“Long” vowels

THOUGHT, NORTH, FORCE

The most widely audible realization of the vowel in these words world-wide is a low back, rounded [ɔ:]. Subject to lexical, regional, social, and stylistic conditioning a more closed [o:] is also widely used in most regions; no overall distributional patterning seems discernible. Other types, including [ɑ:], [ɔ:], [a:], and various diphthongal, mostly ingliding, realizations occur as well, usually in more tightly circumscribed regions. Short forms of one of the two main qualities characterize African and Asian varieties.