Editing Brummie dialect (section)

==Pronunciation==
{{IPA notice|section}}
{| class="wikitable"
|+Vowels of the Brummie accent
! colspan="2" |Lax vowels
! colspan="2" |Long vowels
! colspan="2" |R-coloured vowels
! colspan="2" |Closing diphthongs
! colspan="2" |Reduced vowels
|-
!Keyword
!Realisation
!Keyword
!Realisation
!Keyword
!Realisation
!Keyword
!Realisation
!Keyword
!Realisation
|-
|TRAP/BATH
|a
|PALM/BATH
|ɑː
|START
|ɑː
|FACE
|ɛi̯~aɪ̯~ɐɪ̯~ʌɪ̯
|lettER
|ə~ɐ
|-
|DRESS
|ɛ~e
|THOUGHT
|o̞ː~ɔː
|NORTH
|o̞ː~ɔː
|GOAT
|aʊ̯~ɐʊ̯~ʌʊ̯
|commA
|ə~ɐ
|-
|KIT
|ɪ~i
|FLEECE
|əi̯~ɪi̯
|FORCE
|o̞ː~ɔː, ʌʊ̯ə
|PRICE
| rowspan="2" |aɪ̯~ɒɪ̯~ɔɪ̯
|happY
|əi̯~iː
|-
|LOT
|ɒ
|GOOSE
|əʉ̯~əu̯
|CURE
|əuɐ~uə̯~ʊə̯~ʊɐ̯, ɔː~o̞ː 
|CHOICE
| colspan="2" rowspan="4" |
|-
|STRUT
|ʌ~ə~ɤ~ʊ
| colspan="2" rowspan="3" |
|NURSE
|ɘ̝͗ː~əː~ɜː
|MOUTH
|æə̯~æʊ̯~ɛʉ̯~ɛ̝̈ʊ̯
|-
|FOOT
|ɤ~ʊ
|SQUARE*
|ɛə̯~ɛː~ɘ̝͗ː~əː~ɜː
| colspan="2" rowspan="2" |
|-
| colspan="2" |
|NEAR
|əiɐ~iə̯~ɪə̯~ɜː
|}[[File:Vowels of the Brummie dialect.png|right|thumb|Formant chart of eight Brummie vowels according to Malarski (2002)ː FLEECE /ɪi/, GOOSE /ʊʉ/, TRAP /a/, FACE /æɪ/, GOAT /ʌʊ/, PRICE /ɒɪ/, MOUTH /æʊ/, CHOICE /oɪ/]]
<nowiki>*</nowiki>In Brummie, some SQUARE words have shifted to the NEAR [[lexical set]], such as ''there'' and ''where'', which are thus pronounced as {{IPA|/ðɪə/}} and {{IPA|/wɪə/}} instead of {{IPA|/ðɛə/}} and {{IPA|/wɛə/}}, respectively. 

Urszula Clark has proposed the FACE vowel as a difference between Birmingham and Black Country pronunciation, with Birmingham speakers using /ʌɪ/ and Black Country speakers using /æɪ/.<ref>Handbook of Varieties of English, Mouton de Gruyter, 2004, page 148</ref> She also mentions that Black Country speakers are more likely to use /ɪʊ/ where most other accents use /juː/ (in words such as new, Hugh, stew, etc.).<ref>Handbook of Varieties of English, Mouton de Gruyter, 2004, page 151</ref> This /ɪʊ/ is also present in some North American dialects for words like ''ew'', ''grew'', ''new'', ''due'', etc., contrasting with /u/ (words like ''boo'', ''zoo'', ''to'', ''too'', ''moon'', ''doom'', etc.). Other North American dialects may use /ju/ for this purpose, or even make no distinction at all.
[[File:Birmingham monophthongs.svg|thumb|Birmingham monophthongs KIT /i/; DRESS /e/; TRAP /a/; LOT /ɔ/; FOOT /ʊ/ and NURSE /ɨː/ according to Thorne (2003)]]
Below are some common features of a recognisable Brummie accent (a given speaker may not necessarily use all, or use a feature consistently). The letters enclosed in square brackets{{spaced ndash}}{{IPA|[]}}{{spaced ndash}}use the [[Help:IPA|International Phonetic Alphabet]]. The corresponding example words in italics are spelt so that a reader using Received Pronunciation (RP) can approximate the sounds.

