Consonants can be geminated by any preceding vowel except long non-close vowels, which is most noticeable for fortis plosives and when they are in intervocalic positions. For instance, the plosives in these pairs are lengthened: lob–lobby, shunt–shunting and sit–city. In clusters, the first of any fortis elements is selected: /t/inshuntingor/s/innasty or simply the first consonant when there is no fortis element, as in lovely in which /v/ is lengthened.[2]
The HAPPY vowel is tense, but unlike Received Pronunciation, it is long [iː], as in the FLEECE vowel (see Happy 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 like anti- and poly-.
There is no contrastive NEAR vowel. Depending on word, it is replaced by either FLEECE (in polysyllables), a disyllabic sequence of FLEECE and COMMA/iːə/ (in monosyllables) and a monosyllabic sequence /jøː/ when word initial (including hear and here, where the /h/ is generally dropped).[5]
As in many other southern Welsh accents, the NURSE vowel is rounded and fronted to [øː]. However, a small minority of speakers realise it rhotically as [əɾ~əɹ] as in many varieties of North American English.[6]
The horse–hoarse merger is absent in PTE, hence the words horse/ɒː/ and hoarse/oː/ are kept distinct. /oː/ is found in fortress and important, where the horse 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]
The THOUGHT vowel is mainly /ɒː/. Exceptions are before /l/ and /st/, as in allorexhaust, as well as the word saucepan, where it is replaced by the LOT vowel /ɒ/. However long /ɒː/ does appear before the cluster /ld/ and the word palsy.[5]
The trap–bath split is nearly absent, although the word bath along with path, laugh and its derivatives, ghastly and last(ly) have a long PALM/aː/, yet just like in Northern England, the remainder of BATH words are short /a/.[5]
The TRAP words bad, bag and man 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 as Dai and aye.[9]
PTE, like Welsh dialects such as Abercraf English, has preserved several diphthong–monophthong distinctions that other varieties have not. They include:
A distinction between /ɪʊ/ and /uː/, corresponding to the GOOSE vowel in other dialects. Thus the pairs blue/blew and grue/grew are not homophones.[9]
When a word is spelt with an ⟨o⟩, the corresponding vowel is /uː/. It also occurs in the words insurance and surety.
The spellings ⟨u⟩, ⟨ue⟩ and ⟨ui⟩ following ⟨r⟩ are typically pronounced /uː/.
/uː/ can also be found in the word blue, and the sequence ⟨luC⟩, such as flute, lunatic and Pluto
/ɪʊ/ is found otherwise, such as creworglue.
The sequence /juː/ in most dialects will be rendered as /jɪʊ/ in word-initial position and after ⟨y⟩, such as use and youth. You and its derivatives can be pronounced either as /jɪʊ/or/ɪʊ/. /ɪʊ/ is otherwise found for all other positions.[9]
Another distinction for the FACE and GOAT lexical sets, thus the minimal pairs pain/pane and toe/tow (see Long 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]
The FACE vowel is always diphthong word-finally or preceding a vowel. It is further seen in the suffix sequence ⟨-atiV⟩, thus café, mosaic and patience are always /eɪ/. It is usually a diphthong before a nasal (strange and came), however proper names do have a monophthong (Cambridge and James).
The FACE is a monophthong in bait, gait, gaiter, Jamaica, raisin, traipse and waist.
Before a single ⟨l⟩, the GOAT is always diphthongal, such as coalorgold. The spelling ⟨oll⟩ is diphthongal in roll, stroll and its derivatives, yet monophthongal elsewhere.
GOAT is monophthongal in (al)though, and morpheme-final -ow (elbow and window).
Own as a possessive adjective (such as your own) is monophthongal.[5]
/t,d/, at the end of a morpheme or word, are very commonly elided: not good and handbag/ˈhambaɡ/, the latter with the assimilation of the nasal with the b.[8]
The indefinite article an (before a vowel) may be reduced to a, as in a apple/əˈapəl/.[1]
The schwa /ə/ is often elided although but it is also very common to retain it.[8]
The sequence co(-)op, like in the rest of South Wales, is characteristically pronounced like cop/kɒp/.[8]
Elisions in the phrases isn't it?/ˈɪnɪt/, never mind/ˈnɛːˈmʌɪn/ and there you are/ˈdɛːˈwaː/ are very common.[8]
Why + negative do, such as why don't, why doesn'torwhy 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 as Bridgendoricecream lose their secondary stress.[8]
The prepositions on, by and for are used idiomatically, as is characteristic for South Wales accent: by here/there. Phrasal examples include what 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) and there's gratitude for you (you're appreciated).[12]
crachach — used everywhere in Wales; a derogatory term used to refer to members of the Establishment in the country.[13][14] It can simply refer to 'posh people'.[11]
