New York Dialect: Long I Practice

Video Transcript

"All right, first let's talk about and give some practice examples of when this change will not occur. Remember we talked about the change does not occur if the I sound falls before a voiceless consonant. Mice - it's voiceless, it doesn't change. Heist - doesn't change because the I sound falls before the S and that's voiceless. Now, if we change that word to height the I sound comes before the T which is voiced so the word becomes "hoight." Tell me about your "hoight." All right? Tell me about your "hoight" before the heist. OK? So, mice - no. Heist - no. Height - practice it. Right is a tricky one. Right does not change. Well you say it's spelled r-i-g-h-t, yes. The, I sound comes before the G. But in this particular word the G sound is silent. So in words like right, light, fight, what's the ending sound after the I? It's the T. Right is spelled r-i-g-h-t, but what do we hear? R-i-t. Does not change. "E-lie-za." Eliza becomes "E-lie-za." "Pwride," say it with me. "Foine." "Cwry." And now some sentences. The "ploight" of the "coite" was quite a sight. It's a "foine" "toime" to "doine" at the drive inn. The sight of "dwry" land was exciting. And some of these you may want to write down and practice them over and over."