* The vowel of ''mouth'' (RP {{IPA|[aʊ]}}) can be {{IPA|[æʊ]}} or {{IPA|[æə]}}
* The vowel of ''goat'' (RP {{IPA|[əʊ]}}) can be close to {{IPA|[ɑʊ]}} (so to an RP speaker, ''goat'' may sound like "gout")
* Final unstressed {{IPA|/i/}}, as in ''happy'', may be realised as {{IPA|[əi]}}, though this varies considerably between speakers
* In Birmingham, STRUT and FOOT may either be distinguished or merged. If the two vowels merge, they are pronounced either as {{IPAblink|ɤ}} or {{IPAblink|ʊ}}, as in northern England—see [[foot–strut split]]. 
* [[File:Birmingham Diphthongs.svg|thumb|Birmingham diphthongs FLEECE /əi/; FACE /ʌɪ/; PRICE /ɔɪ/; MOUTH /ɛʊ/; GOAT /ʌʊ/; GOOSE /əu/ according to Thorne (2003)]]The majority of Brummies use the Northern {{IPAblink|a}} in words like ''bath'', ''cast'' and ''chance'', although the South-Eastern {{IPAblink|ɑː}} is more common amongst older speakers.<ref>Handbook of Varieties of English, Mouton de Gruyter, 2004, pages 145-6</ref>
* The vowels in ''price'' and ''choice'' may be almost merged as {{IPA|[ɒɪ]}} so that the two words would almost rhyme. However, the two are still distinct, unlike in the Black Country dialect.
* In more old-fashioned Brummie accents, the FORCE set of words takes {{IPA|[ʌʊə]}} and the PURE set takes {{IPA|[uːə~ʊə]}}, so both sets were in two syllables in broad transcription. In such an old-fashioned accent, the words ''paw, pour'' and ''poor'' would all be said differently: {{IPA|[pɔː]}}, {{IPA|[pʌʊə]}}, {{IPA|[puːə]}}. In more modern accents, all three are said as {{IPA|[pɔː]}}.<ref>John Wells, ''Accents of English'', page 364, [[Cambridge University Press]], 1981.</ref>
* Final unstressed {{IPA|/ə/}} may be realised as {{IPA|[a]}}
* The letters ''ng'' often represent {{IPA|/ŋɡ/}} where RP has just {{IPA|/ŋ/}} (e.g. ''singer'' as {{IPA|[ˈsiŋɡɐ]}}, ''Birmingham'' as {{IPA|[ˈbɘ̝͗ːmiŋɡəm]}})—see [[NG-coalescence]].
* {{IPA|/r/}} is not pronounced except when prevocalic (followed by a vowel); the Brummie accent, as an urban accent of the [[West Midlands region]], is characteristically [[non-rhotic]]. The use of [[Linking and intrusive R|linking R and intrusive R]] in Birmingham and the rest of the urban West Midlands region is practically universal.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Thorne|first=Steve|date=2013|title=West Midlands English|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=57gZBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA152|journal=World Englishes|volume=I|page=152|doi=10.5040/9781474205955.ch-005|isbn=978-1-4742-0595-5 |access-date=2023-03-24|quote=The English of rural areas of the West Midlands [region] ... is predominantly rhotic ... whereas the English of urban areas such as Birmingham, Wolverhampton, Coventry and the Black Country is non-rhotic. In continuous speech, ... the linking r ... and intrusive r ... are categorical.|url-access=subscription}}</ref><ref>{{cite thesis|last=Smith|first=Alison|date=2017|title=U wot m8?: American and British Attitudes toward Regional British Accents|url=https://scholarship.claremont.edu/scripps_theses/1045|type=BA|publisher=Scripps Senior Theses|series=1045|pages=16–17|access-date=2023-03-22|quote=The Brummie accent is characterized by numerous phonological qualities, including ... non-rhoticity, ...}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://h2g2.com/edited_entry/A496352|title=h2g2 - How to Speak Brummie - Edited Entry|author=<!--Not stated-->|date=2001|website=H2g2.com|access-date=2023-03-24|quote=Not every written 'r' is articulated. Here, the Birmingham accent mirrors RP quite closely. With a word like 'Centre', the 'r' sound is completely ignored. ... [In t]he word 'Birmingham' therefore, ... the 'r' is not pronounced at all.|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230324083404/https://h2g2.com/edited_entry/A496352|archive-date=2023-03-24|url-status=live}}</ref>
* Some [[alveolar flap|tapping]] of prevocalic {{IPA|/r/}} (some speakers; e.g. in ''crime'' or ''there is'')
* In a few cases, voicing of final {{IPA|/s/}} (e.g. ''bus'' as {{IPA|[bʊz]}})

Recordings of Brummie speakers with phonetic features described in [[SAMPA]] format can be found at the ''Collect Britain'' dialects site.<ref>[http://www.collectbritain.co.uk/ Collect Britain] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050521083104/http://www.collectbritain.co.uk/ |date=2005-05-21 }}, Samples of Birmingham speech. (WMA format, with annotations on phonology, lexis and grammar.)</ref>