Is the diphthong [ai] on a non-primary stressed syllable a hypercorrection? [closed]

Solution 1:

I don't think there is any common pronunciation of triumphant with a vowel other than /ai/. Furthermore, I think it is quite likely that the first syllables of triumph and triumphant have always had the same vowel, and that the stress patterns of them have been the same as they are today. If this is so, then the /ai/ of triumphant can't be a "hypercorrection" of anything.

EDITED: In my original answer, I misunderstood your question. I now think I understand what you're asking, which I will rephrase as: are there any words which historically had /ai/ in an unstressed syllable?

Historically (Late Middle English), most words which currently have /ai/ were pronounced /iː/. The Great Vowel Shift changed /iː/ to /ai/ in long vowels, which usually fell in stressed syllables, but did not introduce /ai/ in short vowels, so those words where /ai/ is in unaccented syllables are mostly more modern. For finance, the stressed syllable changed in the verb because English verbs like to be stressed on the second syllable, and the vowel didn't change. For anti-, that seems to be an American innovation, quite possibly a spelling pronunciation.

For organization and triumphant, we have /ai/ in an unstressed syllable because a suffix changes the stress, and we use the same vowel in both versions.

The word triumphant has been used since the early 15th century, around the start of the Great Vowel Shift. I am fairly sure it has always been accented on the second syllable (this is the Latin stress, and I don't see why it wouldn't have been used back when more people knew Latin). Finally, I suspect it has always had the same vowel as triumph. This certainly was true at the start of the Great Vowel Shift (they both had /i/), it was true in 1823, when Walker wrote one of the first English Pronouncing Dictionaries, and it is true today.

Solution 2:

I don't think there are unstressed [ai]s in English. In your examples, like "anti-" as [ˈænˌtʰaj], there is a secondary stress (note the aspirated t).