Short vowels

STRUT

This vowel exhibits a celebrated variation which is frequently offered as marking the distinction between the accents of Northern and Southern England: Northern English typically has [ʊ] (the FOOT vowel) here, whilst Southern and East Anglian English has somewhat fronted [Λ] or the centralized [ɐ], this resulting in the North retaining what is the traditional five-vowel system of short vowels while the South has six. [Λ] is typical of RP: an innovation here and in the accents of some English regional speakers towards a raised and retracted variant at or approaching [ɤ] may be seen as a move towards a compromise between the two extremes. Illustrative of its border status between North and South, the West Midlands have considerable variation in realizations of this vowel, tending however towards the Northern [ʊ]  and ‘compromise’ [ɤ]. Elsewhere in the British Isles [Λ] , centralized in Ireland and Wales, is widespread, with [ɔ] occurring in Orkney and Shetland, the Channel Islands, and British Creole.