Diphthongs

CURE

Words with CURE have either relatively fronted and lower, [ʊ]-like, realizations or onsets (preferably, it seems, in North American dialects and IrE, also in PakE and StHE) or high and back [u] types (strongly in ScE, some American dialects, T&TCs, SurCs, Ghana, and PhlE); in general, however, there is “a great array of variation here”, in particular throughout Africa and Asia, as Mesthrie observes in his regional synopsis in this volume. A low back [ɔ] is considered a characteristic realization of AusE and NZE, and also, with distinctive length, a recent innovation of RP. Monophthongal mid-back realizations are also quite common in Africa and South-East Asia; on the other hand, some African regions also have long gliding movements, e.g. [ua] in Nigeria.