Vowels FLEECE

The FLEECE vowel is realized as /i/, tense like Wells’ FLEECE, but definitely much shorter. A spelling-derived /ε/, which may be converted by the E-Tensing rule to [e], occurs in a large number of words including cohesion, comedian, Egypt, intervene, legal, mete (mete out a sanction), amnesia, Armenia, encyclopaedia, collegial, Cornelius, media, Nicodemus, penal, recent, Slovenia, species, strategic, trapezium, vehicle. Note that the occurrence of /e/ in words like cohesion, comedian, Slovenia, trapezium and many others is due to the non-application of the rule of CiV Tensing which applies in many mother-tongue accents, including RP. Analogical realizations include the pronunciation of quay as [kwe] where /e/ is due to the analogy with other words in ay, and the pronunciations of elite and trio as el[ai]te and tr[ai]o where /ai/ is due to the analogy with other words in iCe, and tri-, respectively.