Vowel systems FLEECE

The FLEECE set of words, corresponding to ME /e:/ and /ε:/, is represented in Suriname creoles by the English words meet, teeth, speak, leave, sweet, feel, believe, field, and so on. The normal realization of these words in the Suriname creoles is [i], a short high front vowel. In other words this set has fallen together with the KIT set.

A feature of the Suriname creoles is the membership of an unexpectedly large number of ME /ε:/ words in the FACE set.