The phoneme /r/ may be a postalveolar approximant [ɹ], as in Received Pronunciation or General American, but speakers have also traditionally used for the same phoneme a somewhat more common alveolar tap [ɾ] or, now very rare, the alveolar trill [r][17] (hereafter, ⟨r⟩ will be used to denote any rhotic consonant). Although other dialects have merged non-intervocalic /ɛ/, /ɪ/, /ʌ/ before /r/ (fern–fir–fur merger), Scottish English makes a distinction between the vowels in fern, fir, and fur. Many varieties contrast /o/ and /ɔ/ before /r/ so that hoarse and horse are pronounced differently. /or/ and /ur/ are contrasted so that shore and sure are pronounced differently, as are pour and poor. /r/ before /l/ is strong.