The KIT LIST SETS

These sets of words are grouped for Standard English and Standard American. This means that in Standard English and Standard American every word in the set takes the same vowel of the principal word. These groups are adapted from J C Wells, Accents of English, An Introduction (Cambridge University Press 1982).

When an accent has a different vowel shape for one of the words in either the set or sub-set they are likely to change the whole set or sub-set to that vowel. Of course, accents are always making innovations and it is worth pointing out that individual word pronunciation does fluctuate over time. Words are affected by peer groups, social aspiration etc. This can make individual words move from one set to another over time. For example, Standard English used to put all its 'TRANS' words (translate, transport, transaction etc) in the BATH, PALM, START sets with a long AH, but in recent times you will hear many speakers using the short TRAP vowel instead in some or all of them.

KIT

a) ship, bit, sick, stiff, pith, this, wish,
rib, kid, dig, bridge, give, his,
dim, skin, sing, fill, milk, limp, hint, drink, lift, list, plinth, mix, slither, vision, spirit, dinner, silly, winter, sister, ….; myth, symbol, rhythm, …; pretty, England, English,…;
build, guilt, women, sieve,
busy, business.

DRESS

a) step, bet, neck, fetch, Jeff, mess, mesh,
ebb, bed, egg, edge, rev, fez,
hem, pen, bell, shelf, hemp, tent, theft, best, sex, next,
effort, method, terror, tenor, jelly, centre/er, pester,…;
threat, sweat, deaf, death,
bread, dead, head, health, realm, meant, breast,
ready, jealous, pleasant, weather, treacherous,….;

b) any, many.

STRUT

a) cup, cut, suck, much, snuff, fuss, rush,
rub, bud, jug, budge, buzz,
hum, run, lung, dull,
pulse, bulge, punch, lump, hunt, trunk,
butter, study, punish, number, mustn't, Guthrie,…;
done, come, love, mother, stomach,
monk, tongue, onion, money, front,…;
touch, enough, young, double, southern,
country,…;
blood flood.

FOOT

(in some accents set b merge with GOOSE words)

a) put, puss, bush, full,
butcher, cushion, pudding, bullet,…..;
good, stood, wood, wool,….;.
woman, wolf, bosom,
could, should, would, shouldn't;

b) cook, look, shook.

GOOSE

a) loop, shoot, spook, smooch, proof, loose,
boob, mood, groove, smooth, choose,
boom, spoon, fool, too,
boost, schooner, booty, ….;
move, prove, lose, whose,…..,
tomb, do, who, two,….,
group, youth, ghoul, you, through,….;
dupe, mute, duke, truth, obtuse,
cube, rude, fugue, huge, amuse,
plume, tune, blue,
funeral, lucre, prudent,….;
flu, duty, pupil, mucus, lucid, crucial, confusion,
ludicrous, music, human, lunatic,…;

b) sleuth, deuce, feud, neutral, feudal, eunuch,….;
fruit, juice, cruise, nuisance,…;
newt, lewd, few, knew, pewter, sewage,….;
view, review, beauty, beautiful;

c) tooth, roof, hoof.

FLEECE

a) creep, meet, seek, beech, reef, teeth,
seed, sleeve, seethe, cheese,
seem, green, feel,
see, tree, agree,
needle, feeder, sweeten,….;
grebe, these, Peter, even,…;
shriek, brief, piece, believe, field,…;
ceiling, Keith, Sheila,..;
be, me,…;
key, people;

b) reap, meat, speak, teach, leaf, beneath, peace, leash,
bead, league, leave, breathe, please,
team, mean, deal,
sea, tea,
feats, reason, weasel, easy, Easter,…;
deceive, receive, seize,…;
Caesar, anaemic, Aesop,…;
Phoenix, subpoena, foetus,…;
Quay;
police, unique, machine, prestige, elite, mosquito, casino, visa, trio, ski, chic;

c) metre, equal, decent, legal, penal,
complete, scene,…;

