Long i - short i

For a note on how AWE organizes its group of articles on vowels, basically by aspects of sound and of writing, see category:vowels.

You have found a link to 'short '-i-'', 'long -I-' or something similar. You may also want see a more detailed page at Speech sounds represented by the letter I.

Unfortunately, two separate traditions have developed of identifying 'long' vowels. (See Long vowel - short vowel for more detail.)

• A short '-i-' is simply seen as the IPA: /ɪ/ sound of 'bit', 'this' and 'in'.
• Long '-i-' may be used in two ways (See Long vowel - short vowel for an explanation.)
  • As a pure vowel with an element of length, it represents the sound of (RP) 'machine', 'been' and 'clean': IPA: /iː/.
  • As a diphthongal vowel, it is usually understood as the sound of its name, and such words as 'white', 'why' and 'kind': IPA: /aɪ/; but it is usually represented in writing by -i- or -y-, with or without additional letters such as '-gh' in 'high', '-u-' in 'buy' and '-g-' in 'sign'. For more on this, see Speech sounds represented by the letter I.

Much of the information on this page has been taken from McArthur and Bell (2004).