The short vowels CURE

The CURE diphthong has a starting point comparable to that of GOOSE, and an open central end-point. When the vowel occurs in open position, it may become disyllabic.

GOOSE and CURE are neutralized before /r/, where the vowel heard is monophthongal rather than diphthongal. There is no contrast before /l/ either.

The CURE vowel is heard in New Zealand English only following /j/. In words like poor, moor, tour it has been largely replaced by FORCE. The overall result is that the CURE vowel has very little functional load in New Zealand English.