NURSE

a) usurp, hurt, church, turf, purse, curb, curd, urge, curve, furze,
turn, curl, spur, occurred, burnt, burst, murder, further;
myrrh, myrtle, Byrne;

b) shirt, irk, birch, birth, bird, dirge, firm, girl, fir, stirred, first, circus, virtue;

c) twerp, assert, jerk, perch, serf, berth, terse, verb, emerge, nerve, term, stern, deter,
err, preferred, certain, person, immersion,
emergency, kernel;
earth, dearth, hearse, search, heard,
earn, yearn, earl, pearl, rehearsal, early,
earnest;

d) wort, work, worth, worse, word, worm,
whorl, worst, worthy;
scourge, adjourn, courteous, journal,
journalist, journey;
attorney, colonel.

TRAP

tap, cat, batch, gaff, math(s) mass, dash, cash,
mad, rag, badge, have, jazz,
ham, man, hang, shall
scalp, lam, ant, hand, thank, lapse, tax,
arrow, carriage, banner, abbey, tassel, cancel, panda.

BATH

a) staff, giraffe, path, lath,
brass, class, glass, grass, pass,
raft, craft, graft, daft, shaft, aft, half, draft,
clasp, grasp, rasp, gasp,
blast, cast, fast, mast, aghast, last, past, contrast, vast, avast,
ask, bask, mask, flask, cask, task,
after, rafter, Shaftesbury,
master, plaster, disaster, castor, pastor, nasty, disastrous,
basket, casket, rascal,
fasten, raspberry, ghastly, castle,
laugh, laughter, draught;
dance, advance, chance, France, lance, glance, enhance, prance, trance,
grant, slant, aunt, chant, plant, advantage, vantage, chantry, supplant, enchant,
branch, blanch, ranch,
demand, command, remand, slander, chandler,
commando, Alexander, Sandra, Flanders,
example, sample,
chancel, chancellor, France, Francis, lancet, answer;
calf, half, halve, rather, Slav,
shan't can't, Iraq, corral, morale, Iran, Sudan, banana

(The following subset are in a state of flux in the Standard English accent. Many of these words are crossing over to the TRAP set)

b) chaff, graph, alas, hasp, Basque, masque,
plastic, drastic, elastic, gymnastic, enthusiastic, bastard, paschal, pastoral, masculine, masquerade, exasperate, blasphemy, masturbate, Glasgow, lather, stance, askance, circumstantial, intransigent, substantial, transit, transport, transfer, transform, transitory, transient, transept, contralto, alto, plaque, Cleopatra.

PALM

Set C are most likely to switch to the TRAP vowel in some speakers/accents.

a) calm, balm, psalm, alms, father,
bra, ma, pa, mamma, papa, aha, ah, blah, hurrah;

b) Bach, façade, roulade, raj, taj, salaam, Brahms, Kahn, Afrikaans, Transvaal,
spa, Shah, Armagh, schwa,
cantanta, inamorato, legato, sonata, staccato, pizzizato, mafia
Dada, bravado, incommunicado, Mikado, lager, Zhivago, maharajah, kava, guava, Java, Dali, Mali, Guatemala, Somalia, lama, Yokohama, swami, Brahmin, guano, marijuana, iguana, Botswana, Malawi, Bahai, Sumatra, candelabra.

c) Koran, khan, Pakistan, Shan, chorale, rationale, locale, khaki, pasha, Nazi,
Colorado, enchilada, Nevada, lava palaver, plaza,
almond, drama, pajama/pyjama, panorama, Ghama, nirvana, sultana, soprano, pirhana, Bali, finale.

START

a) far, star, bar, bazaar;
sharp, part, bark, arch, scarf, farce, harsh,
garb, card, large, carve, parse,
farm, barn, snarl, Charles,
party, market, marvellous,
sari, safari, cascara, atria, scenario, Sahara, tiara

b) heart, hearken, hearth, sergeant

LOT

stop, pot, sock, notch, Goth,
rob, odd, cog, dodge,
Tom, con, doll,
Solve, romp, font, copse, box,
Profit, possible, proverb, bother, rosin,
Honest, ponder;
swan, quality, yacht, wasp, watch, squabble, waffle;
knowledge, acknowledge.

