Vowels KIT

All data sources indicate a characteristic strong tendency towards high realizations for the WM dialect – BCDP  or even [i]; Wells (1982: 28, 363) and Mathisen (1999: 108) close to [i]; Hughes and Trudgill (1996: 85–86) . Chinn and Thorne (2001: 20) note /i/-like realizations as typical of Birmingham in both stressed and unstressed position, e.g. in stressed lip, symbol, women; also unstressed women, ladies, lettuce, private, bracelet, chocolate, necklace, harness. Painter (1963: 30– 31) has Black Country /I/, realized as stressed  and unstressed , with sporadic stressed  and unstressed . Heath (1980: 87) has  for Cannock.

Audio and written data also suggest that in the WM dialect generally there is a tendency to lower KIT to  before /l/ (which typically appears to be dark), e.g. in will (as dialect spellings such as Bm <ull>, BC <wool> suggest). That there has been a historical tendency towards backing before /l/ is suggested by Kristensson’s (1987: 209) claim that /y/ in forms derived from OE hyll ‘hill’ was retained at least until the ME period in place names in much of the WM area, including Staffordshire, Warwickshire and Shropshire.