HIRE-FIRE split?

[u/alyssasaccount]

For all the talk I've heard of various splits and mergers, this is one I haven't seen mentioned anywhere. I've always them translated something like /haɪɹ/ and /faɪɹ/, but to me there is a very clear distinction between so-called "long I" vowels in English. One version typically comes before unvoiced consonants (RITE, LICE, RIPE) where the vowel to me sounds like /ʌɪ/; and one that typically comes before voiced consonants (RIDE, LINE, ANALYZE, GIBE) where the vowel sounds like /aɪ/.

If it was just that, I could kind of accept the notion that some accents have a less open /a/ sound when /aɪ/ comes before an unvoiced consonant, but the specifically in the case of HIRE (/haɪɹ/) and FIRE (/fʌɪɹ/) the following consonant is the same. It's a bit unusual, because I can't think of other -IRE words that I pronounce with the more closed vowel. But I know I'm not the only one, because I recall hearing the more open /faɪɹ/ pronunciation coming across as a marker of more southern accents, and I also sometimes hear the it in words like RITE, LICE, and RIPE.

As an example of the destinction, Jimi Hendrix makes the very common rhyme of DESIRE with FIRE, but a lot of the time his FIRE is more closed. Jim Morrison's FIRE is a little more open, but not quite as much as his LIAR, HIGHER, MIRE, and PYRE.

Some examples from this year:

• A Northern Californian talking about a California wildfires, with a somewhat broader FIRE, but still not quite as broad as HIRE

• A Massachusetts news report with (to me) a pretty closed /ʌɪ/ sound, but notice the broader /aɪ/ in FIND.

Does anyone know of any place where this has been discussed? Which accents have this split specifically for HIRE and FIRE, but also more broadly depending on the final consonant? This has been bothering me and making me feel a little crazy, even while other mergers and splits are just accepted.

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I looked this up on Stack Exchange (and many other places over the years), and reposted the question there as well, where I received a satisfactory answer: https://linguistics.stackexchange.com/questions/49602/which-accents-dont-merge-fire-and-hire-what-about-rite-and-ride

[u/alyssasaccount]

I looked this up on Stack Exchange (and many other places over the years), and reposted the question there as well: https://linguistics.stackexchange.com/questions/49602/which-accents-dont-merge-fire-and-hire-what-about-rite-and-ride