in unstressed and /__vl.stop#, diphthong [ow] otherwise, but I'd need
instrumental proof of that too.

[Ej] does not occur at all. Nor have I ever seen it mentioned in any
analysis of S(M)AE. But individuals may vary