Vowels GOOSE

The usual vowel in this class is either the monophthong [u:] or the diphthong . Some speakers appear to have a separate phoneme, , in words such as tune, news, duke (historically a separate class). The phonemic status of this vowel is marginal. For example, Labov (1966) reports that New Yorkers may contrast [du:] do with  dew though they may also have  do. Still, dew is always  and never [du:].