to the NEAR lexical set, such as there and where, which are thus pronounced as and instead of and , respectively.

Urszula Clark has proposed the FACE vowel as a difference between Birmingham and Black Country pronunciation, with Birmingham speakers using /?I/ and Black Country speakers using /æI/. She also mentions that Black Country speakers are more likely to use /I?/ where most other accents use /ju:/ (in words such as new, Hugh, stew, etc.). This /I?/ is also present in some North American