CLOTH

In some accents the cloth set or sub sets may merge with the LOT set; in others they may merge with the THOUGHT set.

a) off, cough, trough, broth, froth, cross, across, loss, floss, toss, doss,
soft, croft, lost, oft, cost, frost, lost,
often, soften, lofty,
Australia, Austria, Austin,
Gone;

b) moth, boss, gloss, joss, moss, Ross,
long, strong, wrong, gong, song, thong, tongs, throng,
coffee, coffer, coffin, offer, office, officer, glossy,
foster, Boston, Gloucester, sausage;
wash;

b) origin, Oregon, oratory, orator, orange, authority,
borrow, categorical, correlate, coroner, coral,
florid, Florida, florist, historic,
horrid, horrible, majority, horrify, horror,
metaphoric, morrow,
Morris, moral, porridge, rhetorical, sorrel,
sorrow, tomorrow, sorry,
Laurence, laurel, quarrel, quarry, warrant, warren, warrior.

THOUGHT

a) taught, caught, Maugham, Vaughan, Waugh,
naughty, haughty, slaughter, daughter,
ought, brought, wrought, brought, fought, nought, sought,
taut, debauch, sauce,
applaud, cause, faun, haul, Paul,
autumn, author, taunt, laundry, gauntlet;
gawp, hawk, crawl, sawn, yawn,
jaw, law, saw, draw, awe;
chalk, talk, walk, stalk, calk,
all, fall, small, wall, appal, install,
bald, water, broad;

b) halt salt malt false,
alter, also, alderman, walrus;
fault, vault.

NORTH

a) or, for, nor, Thor;
war;

b) Thorpe, assort, cavort, consort, distort, exhort, resort, retort, short, snort, tort, cork, fork, stork, torque, York, scorch, torch, morph, gorse, horse, remorse,
orb, absorb, accord, chord, cord, lord, George, gorge,
form, reform, storm, adorn, born, corn, horn, morn, porn, scorn, shorn, thorn, corpse,
porpoise, torpid, torpor, fortify, fortunate, fortune,
important, mortal, mortar, shorten, tortoise, orchestra, orchid, torture, forfeit,
morpheme, morphine, orthodox, torso,
orbit, order, border, ordinary, organ, organism, organise,
dormer, Mormon, normal, ornament, corner, forward, fortress;
quart, quarter, quartz, sward, swarm, swarthy, warble,
ward, warden, wardrobe, warlock, warm, warmth,
wan, warp, Warsaw, wart;

c) aural, aura, Laura, Taurus

FORCE

In the vast majority of accents NORTH and FORCE words have merged. In those that haven't NORTH words have the THOUGHT vowel plus R, while FORCE words have the GOAT vowel plus R.

a) ore, adore, afore before, bore, core, chore, core, deplore, explore, fore galore, gore, ignore, implore, more, pore, restore, score, score, shore, snore, sore, spore, store, swore, tore, whore, wore, yore;

b) deport, export, fort, import, port, report, sport, support, pork, porch, forth, divorce,
afford, ford, horde, sword, forge,
borne, shorn, sworn, torn, worn,
portent, porter, portrait, proportion, Borneo;

c) course, hoarse, board, hoard, boarder;
court, fourth, course, resource, source, courtier;

d) oral, adorable, angora, aurora, borax, boron, choral, Dora, fedora, flora, floral,
glory, gory, moron, Nora, porous, story, thorax, Tory,
censorious, euphoria, Gloria, glorious, Gregorian, historian, laborious, memorial,
meritorious, moratorium, notorious, pictorial, praetorian, stentorian, Victoria(n), hoary, uproarious.

FACE

a) tape, late, cake, safe, case,
babe, fade, vague, age, wave, bathe, craze,
name, mane, vale,
change, waste..;
taper, bacon, nature, station, lady, raven, invasion, April;
bass(in music) gauge, gaol/jail;

b) wait, faith, plaice, aitch, raid, nail, main, faint,…;
day, play, way, grey/gray,…;
rein, veil, beige, feint,…;
they, whey, obey,…;
weigh, weight, eight, straight,…;
rein, campaign, deign,…;

c) great, steak, break, yea.

