Phonological features PRICE

The starting point of the PRICE diphthong tends to be further back than in RP. Words such as fight or buy are pronounced  and . Additionally, the first element of the glide may be rounded, resulting in  and . The realization of the PRICE diphthong as  or  is certainly not restricted to the Channel Islands, but commonly found in many other accents of English. It is particularly typical of the Cockney accent (London) and of urban areas in the south of England in general (cf. Wells 1982: 149, 308). Certain varieties of Irish English equally have  or  for the PRICE glide, which has led to the stereotype view in the United States that speakers of Irish English pronounce nice time as ‘noice toime’ (cf. Wells 1982: 425–426).

The question of whether the variable pronunciation of the PRICE diphthong in the Channel Islands may also be due to a influence from Norman French cannot be resolved conclusively. It cannot be a case of phone substitution, since the diphthong  does exist in Channel Island French. But it is noteworthy that the diphthong  is a typical and frequently occurring sound in the local French dialects. Verbs which end in -er in Standard French have the diphthong  in the same position in Guernsey French, for example:  (Standard French donner ‘give’). Similarly, the ending  is used in the second person plural of the present tense  (Standard French vous donnez), in the imperative plural  (Standard French donnez!) and in the past participle forms of verbs  (Standard French donné).

Table 3 presents the results for the PRICE diphthong among 40 informants in Guernsey, divided into 4 different groups: MO = older (60+) male informants and speakers of Guernsey French; FO = older (60+) female informants and speakers of Guernsey French; MY = younger (19–32) male informants and monolingual speakers of English; FY = younger (19–32) female informants and monolingual speakers of English. The feature occurred most frequently with group MO. In slightly more than a third of all cases the glide was realized as  or . The feature was quite common with the younger men (group MY) as well. Their percentage value is still above that of group FO. The younger women (group FY) clearly came closest to RP in their pronunciation of the PRICE glide.