Long vowels

NURSE

Considerable variability occurs in this vowel throughout the British Isles, though it may be very broadly summed up as consisting of [ɚ] in rhotic areas of Ireland and South-west England and [з:/ə:] in the rest of the region, excluding Scotland. Most notable additions to this broad distinction are [ɔ], found in Orkney and Shetland, and a full NURSE/NORTH merger on this retracted form in the speech of some older speakers in North-east England, where a fronted variant [ø] has recently been identified in the speech of younger, mainly female, speakers. [œ:] occurs in Wales and variably in the West Midlands. Rhotic Scottish accents exhibit [Λ] (Scottish Standard English) and either [Λ] or [ε] (Urban Scots).

NURSE and SQUARE also fall together for many speakers in Liverpool, with words from either set being pronounced with [з:] or [ε:]. [ε:] is also a feature of Hull and Teesside speech in Northern England, although SQUARE does not allow of [з:] in those places.