I like to listen to the way people speak. Perhaps a move from the northeast to the midwest has made me a bit more attuned to varieties of pronunciation, articulation, and enunciation. Or perhaps its self-consciousness of my own peculiar speech patterns. Numerous times since I've left NJ people have asked me where I'm from because they can't quite place my accent. Is it southern? British? No.
In any case, I was struck with a question when I came across the noun "high school" in a book I was reading. Why is it that when the word "high" comes in front of "school" we pronounce it slightly differently than if it were to come in front of "mountain" or "praise" or "expectations" or "-ly?" It sounds more like the first bit of the word "heighten" instead. The dictionary (at least a free online one) doesn't pick up the slight difference in vowel sounds between "high" and "height" but I'm sure there is one. I wonder what a new English speaker would think. Do you all pronounce "high school" the same way I do?
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