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Phonological history of English vowels

January 19, 2024

This article contains phonetic transcriptions in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA. For the distinction between [ ], / / and ⟨ ⟩, see IPA § Brackets and transcription delimiters.

In the history of English phonology, there have been many diachronic sound changes affecting vowels, especially involving phonemic splits and mergers.

Great Vowel Shift and trisyllabic laxing edit

Main articles: Great Vowel Shift and Trisyllabic laxing

The Great Vowel Shift was a series of chain shifts that affected historical long vowels but left short vowels largely alone. It is one of the primary causes of the idiosyncrasies in English spelling.

The shortening of ante-penultimate syllables in Middle English created many long–short pairs. The result can be seen in such words as,

Middle English from long V from short V
ī : i child /aɪ/
divine
mine 		children /ɪ/
divinity
mineral
ē : e
ea : e 		serene /iː/
dream 		serenity /ɛ/
dreamt
ā : a nation /eɪ/
sane 		national /æ/
sanity
ō : o goose /uː/
school 		gosling /ɒ/
scholarly
oa : o
ō : o (Latin) 		holy /oʊ/
cone
know* 		holiday /ɒ/
conical
knowledge
ū : u south /aʊ/
pronounce 		southern /ʌ/
pronunciation

*Earlier Modern English /ou/ merged with /oː/.

Tense–lax neutralization edit

Tense–lax neutralization refers to a neutralization, in a particular phonological context in a particular language, of the normal distinction between tense and lax vowels.

In some varieties of English, this occurs in particular before /ŋ/ and (in rhotic dialects) before coda /r/ (that is, /r/ followed by a consonant or at the end of a word); it also occurs, to a lesser extent, before tautosyllabic /ʃ/.

In the Pacific Northwest, especially in the Seattle area, some speakers have a merger of /ɛ/ with /eɪ/ before /ɡ/. For these speakers, words with /ɛ/ like beg, egg, Greg, keg, leg and peg rhyme with words with /eɪ/ like Craig, Hague, plague and vague.[1]

Some varieties (including most American English dialects) have significant vocalic neutralization before intervocalic /r/, as well. See English-language vowel changes before historic /r/.

Monophthongs edit

Low front vowels edit

Main article: Pronunciation of English ⟨a⟩

Low back vowels edit

Main article: Phonological history of English low back vowels

High back vowels edit

Main article: Phonological history of English high back vowels

High front vowels edit

Main article: Phonological history of English high front vowels

Schwa edit

Schwa syncope is the deletion of schwa. English has the tendency to delete schwa when it appears in a mid-word syllable that comes after the stressed syllable. Kenstowicz (1994) states that "... American English schwa deletes in medial posttonic syllables ...", and gives as examples words such as sep(a)rate (as an adjective), choc(o)late, cam(e)ra and elab(o)rate (as an adjective), where the schwa (represented by the letters in parentheses) has a tendency to be deleted.[6]

Diphthongs edit

Main article: Phonological history of English diphthongs

Vowel changes before historic /r/ edit

Main article: English-language vowel changes before historic /r/

Mergers before intervocalic /r/ edit

Mergers before intervocalic r are quite widespread in North American English.

Mergers before historic coda /r/ edit

Various mergers before historic coda r are very common in English dialects.

Vowel changes before historic /l/ edit

Main article: English-language vowel changes before historic /l/
  • The salary–celery merger is a conditioned merger of /æ/ and /e/ before /l/ occurring in New Zealand and Victorian (Australia) English.
  • The fill–feel merger is a conditioned merger of /ɪ/ and /iː/ before /l/ occurring in some dialects of American English.
  • The fell–fail merger is a conditioned merger of /ɛ/ and /eɪ/ before /l/ occurring in some varieties of Southern American English.
  • The full–fool merger is a conditioned merger of /ʊ/ and /uː/ before /l/ mainly occurring the North Midland accent of American English.
  • The hull–hole merger is a conditioned merger of /ʌ/ and /oʊ/ before /l/ occurring for some speakers of English English with l-vocalization.
  • The doll–dole merger is a conditioned merger, for some Londoners, of /ɒ/ and /əʊ/ before nonprevocalic /l/.
  • The vile–vial merger involves a partial or complete dephonologicalization of schwa after a vowel and before coda /l/.
  • Four other conditioned mergers before /l/ which require more study have been mentioned in the literature and are as follows:
    • /ʊl/ and /oʊl/ (bull vs. bowl)
    • /ʌl/ and /ɔːl/ (hull vs. hall)
    • /ʊl/ and /ʌl/ (bull vs. hull)
    • /ʌl/ and /oʊl/ (hull vs. hole)

