The extent that speakers raise the tongue in the English "short "a" vowel varies widely in New England; however, across the board, New England speakers demonstrate a definite "nasal" short-"a" system, in which the vowel is always raised the absolute strongest whenever occurring before the nasal consonants and (so that, "pan", for example, nearly approaches the sound of the word ""). In all of New England except Rhode Island and southern Connecticut, the short "a" may also be noticeably raised in many other environments.