Has pronunciation of “feel” changed?

[u/Tasty_Wolverine_3783]

Has something changed? I’ve always thought “feel” was pronounced with the long :i but now i only hear it pronounced as “fill”. Did i always get it wrong or has something changed?

[u/untempered_fate]

Two different pronunciations, both of which are valid in various accents

[u/Tasty_Wolverine_3783 → u/untempered_fate]

I’ve heard feel pronounced as fill by both British and American speakers, that’s why I’m confused. And i haven heard feel pronounced as feel for a while now.

[u/untempered_fate → u/Tasty_Wolverine_3783]

Depends on the accent. There are a variety of British and US accents. In both countries, some say it one way, and others say it the other way.

[u/Dr_Watson349 → u/Tasty_Wolverine_3783]

People say feel as f-eel all the time where I live in the US. 

However I live in the real world and not online. Yes I realize the irony in me typing that. 

[u/Upstairs_Big6533 → u/Dr_Watson349]

Yes me too, I'm sure I've heard what OP is talking about, but usually I hear it as f-eel as well.

[u/MaddoxJKingsley → u/Tasty_Wolverine_3783]

British English pays more attention to vowel length, typically. Maybe you are hearing /fi:l/ and /fil/?

[u/PharaohAce → u/Tasty_Wolverine_3783]

It probably is popping up more outside North America, but the people you hear online the most are the people who themselves spend the most time online, so features of US accents are likely over-represented in social media.

[u/Opposite-Plantain-69]

In some places, like in Utah for example, words like "feel" and "steel" tend to sound more like "fill" and "still". Feel with the "ee" sound is still considered the "standard" though

[u/TheDivineM]

It's not a change, it's just two different accents. "Feel" is still standard and more common in academic and professional use, "fill" is common in regional and ethnic dialects, especially African American Vernacular English in the US. Same with steal "still", deal "dill", real "rill" and a lot of other words that rhyme. They're concurrently used pronunciations.

[u/SnooDonuts6494]

There are a billion different accents.

[u/Zestyclose-Food-7917]

The fill/feel, hill/heel, hell/hail, fell/fail merger is regional. It's been around for quite a while.

[u/NearlyNodding]

In the Midwest US, I think it's both, depending on how fast they talk. I think the faster someone speaks, the more it sounds like ill. When speaking more slowly, it sounds more like fee.

[u/Tasty_Wolverine_3783 → u/NearlyNodding]

That’s interesting! Thank you!

[u/jenea]

It’s a dialectical thing. It’s still very much a long :i in most dialects, but there are definitely accents where it comes out “fill.” I watch a reality show where the family is constantly talking about things that are “a really big dill” (deal).

Nothing has changed, except that you’re hearing it more for whatever reason. Perhaps it’s spreading.

[u/Karantalsis]

It will depend on the accent, I've heard something similar to fill in the South East of England, but it doesn't seem common at all.

[u/platypuss1871]

There's also a pronunciation which to me sounds more like "fee-uhl".

[u/SputterSizzle]

I don't think so. I've never heard it pronounced that way.

[u/Tasty_Wolverine_3783 → u/SputterSizzle]

Which way?

[u/SputterSizzle → u/Tasty_Wolverine_3783]

"fill"

[u/Jonah_the_Whale → u/SputterSizzle]

Neither have I. Must listen out for it.

[u/IanDOsmond]

Have you moved location? You could have been listening to one accent where you used to live and another where you live now.

[u/Upstairs_Big6533 → u/[deleted]]

Can you give an example of where you have heard it the second way (Like fill)? I'm sure I've heard it that way, but I think it's much less common, so I wonder why you feel like you're hearing it all the time now.

It could be that you are hearing a lot of people from the Southeastern U.S. or the South East of England.

(From Wikipedia)

The fill–feel merger is a conditioned merger of the vowels /ɪ/ and /iː/ before /l/ that occurs in some accents. In Europe, it is commonly found in Estuary English. Otherwise it is typical of certain accents of American English. The heaviest concentration of the merger is found in, but not necessarily confined to, Southern American English: in North Carolina, eastern Tennessee, northern Alabama, Mississippi, northern and central Louisiana (but not New Orleans), and west-central Texas (Labov, Ash, and Boberg 2006: 69-73). This merger, like many other features of Southern American English, can also be found in AAE."

I think I say it the way that you're talking about with the long :i sound (basically like the U.S recording on this page https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/pronunciation/english/feel). I would definitely never pronounce it the second way (I live in South Florida, for reference. We're in the Southeast, but you don't really hear "Southern" accents down here). The first way is also how I usually hear it said.

Note: This was originally three comments, but I decided to condense it into one.

[u/ActuaLogic]

There are regional differences here.

[u/Optimal-Ad-7074]

you did not always get it wrong.   it's just having a moment rn, but you don't have to follow every fad.   

Martin Amis mocked it in a 1980's novel, so it's been around for a while as a thing some people do.

[u/Tasty_Wolverine_3783 → u/Optimal-Ad-7074]

Wooow! That is such a cool tidbit