See also edit

References edit

  1. ^ Freeman, Valerie (2014). "Bag, beg, bagel: Prevelar raising and merger in Pacific Northwest English" (PDF). University of Washington Working Papers in Linguistics. Retrieved 22 November 2015.[permanent dead link]
  2. ^ Wells, John C. (1982). Accents of English 2: The British Isles. Vol. 2. Cambridge University Press. p. 402. ISBN 9780521285407. OCLC 971171807.
  3. ^ E. J. Dobson (English pronunciation, 1500–1700, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1968, passim) and other scholars before him postulated the existence of a vowel /y/ beside /iu̯/ in early Modern English. But see Fausto Cercignani, On the alleged existence of a vowel /y:/ in early Modern English, in “English Language and Linguistics”, 26/2, 2022, pp. 263–277 [1].
  4. ^ Hung, Tony (2002). "English as a global language: Implications for teaching". The ACELT Journal. 5 (2): 3–10.
  5. ^ Deterding, David; Hvitfeldt, Robert (1994). "The Features of Singapore English Pronunciation: Implications for Teachers" (PDF). Teaching and Learning. 15 (1): 98–107.
  6. ^ Kenstowicz, Michael J. (1994). Phonology in generative grammar. Wiley-Blackwell. ISBN 978-1-55786-426-0. OCLC 450897985.
  7. ^ a b Katz, William F. (2013). Phonetics for Dummies. Hoboken, N.J.: John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 9781118505083. OCLC 1027577087.

