Minimal Pair List Vowels 1 /i/ versus null, 172 pairs
In a number of these cases two occurrences of /i/ have been deleted before the comparison, especially in the case of abbreviations such as CID and QED , leaving the paired terms side and queued .
In several cases the deleted /i/ represents the personal morpheme -ee, as in absentee, bailee, bargee, escapee, trainee , etc. As this is still a fairly live morpheme, there is potential for many further instances to arise.
One interesting case is the near homograph of Dives and dives , representing a pronunciation of /`daIviz/ rather than /`diveIz/ for the former.
absentee absent AD aid aeon an aeon 'un aphides aphids appointee appoint BA bay BA bey bailee bail bailee bale bailees bails bailees bales bargee barge bootee boot BST best casein caisson ceiling sling ceilings slings Chinese chines CID side CID sighed C-in-C since CO sew CO so CO soh CO sow coatee coat coatee cote COD sewed COD sowed create crate created crated creates crates creating crating creator crater creators craters debauchee debauch deified defied deifies defies deify defy deifying defying deities ditties deity ditty Dives dives divorcee divorce DoE do DoE doe DoE doh DoE dough draftee draft draftee draught Dundee dunned Ealing ling easing zing eater to eating ting Egypt gypped eking king emu mew emus mews emus muse Enoch knock eon an eon 'un epoch pock epochs pocks epochs pox escapee escape evocation vocation evocations vocations feeling fling feelings flings Felix flicks fleeing fling foresee force foreseeable forcible foreseeing forcing genteel gentle goatee goat grandee grand ie ay ie aye ie eye ie I ie i internee intern internee intern internee interne internees internes internees interns internees interns JP jape Kathy Kath keeling cling keying king kilos close LEA LA lei lay lei ley leis lays leis laze leis leys Leo lo Leo low lessee less Louise loos Louise lose marquee Mach marquee Mark marquee mark marquee marque miaow mow miaowed mowed miaowing mowing miaows mows mortgagee mortgage naiades naiads OED ode OED owed OT oat PA pay Parsee pass patentee patent payee pay payees pays peeing ping PR pa PR pah PR par PR parr QED queued RC arse receipt wrist receipts wrists repeal ripple repealed rippled repealing rippling repeals ripples repeat ripped sae essay sae essay scenic snick seakale scale sealing sling seamier smear seaport sport seaports sports seating sting seaway sway seaways sways seeing sing Semite smite Semites smites senior sneer seniors sneers sepia spear settee set settee sett sortie sort sortie sought teeing ting tempi temp TNT tent trainee train trainees trains treeing Tring trustee trussed trustee trust vendee vend vendees vends warrantee warrant weeing wing
