Vowels CLOTH

According to the BCDP data, this vowel is typically  ; Wells (1982: 357) notes that CLOTH is short throughout the North.

Although there is written evidence for long vowels (  ) in Bm <’orspital/orsepickle> hospital, <orf> off, there is also written and audio evidence for a more widespread process: unrounding.

A salient example involves the locally distinctive pronunciations of soft ‘stupid’. Mathisen (1999: 108) notes that many adults in Sandwell have [saft], while older speakers may have [sæft ~ sεft]. Such pronunciations, indicated by the typical Bm/BC dialect spelling <saft>, are claimed by Chinn and Thorne (2001: 141) to be especially typical of Black Country; these forms may perhaps be compared to Early OE  . For failure to round following /w/ (as in wasp).