Fascinating, Dr. Rubba.
 
How do you explain this shift?  Why does this occur?  What causes this shift? How much influence does public media have on this shift?  How much time elapses before this "shift" becomes standard?
 
I love hearing about language shifts and why they occur.

Johanna Rubba <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
In Southern California (and I don't know how much of the rest of the
West), there is a general lowering of certain vowels going on, among
them the "short i" of "been." That "short i" is lowering to the sound
of "Ben", so that "six" sounds like "sex", "milk" like "melk", and
"been" like "Ben." This kind of shift is common in languages. Other
vowels are affected, too, so "short e" is sounding more and more like
"short a". It's a very interesting development.

Dr. Johanna Rubba, Ph. D.
Associate Professor, Linguistics
Linguistics Minor Advisor
English Dept.
Cal Poly State University San Luis Obispo
San Luis Obispo, CA 93407
Ofc. tel. : 805-756-2184
Dept. tel.: 805-756-2596
Dept. fax: 805-756-6374
E-mail: [log in to unmask]
URL: cla.calpoly.edu/~jrubba

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