Concerning pronunciation of the word: 'Gold'

[GrandLizard]

Warmest greetings!

Another lingustic oddity that has lately been of a particular interest to me, is the reason people sometimes pronounce the words such as 'gold', 'old', 'fall' as 'gowd', 'owd', 'fow'.

What is the cause of such an interesting phenomenon?

Thank you!

[Piscean]

I don't know which sound you intend to represent by the letters ow. If you mean the diphthong sound in 'cow', then I don't think anyone pronounces 'gold' and 'old' with that sound.

'Fall' has a different sound from 'gold and 'old' in BrE.

[GrandLizard]

The sound I am driving at perchance is more accurately represented by the following transcription: [ɡoʊd] which is for 'gold'.

Accordingly, [fɔːʊ] should stand for 'fall'.

Finally, [oʊd] which is intended for :'old'.

I hope this little explanatory note should be of any use to you.

[Piscean]

Where you find those transcriptions?

The normal phonemic transcription for 'old' (as in old, cold, gold mould, etc) is /əʊld/ for BrE and /oʊld/ for AmE. I have never heard the /oʊd/ version, but it may exist in some dialects.

The final phoneme of 'fall' is /l/, not /ʊ/ in standard varieties.

[Piscean]

I suggest you look through some of the dictionary definitions of 'gold' that you find here, GrandLizard. Click on the symbol that allows you to hear the pronunciation.
When you hear a pronunciation that is like the one you are talking about, let us know which dictionary it is in. We can then help you more.

[GrandLizard]

I thought this transcription would better reflect what I mean.

[Piscean]

Are you saying that these pairs are pronounced the same way:

Old - ode

cold - code

gold - goad

mould - mode

?

[Piscean]

As I said before, I have never heard the /oʊd/ version, but it may exist in some dialects. Where did you hear it?

[GrandLizard]

Here is the link:

https://youtu.be/yxLeYN-t9nw

In fact, the whole video may serve as an example.

[jutfrank]

As I said before, I have never heard the /oʊd/ version, but it may exist in some dialects. Where did you hear it?

I know exactly what GrandLizard means. It is extremely common in England. It's not dialectic, it's just part of a certain accent in southern England. I do it myself.

The /l/ in gold is replaced by a /w/ sound.

My friends sometimes mock me for pronouncing the supermarket Aldi and the car Audi in the same way. This is the same phenomenon.