Mesolectal Hawai‘i Creole

In mesolectal varieties, the distinctive basilectal vowels vary with the corresponding vowels in General American English. The exceptions are that the raising and tensing of [ɪ] and [ʊ] is generally avoided (since it is a salient marker of basilectal speech). Thus, for speakers of mesolectal and acrolectal varieties, /i/, [ɪ] , /u/ and [ʊ] are separate phonemes.

The typical mesolectal vowels are shown in Table 2, with further discussion below.

Many varieties of American English are spoken in Hawai‘i. For Hawai‘i Creole speakers who speak varieties with the THOUGHT-LOT merger, the distinctions in the vowels in LOT, COUGH [CLOTH] and [THOUGHT] are neutralized, and the vowel is pronounced as [ɒ] which may vary with [ɔ]. Because of this factor, there is some intra- and inter-speaker variation in the pronunciation of certain lexical items ([ɑ] vs. [ɒ] or [ɔ]): for example, in job, stop, dock, problem and model (Odo 1977). Because of the fact that [Λ] in STUFF [STRUT] is still pronounced as [ɑ] by some mesolectal speakers, there are some speakers who pronounce cot and caught the same [k^hɔt] , [k^hɒt] in contrast with cut [k^hɑt], and others who pronounce cot and cut the same [k^hɑt] in contrast with caught [k^hɔt].