January 19, 2024
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This article needs additional citations for verification Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources Unsourced material may be challenged and removed Find sources Phonological history of English vowels news newspapers books scholar JSTOR March 2016 Learn how and when to remove this template message This article contains phonetic transcriptions in the International Phonetic Alphabet IPA For an introductory guide on IPA symbols see Help IPA For the distinction between and see IPA Brackets and transcription delimiters In the history of English phonology there have been many diachronic sound changes affecting vowels especially involving phonemic splits and mergers Contents 1 Great Vowel Shift and trisyllabic laxing 2 Tense lax neutralization 3 Monophthongs 3 1 Low front vowels 3 2 Low back vowels 3 3 High back vowels 3 4 High front vowels 3 5 Schwa 4 Diphthongs 5 Vowel changes before historic r 5 1 Mergers before intervocalic r 5 2 Mergers before historic coda r 6 Vowel changes before historic l 7 See also 8 ReferencesGreat Vowel Shift and trisyllabic laxing editMain articles Great Vowel Shift and Trisyllabic laxing The Great Vowel Shift was a series of chain shifts that affected historical long vowels but left short vowels largely alone It is one of the primary causes of the idiosyncrasies in English spelling The shortening of ante penultimate syllables in Middle English created many long short pairs The result can be seen in such words as Middle English from long V from short Vi i child aɪ divinemine children ɪ divinityminerale eea e serene iː dream serenity ɛ dreamta a nation eɪ sane national ae sanityō o goose uː school gosling ɒ scholarlyoa o ō o Latin holy oʊ coneknow holiday ɒ conicalknowledgeu u south aʊ pronounce southern ʌ pronunciation Earlier Modern English ou merged with oː Tense lax neutralization editTense lax neutralization refers to a neutralization in a particular phonological context in a particular language of the normal distinction between tense and lax vowels In some varieties of English this occurs in particular before ŋ and in rhotic dialects before coda r that is r followed by a consonant or at the end of a word it also occurs to a lesser extent before tautosyllabic ʃ In the Pacific Northwest especially in the Seattle area some speakers have a merger of ɛ with eɪ before ɡ For these speakers words with ɛ like beg egg Greg keg leg and peg rhyme with words with eɪ like Craig Hague plague and vague 1 Some varieties including most American English dialects have significant vocalic neutralization before intervocalic r as well See English language vowel changes before historic r Monophthongs editLow front vowels edit Main article Pronunciation of English a ae tensing is a process that occurs in some accents of North American and some Australian English whereby the vowel ae is raised and lengthened or diphthongised in various environments In some dialects it involves an allophonic split whilst in others it affects all ae s There are dialects however where the split is phonological The bad lad split is a phonological split of the Early Modern English short vowel phoneme ae into a short ae and a long aeː This split is found in some varieties of English in England and Australia In Modern English a new phoneme ɑː developed that did not exist in Middle English The trap bath split is a vowel split whereby the Early Modern English phoneme ae merged with the ɑː in certain environments It occurs mainly in southern varieties of English English the Boston accent and the Southern Hemisphere accents although it is somewhat variable in Australia Low back vowels edit Main article Phonological history of English low back vowels The father bother merger is a merger of the Early Modern English vowels ɑː and ɒ that occurs in almost all varieties of North American English The lot cloth split is the result of a late 17th century sound change that lengthened ɒ to ɒː before voiceless fricatives off broth cost voiced velars dog long and also before n in the word gone The cot caught merger is a phonemic merger that occurs in some varieties of English causing the vowel in words like cot rock and doll to be pronounced the same as the vowel in the words caught talk law and small The psalm sum merger is a phenomenon occurring in Singaporean English where the phonemes ɑ and ʌ are both pronounced ɑ In Australian English they are distinguished only by vowel length The bud bird merger is a merger of ʌ and ɜ occurring for some speakers of Jamaican English High back vowels edit Main article Phonological history of English high back vowels The foot goose merger is a phonemic merger of the vowels ʊ and uː found in distinct dialects of English Scotland Northern Ireland and the far north of England use u for both these sets of words 2 The foot strut split is the split of Middle English ʊ into two distinct phonemes ʊ as in foot and ʌ as in strut that occurs in most accents of English except most Northern English accents The strut comma merger is the merger of ʌ and e found in Welsh English and in many varieties of General American In Modern English the vowels iu ɛu and y 3 the last occurring only in French loanwords of Middle English have been merged High front vowels edit Main article Phonological history of English high front vowels The weak vowel merger is a phonemic merger of the unstressed ɪ sometimes written as ɨ with e schwa with in certain dialects of English As a result of this merger the words rabbit and abbot rhyme The kit split is a split of EME ɪ found in South African English where kit kɪt and bit bet do not rhyme The pin pen merger is a conditional phonemic merger of ɪ and ɛ before the nasal consonants m n and ŋ Happy tensing is the process in which final lax ɪ becomes tense i in words like happy The meet meat merger is the merger of the Early Modern English vowel eː with the vowel iː The merger is complete outside the British Isles and virtually complete within them The mitt meet merger 4 is a phenomenon occurring in Malaysian English and Singaporean English where the phonemes iː and ɪ are both pronounced i 5 The met mat merger is a phenomenon occurring in Malaysian English and Singaporean English where the phonemes ɛ and ae are both pronounced ɛ The met mate merger is a phenomenon occurring for some speakers of Zulu English where eɪ and ɛ are both pronounced ɛ The thank think merger is the lowering of ɪ to ae before the velar nasal ŋ that can be found in the speech of speakers of African American Vernacular English The pit pet merger is a complete merger of ɪ and ɛ not restricted to positions before nasals occurring for some speakers of Newfoundland English Schwa edit Schwa syncope is the deletion