GOAT

(in many accents of England this has a sliding vowel from LOT in set c and a steady LOT vowel in set d)

a) soap, boat, oak, roach, oaf, loaf,
road, loathe, roam, loan, boast, coax,…;
note, rope, joke, both, gross,
robe, code, rogue, grove, close, rose,
home, tone,
so, no, toe, foe, don't, host,
noble, ocean, explosion, holy,…;
brooch, beau, gauche, mauve;

b) own, know, grow, owe, Owen,….;
sew, dough, though, although.

c) coal, bowl, soul, poultry, mould, shoulder, old;
roll, scroll, control,..;

d)colt, holster, bolt.

PRICE

(NB: in Canada, Virginia and coastal South Carolina there is a marked distinction between a narrow slide before a voiceless consonant and a wider one everywhere else)

a) ripe, write, like, knife, ice,
tribe, side, arrive, writhe, rise,
time, fine, mile, fire, die, tried,..;
Friday, tiger, silent, violent, liar, science,
indict, isle, child, pint, find, ninth, Christ, viscount, bicycle, island,..;
type, try, Cyprus, hybrid, dye,…;
eider, kaleidoscope, eye, height, aisle, but, choir,..;

b) fight, high, sign,..

CHOICE

a) boy, toy, joy, annoy, oyster…;
noise, voice, choice, rejoice,
void, moist,..;

b) coin, join, oil, boil, soil, spoil, toil,
poison, ointment,,,;
employ..;

c) groin, hoist joist.

MOUTH

(NB: in Canada, Virginia and coastal South Carolina there is a marked distinction between a narrow slide before a voiceless consonant and a wider one everywhere else)

a) out, pouch, south, house,
loud, gouge, mouth(verb) , rouse,
noun, foul, thou,
count, round, pronounce, oust,
flour, sour, trousers, mountain, council, boundary,,,,
crowd, browse, owl, down, cow, allow,
dowry, flower, coward, towel, powder,..;
bough, plough, doughty,…;
MacCleod.

NEAR

a) beer, deer, career,…;
here, mere, sincere, interfere,…;
bier, pier, cashier,…;
weir;
fear, ear, appear, yearling,…;

b) fierce, pierce;
weird, Deidre;
beard;

c) serious, mysterious, period, serum,
diphtheria, hero,…;
eerie, peerage, Madeira, dreary;

d)idea, Korea, diarrhoea, Galatea,..;
European, Jacobean, Crimean,…;
Maria, Sophia,…;
Museum, Colosseum,..;
Real, ideal.

SQUARE

(NB in North America the SQUARE - TRAP - DRESS distinction is lost when the vowel is followed by R and another vowel, eg: Mary - marry - merry, hairy - Harry, fairy - ferry.)

a) care, share, bare,..;
air, fair, pair,…;
bear, pear, wear, swear,…;
heir, their, there, where, Ayr, Eyre, prayer, mayor;

b) scarce;

c) vary, canary, Mary, aquarium, various, rarity, area, Pharaoh,..;
dairy, prairie, fairy,..;
aerial, Eire.

CURE

(in aii and cii this vowel is frequently preceded by Y. This vowel is, in many accents, in a process of merging with NURSE or NORTH words)

ai) boor, moor, Moor, poor, spoor,
amour, tour, your;

aii) abjure adjure, allure, assure, demure, endure, ensure, immure, insure, inure, lure,
manure, mature, obscure, procure, pure, secure, sure;

b) bourse, gourd, Bourbon, bourgeois, gourmand, gourmet, tournament,
tourney, tourniquet;

ci) boorish, tourism, tourist;

cii) Ural, angostura, assurance, bravura, bureau, caesura, Huron, incurable, insurance,
mural, plural, rural, Truro,
centurion, curious, furious, injurious, luxurious, Muriel, penurious, spurious,
curate, during, fury, jury, lurid, maturity, obscurity, purify, purity, security, sulphuric;
Europe, neural, neuron, pleurisy