Accents and dialects in the west of Wales have been more heavily influenced by the Welsh language while dialects in the east have been influenced more by dialects in England.[1] In the east and south east, it has been influenced by West Country and West Midland dialects[2] while in north east Wales, it has been influenced by Merseyside English.
The schwa tends to be supplanted by an /ɛ/ in final closed syllables, e.g. brightest/ˈbrəitɛst/. The uncertainty over which vowel to use often leads to 'hypercorrections' involving the schwa, e.g. programme is often pronounced /ˈproːɡrəm/[4]
Long monophthongs
Monophthongs of Welsh English as they are pronounced in Abercrave, from Coupland & Thomas (1990:135–136).
Monophthongs of Welsh English as they are pronounced in Cardiff, from Coupland & Thomas (1990:93–95). Depending on the speaker, the long /ɛː/ may be of the same height as the short /ɛ/.[7]
Diphthongs of Welsh English as they are pronounced in Abercrave, from Coupland & Thomas (1990:135–136)
Diphthongs of Welsh English as they are pronounced in Cardiff, from Coupland & Thomas (1990:97)
Most other long monophthongs are similar to that of Received Pronunciation, but words with the RP /əʊ/ are sometimes pronounced as [oː] and the RP /eɪ/ as [eː]. An example that illustrates this tendency is the Abercrave pronunciation of play-place[ˈpleɪˌpleːs][10]
In northern varieties, /əʊ/ as in coat and /ɔː/ as in caught/court may be merged into /ɔː/ (phonetically [oː]).[4]
Diphthongs
Fronting diphthongs tend to resemble Received Pronunciation, apart from the vowel of bite that has a more centralised onset [æ̈ɪ][10]
Welsh English is one of few dialects where the Late Middle English diphthong /ɪu/ never /juː/. Thus you/juː/, yew/jɪʊ̯/, and ewe/ɪʊ̯/ are not homophones in Welsh English.
Consonants
A strong tendency (shared with Scottish English and some South African accents) towards using an alveolar tap[ɾ] (a 'tapped r') in place of an approximant [ɹ] (the r used in most accents in England).[11]