21 The START Lexical Set
The start lexical set has two dominant pronunciations. The first is the rhotic version of start, which is a wide centring diphthong, where the nucleus is on the periphery of the vowel space, generally fully open between central and back [ɑ̟], and the offglide is a mid-central rhotic schwa [ɚ̯].The second version is the non-rhotic start vowel, which is a monophthong in the same vicinity as the nucleus of the rhotic diphthong, [ɑ̟ ~ ɑ ~ ɑ̠]. It’s interesting that the non-rhotic diphthong version [ɑə̯] is quite rare. We do have non-rhotic diphthongal versions of near, and cure, e.g. [ɪə̯, ʊə̯], and, to a lesser degree, square, north, and force—which can be either diphthongal or monophthongal, e.g. [ɛə̯/ɛ, ɒə̯/ɒ, ɔə̯/ɔ ]. As the monophthong, non-rhotic start is almost always merged with palm, and frequently with bath, too. In fact, many non-rhotic speakers think of those sets as being variations of start, and use ‹ar› spellings to represent the [ɑ] vowel in “fauxnetic” respellings such as “Pakistarn” for [ˌpakɪˈstɑn][1].
Kortmann’s Varieties of English lists 4 ways for start to be pronounced, depending on how front or back the nucleus lies, with rhotic versions such as [ɑɚ̯ ~ ɐɚ̯ ~ aɚ̯ ~ æɚ̯], and [ɑ ~ ɐ~ a~ æ] for non-rhotic pronunciations, with the added non-rhotic diphthong option of [ɑə̯ ~ ɒə̯]. The start Lexical Set only contains words with this vowel/diphthong followed by ‹r›; for those words without ‹r› in their spelling, see palm or bath.
Wells, who first defined the Lexical Sets, set out three subgroups for start:
- start Ⓐ in free position, and derivative words (e.g. star, starred, starring)
- start Ⓑ in checked position, with a following consonant (e.g. part, shard, barn)
- start Ⓒ with intervocalic /r/ afterwards (e.g. safari, scenario), which is quite rare.
There is a group of start Ⓒ words which in many (rhotic) accents are merged with square Ⓒ, such as scenario, tiara, Camaro, mascara, O’Hara.
- 🕊 Free: does not require a following consonant, and can exist on its own
- in stressed and unstressed syllables
Spellings
| start Ⓐ: | ar#, aar#, oir# | star, far, mar, car, bar, bazaar, Saar, au revoir, memoir |
| start Ⓑ: | arC, earC, erC | article, part, large, heart, hearth, Derby*, clerk*, sergeant* |
| start Ⓒ: | arV | safari, sari, Atari, Guarani, scenario*, mascara*, tiara* |
Pronunciations
The start lexical set’s vowel in the non-rhotic version, and the nucleus of the diphthong in the rhotic version, are often pronounced with a fully open, centralized back vowel, usually completely unrounded. Realizations in non-rhotic accents are frequently in the range of [ɑ̠ ~ ɑ ~ ɑ̟]; rhotic start is often realized as [ɑ̠ɚ̯ ~ ɑɚ̯ ~ ɑ̟ɚ̯].
There are articulations where the nucleus is:
- front and raised, with [ɛ/ɛɚ ~ æ/æɚ̯] (Ireland and parts of Atlantic Canada),
- front [a/aɚ̯] (the North of England, New England, and East Africa),
- central [ɐ/ɐ̞ɚ̯] (Fiji, Australia and New Zealand, and other parts of Atlantic Canada), and