The "œ" ~ "oe" ~ "e" is traditionally pronounced as "short E", as "long E" (which = in most dialects or and or respectively), or as an (unrounded) unstressed vowel. These three Modern-English values interchange with one another in consistent ways, just as do the values within each of the sets from the other vowel-spellings that at the Middle English stage likewise represented non-diphthongs—except for, as was recognised particularly in certain positions by Dobson (2nd ed. = 1968: 495), a tendency whereby "... long vowels are, in later use, often substituted ... cf. Pres(ent-Day) E(nglish) [iːkənɒmik 'economic' in place of the popular , which (latter) is in accord with the normal rules and must be regarded as the traditional and naturally-developed pronunciation ...".