Vowels NURSE

One of the stereotypes of New York speech is the use of a front-rising diphthong in NURSE words. This stereotype is popularly represented in stock phrases like ‘toity toid’ for thirty third. The phonetic reality of this variant is near . The variant may also appear in the CHOICE class, resulting in verse and voice as homophones.

The diphthongal variant in NURSE is highly stigmatized. Labov’s data from the mid-1960s indicated the form was recessive then. Only 2 of his 51 speakers under age 20 used the form as compared with those over age 50 of whom 23 out of 30 used the form. CHOICE items may occur with  (e.g.,  toilet), apparently as a result of hypercorrection.