Vowels FIRE

For a large number of speakers, FIRE follows the pattern of PRICE/PRIZE, with glide weakening resulting in  in rhotic varieties and  in non-rhotic ones. Many speakers, however, show merger of FIRE with START, resulting in . This merger is highly stereotyped and, consequently, is most typical of older, working-class, and less educated speakers. Some speakers show hypercorrection of glide weakening for FIRE, resulting in .