Vowels

Long vowels

In words of the FACE and GOAT/GOAL sets, the off glides [ei] and [ou] of standard varieties of English are often not found in the Eastern Caribbean where these sounds most often correspond to [e:] and [o:]. However, recent work by Childs, Reaser and Wolfram (2003) suggests that in some Bahamian communities the sound [ei] can be heard. In many Western Caribbean varieties these same sounds correspond to those with on-glides, e.g. /ie/ and /uo/ as in [fies] face and [guot] goat. These same vowels can be realized as diphthongs with variants such as [iε] and [uɔ]. In the Leeward Islands, specifically Montserrat, words that historically had long vowels are shortened and they have no off-glides (e.g. [e^j]) as they do in metropolitan varieties, e.g. /ki/ key and /de/ day.