Consonants can begeminated by any preceding vowel except long non-close vowels, which is most noticeable forfortis plosives and when they are in intervocalic positions. For instance, the plosives in these pairs are lengthened:lob–lobby,shunt–shunting andsit–city. In clusters, the first of any fortis elements is selected:/t/ inshunting or/s/ innasty or simply the first consonant when there is no fortis element, as inlovely in which/v/ is lengthened.[2]
TheHAPPY vowel is tense, but unlike Received Pronunciation, it is long[iː], as in theFLEECE vowel (seeHappy tensing).[5]
Vowels corresponding to unstressed/ɪ/ in RP are as follows:[5]
/ɪ/ in the inflectional suffixes-ed and-es;
/ə/ in the suffix-est;
/iː/ in prefixes likeanti- andpoly-.
There is no contrastiveNEAR vowel. Depending on word, it is replaced by eitherFLEECE (in polysyllables), a disyllabic sequence ofFLEECE andCOMMA/iːə/ (in monosyllables) and a monosyllabic sequence/jøː/ when word initial (includinghear andhere, where the/h/ is generally dropped).[5]
As in many other southern Welsh accents, theNURSE vowel is rounded and fronted to[øː]. However, a small minority of speakers realise it rhotically as[əɾ~əɹ] as in many varieties ofNorth American English.[6]
Thehorse–hoarse merger is absent in PTE, hence the wordshorse/ɒː/ andhoarse/oː/ are kept distinct./oː/ is found infortress andimportant, where thehorse vowel may be found in other dialects that keep the distinction.[7]
/ə/ is open-mid[ɜ] in stressed positions. When unstressed, it may be slightly raised to mid[ə].[8]
TheTHOUGHT vowel is mainly/ɒː/. Exceptions are before/l/ and/st/, as inall orexhaust, as well as the wordsaucepan, where it is replaced by theLOT vowel/ɒ/. However long/ɒː/ does appear before the cluster/ld/ and the wordpalsy.[5]
Thetrap–bath split is nearly absent, although the wordbath along withpath,laugh and its derivatives,ghastly andlast(ly) have a longPALM/aː/, yet just like inNorthern England, the remainder ofBATH words are short/a/.[5]
TheTRAP wordsbad,bag andman are often found with long/aː/.[5]
Diphthongs of PTE are/ɪʊ,eɪ,oʊ,ʌɪ,ʌʊ,ɒɪ/.PRICE words are mostly pronounced with/ʌɪ/, but there also exists a marginal/aɪ/ which appears in a small number of words, such asDai andaye.[9]
PTE, like Welsh dialects such asAbercraf English, has preserved several diphthong–monophthong distinctions that other varieties have not. They include:
A distinction between/ɪʊ/ and/uː/, corresponding to theGOOSE vowel in other dialects. Thus the pairsblue/blew andgrue/grew are not homophones.[9]
When a word is spelt with an⟨o⟩, the corresponding vowel is/uː/. It also occurs in the wordsinsurance andsurety.
The spellings⟨u⟩,⟨ue⟩ and⟨ui⟩ following⟨r⟩ are typically pronounced/uː/.
/uː/ can also be found in the wordblue, and the sequence⟨luC⟩, such asflute,lunatic andPluto
/ɪʊ/ is found otherwise, such ascrew orglue.
The sequence/juː/ in most dialects will be rendered as/jɪʊ/ in word-initial position and after⟨y⟩, such asuse andyouth.You and its derivatives can be pronounced either as/jɪʊ/ or/ɪʊ/./ɪʊ/ is otherwise found for all other positions.[9]
Another distinction for theFACE andGOAT lexical sets, thus the minimal pairspain/pane andtoe/tow (seeLong mid mergers). They are generally diphthongised as/eɪ/ and/oʊ/ when the spelling contains⟨i⟩/⟨y⟩ and⟨u⟩/⟨w⟩ respectively and monophthongised as/eː/ and/oː/ elsewhere. However, these are subject to several exceptions:[10]
TheFACE vowel is always diphthong word-finally or preceding a vowel. It is further seen in the suffix sequence⟨-atiV⟩, thuscafé,mosaic andpatience are always/eɪ/. It is usually a diphthong before a nasal (strange andcame), however proper names do have a monophthong (Cambridge andJames).
TheFACE is a monophthong inbait,gait,gaiter,Jamaica,raisin,traipse andwaist.
Before a single⟨l⟩, theGOAT is always diphthongal, such ascoal orgold. The spelling⟨oll⟩ is diphthongal inroll,stroll and its derivatives, yet monophthongal elsewhere.
GOAT is monophthongal in(al)though, and morpheme-final-ow (elbow andwindow).
Own as a possessive adjective (such asyour own) is monophthongal.[5]
/t,d/, at the end of a morpheme or word, are very commonly elided:not good andhandbag/ˈhambaɡ/, the latter with the assimilation of the nasal with theb.[8]
The indefinite articlean (before a vowel) may be reduced toa, as ina apple/əˈapəl/.[1]
The schwa/ə/ is often elided although but it is also very common to retain it.[8]
The sequenceco(-)op, like in the rest of South Wales, is characteristically pronounced likecop/kɒp/.[8]
Elisions in the phrasesisn't it?/ˈɪnɪt/,never mind/ˈnɛːˈmʌɪn/ andthere you are/ˈdɛːˈwaː/ are very common.[8]
Why + negativedo, such aswhy don't,why doesn't orwhy didn't is also very commonly elided to/ˈwʌɪn/.[8]
Intonation in PTE is similar to Abercraf English. One prominent pattern is that the main pitch movement is not necessarily confined to the stressed syllable but can be spread further, to the end of the word.[2]
Like in other Welsh accents, PTE tends to avoid having double stress patterns, making words such asBridgend oricecream lose their secondary stress.[8]
The prepositionson,by andfor are used idiomatically, as is characteristic for South Wales accent:by here/there. Phrasal examples includewhat is on this? (what's the matter with this),there's times on him/her (he/she is in a temper),what's the time by you (what's a good time for you),you can't go by him/her (you can't depend on him/her) andthere's gratitude for you (you're appreciated).[12]
crachach — used everywhere in Wales; a derogatory term used to refer to members ofthe Establishment in the country.[13][14] It can simply refer to 'posh people'.[11]
