Do these words have two syllables? ''fie-er'', ''tie-ur'', ''wie-ur'', ''hie-ur'' etc. i.e. [fai-..r], [tai-..r]. [wai-..r], [hai-..r].
Are ''hire'' and ''higher'' homonyms? And ''lyre'' and ''liar'', ''tire'' and ''tier''.
I'm a Native Speaker and I pronounce -ire words with two syllables.
In the US, that depends where you are from. Where I am from around the Great Lakes in the Unitd States, it's pronounced kind of like /fuh-yerr'/ with two syllables. The "proper" East Coast pronunciation only uses one syllable, though. And if you're from the South, it's more like /fahr/.
Two syllables for me: /fai-../, /tai-../, /wai-../ & /hai-..r/.
"Hire" & "higher" are homophones as are "lyre" & "liar" and "tire", "tyre" and ''tier''.
Typo: "hire"/"higher" is /hai-../ not /hai-..r/ for me.