Southeastern phonology: vowels and diphthongs GOOSE

London and Southeastern English have monophthongal and diphthongal GOOSE variants. The occurrence of the monophthongal variants is favored by preceding /j/ and disfavored by following dark .

In the 1980s, the most common Mainstream RP variant was reported to be a “slight glide” (Gimson 1984: 192) of the   type or a more central monophthong of the [y] kind. If the first element of the diphthong was further centralized or the monophthong further fronted, Gimson did not regard the resulting variants as representative of RP but as characteristic of Southeastern English. This principle still applies in the case of the diphthongal GOOSE variants. The general socio-phonetic principle is the same as for happY and FLEECE: the more centralized the first element of the diphthong, the more basilectal the variant. The most basilectal variant is [əu] with a full central starting-point. Suburban working-class and middle-class speakers tend to use a diphthong with a less central starting-point, which we transcribe as [^əu].

In the case of the monophthongal GOOSE variants, a new set of variants has emerged. These variants represent the continuation of an already existing trend. The process of fronting has been taken a step further, producing variants ranging between the central variant  described above, and a mid-front variant [Y:   ], which is, incidentally, also a characteristic of rural Southwestern accents. Variation between these two variants is continuous rather than discrete. The same development can be noted in the case of the central unrounded variant . Here fronting can also be more advanced, leading to alternation between  and . These variants were found by Altendorf (2003) in London, Colchester and Canterbury and by Williams and Kerswill (1999) in Milton Keynes and Reading. Williams and Kerswill (1999: 144–145) can trace a change in apparent time. For both towns, they report that elderly speakers still have , whereas younger speakers have [Y:], or even more front [y:] in palatal environments.