Lax vowels LOT/CLOTH/THOUGHT

For most Newfoundlanders, the vowels of the LOT/CLOTH/THOUGHT sets have fully merged, and are realized as unrounded [a],  , or occasionally  , well forward of the cardinal 5 position which characterizes StCanE. For some (particularly older) speakers, the vowel of CLOTH/THOUGHT is distinguished from the LOT vowel via length; a very small minority retain a qualitative contrast, with a retracted unrounded [ɑ] or rounded [ɒ] for the CLOTH/THOUGHT sets. While some younger upwardly mobile speakers are tending to adopt more retracted CanE-like variants, the majority of the province’s residents maintain a more traditional central to front low unrounded vowel for all three subsets.