| dc.description.abstract | This article is focused on providing the results of a partially impressionistic and partially
acoustic phonetic analysis of the CURE vowel (i.e. /ʊə/ as in cure, tour, sure) in South African
English (SAfE) and, in particular, in the main first-language (L1) sociolect of this Southern
Hemisphere variety, General SAfE. While the results confirm a high degree of variability in
terms of the realisation of CURE in General SAfE, a couple of trends are identifiable. Firstly,
while other non-rhotic varieties of English have undergone (or are undergoing) the Second
FORCE Merger, whereby CURE merges with /oː/ (e.g. cure is pronounced [kjoː]), it would
appear that the Second FORCE Merger has been arrested in the General SAfE of the recorded
subjects (contra certain pronouncements in the extant literature and limited to some of the
subjects and certain lexical items such as sure). Secondly, in word-internal position, CURE is
inclined towards smoothing (and in some cases full monophthongisation) with the quality of
the resultant vowel mostly dependent on the preceding consonant. After a palatal or palatoalveolar
segment in word-internal position, there appears to be a partial merger with rounded,
fronted SAfE NURSE (i.e. [øː]), e.g. insurance is pronounced [ɪnʃøːɹəns]. In the case of nonpost-
palatal, word-internal CURE, however, the smoothed realisations are further back in
phonetic space. In word-final position, the trend is for CURE to be realised as canonical [ʊə].
Generally, however, the presence in some cases of NURSE-like values in word-final position,
particularly after palatal or palato-alveolar contexts (e.g. [məʧøː] for mature), as well as both
the high degree of variability in the data overall and residual [oː]-realisations, point to processes
of phonologisation and lexicalisation of both NURSE-like and other qualities, thus creating a
large number of exceptions to the overall allophonic patterning in the data | en_US |
