@alyssa /i/
@Lady interesting. for me they have a mid-vowel (perhaps even a open-mid not in a diphthong), rhyming with e.g. "bang" and "bank" (which separately i am startled that people seem to transcribe the vowel in those words with /æ/)
@alyssa oh that’s british in american english they’re probably /aɪ/ (due to the Mary~marry~merry merger i think)
@alyssa * /eɪ/ i got my long vowels confused
@Lady yeah that’s how i’d probably transcribe it tho phonetically-speaking i’m not sure i’m actually diphthonging it in that environment.
@Lady in the course of the "thing" question i noticed that i don't seem to have /ɪŋ/ anywhere. /i:n/ and /ɪn/ both appear (e.g. "bean" vs. "bin"), but it seems as if with the velar it must be /i:ŋ/. curious if that is also true for you or if you have any possible counterexamples i should check
@Lady yeah, i've still got /i/ there.
@alyssa “hoodwinking” has it in non-accented, non-final position (in addition to it in final position in the following syllable); seems like a candidate? i think i still say it /i/ there tho