The vowels of RP PRICE

RP starts this diphthong at a low central point, and moves in the direction of the KIT vowel . The startpoint is conventionally set at [a]. However, as the RP start-vowel can in fact be at any point from centralized front to centralized back, and is raised from the fully open position, [Λ] is most usefully to be identified for its description. The RP transcription  was first used for the PRICE-vowel by MacCarthy (1978), and the [Λ] startpoint is acknowledged as likely by Cruttenden (1994: 122).  , with just a slightly retracted startpoint, can be heard from some trad-RP speakers.