Pronouncing "guest".

>> Doesn't California have that as well? <<

I don't think so. I've never heard it there. I always noticed that they either often reduced it to [In], which really sticks out to me, or [iN]. But when they do [iN], it's not just for two syllable words that end in -ing, it's all words that have ing. So in the PNW, thing is [TIN] (because it's only 1 syllable), but in California it can be closer to [TiN].

Also, in the PNW, the word "something" is often [sVin] (but the [Vi] does not form a diphthong--they're sort of separated and it's like the "m" and "th" just disappear.)

I have [fiN] for "thing". I have a similar pronunciation of "something", but it's more like [sV~?I~] rather than [SVin].

@Tavorian, where are you from?

I pronounce it as it's writte: goo-est

>> I likewise have [E] in "guest" ["gEst], "get" ["gE?], "again" [@:"gE~:n], and "guess" ["gEs]. <<

Hmm. Is it just this forum that everyone (else) seems to pronounce it like you do, or are those actually the General American ones. I'm still rather skeptical. I just got through watching old re-runs of the old tv show "Lost in Space", and I heard Will Robinson consistently pronounce "get" as /gIt/; Don West pronounced "again" as [@gIn], and John pronounced "guess" as [gIs]. Even Dr. Smith did, and he has a weird trans-Atlantic accent. I also just watched "I love Lucy", and Lucy pronounced "again" like I do (as [@gIn]), as well as pronouncing "guest" as /gIst/. Ethel however pronounced it as [gEst]. She also pronounced "strength" as [strINT] as we do here as well. I know that Lucy is not from the Pacific Northwest, and I doubt that all the characters from the "Lost in Space" series are either, so what could explain this phenomenon?

According to Wikipedia: the guy who played Will Robinson is from the Los Angeles area, the guy who played Don West is from Massachusetts, the guy who played John Robinson was from Brooklyn, and the guy who played Dr. Smith was from the Bronx. Lucille Ball was from western New York, and Vivian Vance was from Albuquerque. (YouTube seems to have a lot of "Lost in Space" and "I Love Lucy" clips, so maybe we can find some examples.)

Maybe this phenomenon was more common in the 50s? All I can say is, the pronunciations with [E] are definitely predominant here in Massachusetts.

Hmmm...take a look at this clip ( http://youtube.com/watch?v=NclSn69vGHY ), and go to about 01:20. Lucy says "Wonderful! Get him!", and she definitely uses [E] there. (And Ethel uses [E] as well.)

Ethel says "again" at about 01:50, and it's hard for me to tell if she uses [E] or [I] there.

>> Maybe this phenomenon was more common in the 50s? <<

Hmm. Well, I've noticed that my accent is pretty much identical to my parent's and even my grandparent's accent, except for more of an influence of the Canadian vowel shift and a (slightly) fronted /u/. All of them have those pronunciations, and so do many people here. Even people that I've met who were originally from Utah and Colorado seem to have it. Although I don't know how much their accent has changed, but I doubt their accents changed all that much, because "tomahrow" they're going to bring back a bag [b{g] from the shopping [IN] mall. In fact I only know one person who pronounces "when" as [wEn], and he is from Ontario, California.

>>>> Maybe this phenomenon was more common in the 50s? <<

Hmm. Well, I've noticed that my accent is pretty much identical to my parent's and even my grandparent's accent, except for more of an influence of the Canadian vowel shift and a (slightly) fronted /u/. All of them have those pronunciations, and so do many people here. Even people that I've met who were originally from Utah and Colorado seem to have it. Although I don't know how much their accent has changed, but I doubt their accents changed all that much, because "tomahrow" they're going to bring back a bag [b{g] from the shopping [IN] mall. In fact I only know one person who pronounces "when" as [wEn], and he is from Ontario, California.<<

Might you consider dialects outside the western US, perhaps?

>> Might you consider dialects outside the western US, perhaps? <<

Well, it seems to occur even in people who are originally from back East. My neighbors who are originally from Kansas also seem to pronounce get as [gIt] and again as [@gIn].

I'm from Oklahoma. I think I've always pronounced "guest" and "guess" with an [E]. However, I used to pronounce words like "get" and "bench" as "git" and "binch", not even aware that not everybody pronounced them that way. Once I had these pointed out to me, I "corrected" my accent to better match the standard (especially since "git" annoyed one of my English teachers, but I was far from the only student who said it that way), but I don't know if I say these words the standard way 100% of the time now. If I'm speaking slowly and deliberately, I will, but if I'm speaking rapidly, I might not.

- Kef

>> especially since "git" annoyed one of my English teachers <<

Interestingly enough, I've seen an elementary school teacher teach "get" spells "git" "git" "git". All the class pronounced it like that repeating after her.

We have a similar phenomenon in London. I pronounce "get" as [gI?] and "again" as [@gIn]. I wonder if this was brought over to the United States from London.

>> Well, it seems to occur even in people who are originally from back East. My neighbors who are originally from Kansas also seem to pronounce get as [gIt] and again as [@gIn]. <<

Lol. Kansas is hardly East Coast.

It's not. That's why the word "also" was used. :P