pronunciation - i vs. I in "pink" "ring"



I've always transcribed "pink" and "ring" with the vowel /I/ (lax) vs. the tense /i/, and my students have never argued with me about it, but suddenly I've been getting a good number of students arguing for the /i/. They seem to have a vowel somewhere in between perhaps--sometimes it sounds like straight /i/. Just wondering if you've heard about this happening in certain parts of the country or if this has always been a sort of variant. Most of my student are from the midwest (Michigan)




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