Vowels and diphthongs TRAP, LOT, BATH, PALM

Southern BrC is a “broad-BATH” dialect like its input varieties. Short-O  and short-A  merged in the formation of JamC, as the latter never raised from [a] to [æ] according to Cassidy and LePage (1980: xlix), so pronunciations with [æ] represent StJamE or, more probably, BrE influence. Again targeting basilectal JamC as reference variety, BrC may dramatically reduce vowel-quality contrasts among low vowels (Patrick 1999). Though their ranges do not entirely overlap, all four word-classes share front, open variants, sometimes centralized (e.g. Sally); for some speakers TRAP and LOT may be merged, though others retain rounding on the latter. However, length distinctions are robust and may even be exaggerated relative to London English (Beckford Wassink [1999: 186] finds a 1.6:1 ratio for long-to-short in JamC, typical of languages where quantity is the primary distinction). Some Jamaican-born speakers alternate [a:] and [a:] in succession, both long.

The possibly greater salience of quantity contrasts may account for the lengthening tendency observed in CLOTH words (normally short in South East England, Wells 1982) pronounced with front vowels; UK-born assimilated speakers tend to have short, backer vowels.