Short vowels

DRESS

This vowel is rendered most widely as half open front, [ε], the only characteristic exception occurring in South-east England, where [e] is the norm: [e] can also be heard in the West Midlands and, retracted, in British Creole. Raising from [ε] is found in the Channel Islands, East Anglia, Urban Scots, and Orkney and Shetland, and lowering occurs in urban Northern Irish.