Happier

Do words like "happier", "carrier", and "easier" rhyme with "hear" do they rhyme with "nuclear"?
Another way to ask that is: in "happier", "carrier", and "easier", is there the same vowel /i/ as in "happy", "carry" and "easy" or does it turn into a /ɪ/ before R as in "here", "near", "beer"?
Thanks

At least here, "happier", "carrier", and "easier" have two different kinds of pronunciation, depending on the overall level of "carefulness" on the part of the speaker, specifically:

"happier" : [ˈhɛ̯æpiːʁ̩ː], [ˈhɛ̯æpjʁ̩ː]
"carrier" : [ˈkʰɛ̝ːʁiːʁ̩ː], [ˈkʰɛ̝ːʁjʁ̩ː]
"easier" : [ˈiːziːʁ̩ː], [ˈiːzjʁ̩ː]

Note that all these words have underlying /i/ in the dialect here, but there is another phonological at work here that causes unstressed /i/ after a consonant and before another vowel to be realized as [j] rather than have its own syllable nucleus in non-careful speech.

Actually, I should note that these words differ from words like "hear" or "nuclear" (which rhyme here), which end in [ɪːʁ] or [iːʁ̩ː] in free variation here (and which phonemically can be considered as ending in /ir/ here).

For me, those words all have the same final two syllables as "nuclear". I have:

happier [ˈhæpiɚ]
carrier [ˈkʰæɹiɚ]
easier [ˈiːziɚ]

nuclear [ˈnuːkliɚ]
hear [ˈhɪɚ]

I think this scheme is the same for all dialects (or most): for example, the Cambridge Online Dictionary transcribes "carrier" as /ˈkʰæɹiə/.

Hmm... so it seems that you guys actually have a merger of historical /iːər/ and /iːr/, whereas my dialect does *not* merge historical /iːər/ and /iːr/ even though it does like most NAE dialects merge historical /iːr/ and /ɪr/.

Now from thinking about the diachronics of it all, assuming a historical unconditional shift of iːr > iːər common to at least all NAE dialects, what really has happened here is that my own dialect must have reversed this shift at a later date *except* where there was an intervening morpheme boundary, thus restoring the distinction between the two in many positions.

Sorry, I don't understand.

I don't understand what Travis means by those mergers, but I do understand the answers to my question. Now I know how they are expected to be pronounced, generally speaking. Thanks.

Ignore my comments, because I missed that you guys do not rhyme "nuclear" and "here" (and am so used to "nuclear" and "here" rhyming here).

I am from California and "here" and "nuclear" aren't even close for me. "nuclear" rhymes with "happier", "carrier", and "easier".

"I am from California and "here" and "nuclear" aren't even close for me. "nuclear" rhymes with "happier", "carrier", and "easier". "

I'm from Washington state and the same applies based on my experience.

I'm from Texas and it's the same for me.

Do most people in Texas say "nukular"?