Vowels CURE

Merger of the vowels of CURE and FORCE became a stereotype for some older rural Southern speech, especially in Appalachia. As a result, most Southerners came to avoid it except for words spelled –oor (e.g., poor, boor, Moore), for which usage varies. Thus  predominates, especially in words such as tour. After palatals, as in cure and sure, and in non-final syllables, as in tournament and Missouri, merger with the NURSE class is common among young speakers in some areas, such as Texas and Missouri. Such speakers follow a pattern increasingly common in other parts of North America. This CURE/NURSE merger tends to show considerable style shifting; many speakers who show the merger in casual speech pronounce CURE words with  when their attention is drawn to it.