''abbot'' and ''rabbit''

Mannix   Wed Sep 28, 2005 12:25 am GMT
Do you pronounce these words to rhyme? They don't rhyme for me:

abbot - /{b@t/

rabbit - /r\{bIt/
Guest   Wed Sep 28, 2005 12:30 am GMT
They rhyme for me.
/{b@t/
/r{b@t/
learner   Wed Sep 28, 2005 12:30 am GMT
i'm not sure if they rhyme or they not. dictionary.com suggests that they not rhyme.
Uriel   Wed Sep 28, 2005 12:31 am GMT
They rhyme for me. Not that I ever have occasion to use "abbot" in normal conversation.
learner   Wed Sep 28, 2005 12:34 am GMT
http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=rabbit

http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=abbot
Travis   Wed Sep 28, 2005 12:58 am GMT
They rhyme for me as well, being /"{bIt/ -> ["{:.bI?] and /"r{bIt/ -> ["r\{:.bI?] respectively.
Lazar   Wed Sep 28, 2005 2:14 am GMT
I think they rhyme for me, although I think I tend to use a schwa in that instance, rather than an [I] as in Travis' case.
Kirk   Wed Sep 28, 2005 7:10 am GMT
I'm the same as Travis on this one.
Damian in Scotland   Wed Sep 28, 2005 7:23 am GMT
**Not that I ever have occasion to use "abbot" in normal conversation**

..unlike the people who live here:

http://www.devonlink.co.uk/newtonabbot/newton-abbot.php
Damian in Scotland   Wed Sep 28, 2005 7:32 am GMT
In my speak these two words don't sound much like each other. The two "As" sound vaguely similar.....the "I" and the "O" a wee bit different, in Scotland anyway. I reckon that these two letters would sound almost the same just across the water in Northern Ireland.
Buster   Sat Oct 01, 2005 9:08 pm GMT
<<I think they rhyme for me, although I think I tend to use a schwa in that instance, rather than an [I] as in Travis' case.>>

Are you from Australia, Lazar? Australians tend to schwa their i's. I'm from Northern England and for me, ''abbot'' /{b@t/ and ''rabbit'' /r{bIt/ definitely don't rhyme.
Lazar   Sat Oct 01, 2005 9:11 pm GMT
<<Are you from Australia, Lazar?>>

Um...no. I'm from Massachusetts. Australian English may schwa its i's with more uniformity than other dialects, but I can assure you it occurs in American English as well.
Lazar   Sat Oct 01, 2005 9:19 pm GMT
And I should add that I *do* have many [I]'s in unstressed position, as in the "in-" and "-ish" affixes, for instance "innumerable" [Inum@`@bl=] and "Spanish" [sp{nIS]. I believe that those might be schwaed in Australian English.
Mannix   Sat Oct 01, 2005 9:30 pm GMT
<<Are you from Australia, Lazar? Australians tend to schwa their i's. I'm from Northern England and for me, ''abbot'' /{b@t/ and ''rabbit'' /r{bIt/ definitely don't rhyme.>>

It all relates to the Lennon-Lenin merger http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weak_vowel_merger . It occurs in Australian English and American English.
Buster   Sat Oct 01, 2005 9:34 pm GMT
<<And I should add that I *do* have many [I]'s in unstressed position, as in the "in-" and "-ish" affixes, for instance "innumerable" [Inum@`@bl=] and "Spanish" [sp{nIS]. I believe that those might be schwaed in Australian English.>>

What about compound words like ''dustbin'' (which has an unstressed /I/ for me)? Do you pronounce it /dVstbIn/ or /dVstb@n/?