Vowel Features of English Accents in the North of England

A Comparison Between Liverpool, the Isle of Man, Preston and Bradford

Abstract

This paper reports on the present-day vowel features in four local accents of the North of England. All the data are from original recordings made on field trips in 2017 and 2018. (1) The merger of the lexical sets NURSE and SQUARE is observed in Preston as well as in Liverpool. The vowel of Preston and mild Liverpool accents is /ɜː ~ ɛː/ although that of broad Liverpool is /ɛː/. (2) The CURE vowel is all merged with THOUGHT-NORTH-FORCE in Liverpool, and the tendency spreads to the Isle of Man and Preston. The vowel of THOUGHT-NORTH-FORCE of Liverpool, the Isle of Man and Preston is /oː/ while that of Bradford /ɔː/. (3) The NEAR vowel is still disyllabic in Preston and Bradford, /iːə/, except a rhotic subject from Preston. (4) CURE words have variants of the vowel: /uːə ~ ʊə ~ oː ~ u(ɹ)/ in Preston, /ɔː ~ ɑː ~ ɜː/ in Bradford.