The short vowels PRICE

The starting point for the PRICE diphthong is considerably further back in New Zealand English than in RP, to the extent that it may be perceived as CHOICE by British speakers. This confusion is understandable when speakers of a broad variety are heard, since they may also round the first element of the diphthong, giving something like [ɒe]. Many speakers retain an unrounded first element, [ae]. PRICE + /ɘ/ in words like fire either results in a disyllabic sequence or may result in a monophthong, probably the same phoneme as in BATH/PALM/ START.