Diphthongs

PRICE

A wide range of open onsets can be identified for this diphthong, although, with the exception of British Creole with two diphthongs [ɑε/ɑe], end-points are at the front close position. [aɪ] , typical of traditional RP, is recorded in Orkney and Shetland, Southern Ireland, Wales, Northern and Midland England: a higher onset, at [æ], occurs in the Rural West of Ireland, and yet higher, at [ε], in the Rural North of Ireland and for some North of England speakers. In Southern England and the Channel Islands, among younger East Anglian speakers, and in Fashionable Dublin speech, [ɑɪ] , with a lip-spread back open onset, is heard. A lip-rounded back open position, [ɒ] , is the start for the diphthong for some West Midland ([ɒɪ/ɔɪ]),Cockney (London), and Channel Island speakers, and is a stereotyped feature for South-west England.

Current RP, along with Standard Scottish English and some Channel Islands speech, has [Λɪ]. The diphthong begins centrally, with [ɐ,з,ə], for some speakers on Shetland, in Urban Scots, in Popular Dublin speech, and amongst older East Anglians. Monophthongal [a:] has been reported for Devon in South-west England, and [ɑ:] is a feature of south and west Yorkshire (as well as the East Midlands immediately to the south of that area), while [i:] is characteristic of the pronunciation of some words in this set, such as right and night in Yorkshire and North-east England.