British (RP) o vowel

Question

Whenever I hear the British (RP) (1) o vowel in a word like "horse" it sounds very much to my Californian American ears like "holse". Something similar happens in non-rhotic Southern American dialects in words like "stormy" becoming "stolmy". However, I notice it's not everywhere. I remember hearing the actress Maggie Smith pronounce "sorted" as rhyming with AmE "saw".
The British vowel sounds similar to the RP "aw" vowel in words like BrE "law". To continue my "holse" hypothesis, I've read a description of the word "Paul" rhyming with BrE "paw" or "law". Does anyone else hear the "l", which I assume is really the BrE "aw" vowel as in "law"?

(1) I'm using the terminology "RP" as shorthand for British standard English. I am aware there are many different dialects/accents.

Thanks,
Larry

Usenet · Accepted Answer

[nq:1]Whenever I hear the British (RP) (1) o vowel in a word like "horse" it sounds very much to my ... or "law". Does anyone else hear the "l", which I assume is really the BrE "aw" vowel as in "law"?[/nq]
I'm not sure what you're saying here exactly, but I think I have some idea. The RP "court"/"caught" vowel sounds almost like a "coat" vowel to me. But actually it's more like the vowel I use in "colt". It's not that there's an 'l' there. It's probably a sort of (w) that you're hearing. In "colt", the presence of the 'l' causes the /oU/ vowel to be realized in a way that's different from the way it's realized in "coat". I'm not exactly sure what the difference is, but part of it is that (for me) the "coat" vowel phone is fronter than the "colt" vowel phone.

Many speakers in populous, prosperous, bustling and culturally influential Southeastern England, and perhaps other parts of the UK, are, ironically perhaps, non-lambdic: they don't pronounce postvocalic 'l'. So "Paul" said by such speakers might sound to us like "Poe", except it would have that back-er "Pole" vowel.

British (RP) o vowel

Top answer

Get the Weekly English Kit 📬

Related Questions