of schwa English has the tendency to delete schwa when it appears in a mid word syllable that comes after the stressed syllable Kenstowicz 1994 states that American English schwa deletes in medial posttonic syllables and gives as examples words such as sep a rate as an adjective choc o late cam e ra and elab o rate as an adjective where the schwa represented by the letters in parentheses has a tendency to be deleted 6 Diphthongs editMain article Phonological history of English diphthongs The vein vain merger is the merger of the Middle English diphthongs ai and ei that occurs in all dialects of present English The following mergers are grouped together by Wells as the long mid mergers They occur in all but a few dialects of English The pane pain merger is a merger of the long mid monophthong eː and the diphthong ɛi The toe tow merger is a merger of the Early Modern English vowels oː and ɔu The cot coat merger is a phenomenon occurring for some speakers of Zulu English where the phonemes ɒ and oʊ are not distinguished The rod ride merger is a merger of ɑ and aɪ occurring for some speakers of African American Vernacular English and Southern American English The pride proud merger is a merger of the diphthongs aɪ and aʊ before voiced consonants occurring for some speakers of African American Vernacular English The rode road merger is the merger of oː and oe occurring for most English speakers Some Welsh English speakers distinguish rode roːd and cole koːl from road roed and coal koel 7 The muse mews merger is the merger of yː and ɪu occurring for most English speakers Some Welsh English speakers distinguish muse myːz and due dyː from mews mɪuz and dew dɪu 7 The line loin merger is a merger between the diphthongs aɪ and ɔɪ that occurs in some English dialects The coil curl merger is a merger of ɔɪ and ɜr which historically occurred in some dialects of English It is particularly associated with the dialects of New York City and New Orleans Vowel changes before historic r editMain article English language vowel changes before historic r Mergers before intervocalic r edit Mergers before intervocalic r are quite widespread in North American English The Mary marry merry merger is the merger of aer and ɛr with ɛer historic eɪr The mirror nearer merger is the merger of ɪr with ɪer historic iːr The hurry furry merger is the merger of ʌr with ɜr The furry ferry merger common in the Philadelphia accent is the merger of ɛr with ʌr Intervocalic ɒr merges either with ɑr as in starry or ɔr as in glory Mergers before historic coda r edit Various mergers before historic coda r are very common in English dialects The cheer chair merger is the merger of the Early Modern English sequences iːr and eːr which is found in some accents of modern English The fern fir fur merger is the merger of the Middle English vowels ɪ ɛ ʊ into ɜr when historically followed by r in the coda of the syllable The fur fair merger is a merger of ɜːr with ɛer that occurs in some accents The nurse near merger is a possible merger of ɜːr with ɪer that may occur in some American and the West Country English dialects The English language vowel changes before historic r aɪer aʊer ɑːr merger aɪer aʊer ɑːr merger is found in some accents of Southern British English It causes tire tower and tar to be homophones The aɪer ɑːr merger is found in some Midland and Southern U S accents It causes tire and tar to be homophones The cure fir merger is a merger of ʊer with ɜːr or ʊr with ɜːr that occurs in East Anglian and American English in certain words The pour poor merger is the merger of ʊer with ɔːr The card cord merger is a merger of Early Modern English ɑːr with ɒr found in some Caribbean English West Country and Southern and Western U S accents The horse hoarse merger is the merger of ɔː and oʊ before historic r occurring in most varieties of English The square nurse merger occurs in some areas of England The two sets are sometimes merged to ɛː Liverpool east coast of Yorkshire and sometimes to ɜː south Lancashire The aʊr aʊer merger occurs for many speakers of English It caused power and sour to rhyme Vowel changes before historic l editMain article English language vowel changes before historic l The salary celery merger is a conditioned merger of ae and e before l occurring in New Zealand and Victorian Australia English The fill feel merger is a conditioned merger of ɪ and iː before l occurring in some dialects of American English The fell fail merger is a conditioned merger of ɛ and eɪ before l occurring in some varieties of Southern American English The full fool merger is a conditioned merger of ʊ and uː before l mainly occurring the North Midland accent of American English The hull hole merger is a conditioned merger of ʌ and oʊ before l occurring for some speakers of English English with l vocalization The doll dole merger is a conditioned merger for some Londoners of ɒ and eʊ before nonprevocalic l The vile vial merger involves a partial or complete dephonologicalization of schwa after a vowel and before coda l Four other conditioned mergers before l which require more study have been mentioned in the literature and are as follows ʊl and oʊl bull vs bowl ʌl and ɔːl hull vs hall ʊl and ʌl bull vs hull ʌl and oʊl hull vs hole See also editGreat Vowel Shift List of dialects of the English language Phonological history of English Phonological history of English consonants Trisyllabic laxingReferences edit Freeman Valerie 2014 Bag beg bagel Prevelar raising and merger in Pacific Northwest English PDF University of Washington Working Papers in Linguistics Retrieved 22 November 2015 permanent dead link Wells John C 1982 Accents of English 2 The British Isles Vol 2 Cambridge University Press p 402 ISBN 9780521285407 OCLC 971171807 E J Dobson English pronunciation 1500 1700 Oxford Clarendon Press 1968 passim and other scholars before him postulated the existence of a vowel y beside iu in early Modern English But see Fausto Cercignani On the alleged existence of a vowel y in early Modern English in English Language and Linguistics 26 2 2022 pp 263 277 1 Hung Tony 2002 English as a global language Implications for teaching The ACELT Journal 5 2 3 10 Deterding David Hvitfeldt Robert 1994 The Features of Singapore English Pronunciation Implications for Teachers PDF Teaching and Learning 15 1 98 107 Kenstowicz Michael J 1994 Phonology in generative grammar Wiley Blackwell ISBN 978 1 55786 426 0 OCLC 450897985 a b Katz William F 2013 Phonetics for Dummies Hoboken N J John Wiley amp Sons ISBN 9781118505083 OCLC 1027577087 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Phonological history of English vowels amp oldid 1176781149, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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