Prof Francisco Zabala - 2014 “Happy /i/” “Happy /i/” is the name we give this vowel, because it is found in unstressed position at the end of words such as happy, city, easy and silly There is a lot of variation in terms of its exact phonetic quality Supposedly, the key factor is the speaker’s age On the one hand, older speakers tend to use the same vowel quality in the first and second syllables of the word silly On the other hand, younger people tend to use a similar vowel quality in both syllables in easy This means that older speakers seem to use a final H., while younger speakers use a shorter version of h9 This is why “happy /i/” is as short as H but its quality resembles h9 Compare: Billy: Older speakers Younger speakers Z!aHkH\ Z!aHkh∂\ Easy: Older speakers Younger speakers Z!h9yH\ Z!h9yh∂\ Let’s find examples! This vowel is also present in a special group of monosyllabic grammar words These are normally said in a very weak as they are not normally stressed: _ gh _ Rh _ vh _ lh _ ah _ Ch