Vowel length

KIT

The usual realization of this vowel in ScStE is [I], though it is often more open . Corresponding to KIT is Scots BIT which is generally in the region of  but in certain contexts, e.g. after labials, as in milk, fill, may be substantially lowered and retracted and even merged with CUT (Johnston 1997: 468). A socio-phonetic continuum stretches between KIT/BIT, such that the realization shows clear differences according to class. This has been investigated in Edinburgh (Johnston and Speitel 1983) and Glasgow in the 1970s (Macaulay 1977) and again in the 1990s (Stuart-Smith 1999: 207). In all cases lower-class speakers used lower and more retracted variants than those of higher-class speakers. In a recent study by Viktoria Eremeeva and myself, acoustic data from male Glaswegian speakers show middle-class men using the highest vowels, but middle-class boys using the frontest variants, but lower, at the same height as working-class speakers. Interestingly, in spontaneous speech working-class boys are not as retracted as working-class men, suggesting a move away from stereotypically retracted localized variants for this vowel. Though not part of our analysis, we also noticed that  was usual even in contexts where CUT would be expected in these speakers.