Vowels and Diphthongs MOUTH
In traditional dialects, especially in the far North (and Scotland), words of this class are pronounced with [u:]. This monophthongal pronunciation is the same as that of Middle English: in the far North, the Great Vowel Shift did not affect the back vowels, so that /u:/ remains unshifted. In traditional dialects, this pronunciation could be found north of the Humber, but this receded in the later 20th century. In Tyneside and Northumberland, it is now used mostly by speakers who are older and/or working-class and/or male, and most speakers would use a diphthongal pronunciation [εu] for the majority of words in this set. However, in certain words which are strongly associated with local identity this pronunciation has been lexicalized and reflected in the spelling (Beal 2000a). For example, the spelling Toon (pronounced /tu:n/) has traditionally been used by Northumbrians to refer to the City of Newcastle, where they would go for shopping and leisure. The Toon is also the local name for Newcastle United Football Club, but more recently this spelling has also been adopted by the national press (“Toon must hit back” Daily Mirror April 14th 2003). This semi-phonetic spelling and monophthongal pronunciation can also be found in the words brown (when referring to Newcastle Brown Ale), down and out, all of which either refer to local items, or are used in collocation with town in phrases such as down the Town, a night out in the Town.
In some parts of the middle North, especially South Yorkshire, this set is pronounced /a:/. According to Petyt (1985: 82–91), accounts of the traditional dialects of Bradford, Halifax and Huddersfield suggest that words such as down, ground, town had /a:/ in Bradford, /eə/ in Halifax, and that there was variation between /a:/ and /εə/ in Huddersfield. Petyt’s own investigation (conducted from 1970 to 1971) revealed that the monophthongal pronunciation was recessive, but that a compromise between “traditional” /a:/ and “RP” /au/, in which the diphthong has lengthened first element “may be among the regional features that persist”. (Petyt 1985: 165)
