Pronouncing "guest".

"guest" - [gwEst]
"guess" - [gwEs]
"get" - [gE?]
"again" - [@ge:n]

>> "guest" - [gwEst]
"guess" - [gwEs] <<

Wow, you actually pronounce the u? Where are you from?

I'm from Northern Scotland.

I use [E] for all of these words, and I'm from SE Pennsylvania, for the record. I have never heard native speakers from my area use [I].

I live in the NW, and I use [E] for "guest", "get", and "guess". When I say "again", it is pronounced more like eh-gayn (as in the way most English and Canadian accents would pronounce it). The same pronunciation of "gain" is used in the word "against", but I am not sure how to transcribe it using X-SAMPA.

I too have heard [I] used for these words in the NW, and I never knew quite what to make of it. To me, it sounds vaguely Southern in character. In fact, now that I think about it, I don't think I have met a Southerner that pronounces any of these words with the [E] sound. Perhaps it is something from the lower Midwest that was brought to the area and kept by the early Northwestern pioneers.