pronounced as /notice/The phonological history of English includes various changes in the phonology of consonant clusters.
See also: H-dropping. The H-cluster reductions are various consonant reductions that have occurred in the history of English, involving consonant clusters beginning with pronounced as //h// that have lost the pronounced as //h// (or become reduced to pronounced as //h//) in some or all dialects.
See main article: Pronunciation of English ⟨wh⟩. The cluster pronounced as //hw// (spelled ⟨wh⟩ since Middle English) has been subject to two kinds of reduction:
In some dialects of English the cluster pronounced as //hj// is reduced to pronounced as //j//,[1] leading to pronunciations like pronounced as //juːdʒ// for huge and pronounced as //ˈjuːmən// for human, and making hew, hue, and Hugh homophones of ewe, yew, and you. This is sometimes considered a type of glide cluster reduction, but it is much less widespread than wh-reduction, and is generally stigmatized where it is found. Aside from accents with general H-dropping, in the United States this reduction is mostly found in accents of Philadelphia and New York City; it also occurs in Cork accents of Irish English. In other dialects of English, hew and yew remain distinct; however, the cluster pronounced as //hj// of hew, human, etc. is often reduced from pronounced as /[çj]/ to just pronounced as /[ç]/ (a voiceless palatal fricative).[2] [3]
Y-cluster reductions are reductions of clusters ending with the palatal approximant pronounced as //j//, which is the sound of (y) in yes, and is sometimes referred to as "yod", from the Hebrew letter yod(h), which has the sound pronounced as /[j]/. Many such clusters arose in dialects in which the falling diphthong pronounced as //ɪu// (the product of the merger of several Middle English vowel sequences) became the rising diphthong pronounced as //juː//. (For more information, see Phonological history of English high back vowels.) They were thus often found before the vowel pronounced as //uː//, as in cube pronounced as //kjuːb// – which was in some cases modified to pronounced as //ʊə// or pronounced as //ʊ// before (historical) pronounced as //r//, as in cure, or weakened to pronounced as //ʊ// or pronounced as //ə// as in argument. They also occurred in words ending in -ion and -ious, such as nation and precious.
This change from pronounced as //ɪu// to pronounced as //juː//, which had occurred in London by the end of the 17th century, did not take place in all dialects. A few dialects, notably in Wales, as well as in some parts of northern England, New England, and the American South, still retain a (falling) pronounced as //ɪu// diphthong where standard English has pronounced as //juː// – these dialects therefore lack the clusters with pronounced as //j// and have not been subject to the reductions described here.[4]
The diphthongs pronounced as //juː// or pronounced as //ɪʊ̯// are most commonly indicated by the spellings eu, ew, uCV (where C is any consonant and V is any vowel), ue and ui, as in feud, few, mute, cue and suit, while the historical monophthong pronounced as //uː// is commonly indicated by the spellings oo and ou, as in moon and soup.
Yod-dropping is the elision of the pronounced as //j// from certain syllable-initial clusters of the type described above. Particular cases of yod-dropping may affect all or some of the dialects that have the relevant clusters.
The change of pronounced as /[ɪ]/ to pronounced as /[j]/ in these positions (as described above) produced some clusters which would have been difficult or impossible to pronounce, which led to what John Wells calls Early Yod Dropping in which the pronounced as /[j]/ was elided in the following environments:[5]
The previously mentioned accents that did not have the pronounced as /[ɪ]/→pronounced as /[j]/ change were not subject to this process. Thus, for example, in much Welsh English pairs like chews/choose, yew/you and threw/through remain distinct: the first member of each pair has the diphthong pronounced as //ɪʊ̯//, while the second member has pronounced as //uː//:[6]
Conversely, an initial pronounced as //j// does not appear in Welsh English before pronounced as //iː// in words such as yeast and yield.[7]
Many varieties of English have extended yod-dropping to the following environments if the pronounced as //j// is in the same syllable as the preceding consonant:
Yod-dropping in the above environments used to be considered nonstandard in England but now also occurs by educated RP-speakers.[8] (The pronounced as //j// after pronounced as //s// is not normally dropped in RP in medial positions, however: compare pursuit pronounced as //pəˈsjuːt//.) In General American, yod-dropping is found not only in the above environments but also after pronounced as //t//, pronounced as //d// and pronounced as //n//, for example tune pronounced as //ˈtuːn//, dew pronounced as //ˈduː//, new pronounced as //ˈnuː//
The lack of yod-dropping in those contexts has occasionally been held to be a shibboleth distinguishing Canadians from Americans. However, in a survey conducted in the Golden Horseshoe area of Southern Ontario in 1994, over 80% of respondents under the age of 40 pronounced student and news without yod.[9]
General American thus undergoes yod-dropping after all alveolar consonants. A few accents of American English, such as working-class Southern American English, however, preserve the distinction in pairs like do/dew because, like in the Welsh English dialects discussed above, they retain a diphthong pronounced as //ɪʊ̯// in words in which RP has pronounced as //juː//: pronounced as //lut~lɪʊ̯t//, pronounced as //du~dɪʊ̯//, etc.
However, in words like annual, menu, volume, Matthew, continue, etc., with a syllable break before the pronounced as //j//, there is no yod-dropping. The same applies accordingly to British and other accents; the yod is often dropped after initial pronounced as //l//, for example, but it is not dropped in words like volume or value. (British speakers omit the pronounced as //j// in figure, but most Americans retain it.)
Additionally, there is no pronounced as //j// in British pronunciations of coupon and Pulitzer, pronounced as //ˈkuːpɒn// and pronounced as //ˈpʊlɪtsə// respectively, but many American speakers keep the yod, realizing them as pronounced as //ˈkjuːpɒn// and pronounced as //ˈpjuːlɪtsər//, although Pulitzer with the pew sound is widely incorrect.[10] [11]
In New Zealand and to some extent Australian English, debut is mainly pronounced without the yod as pronounced as //ˈdæebʉː//.[12]
Yod-dropping after pronounced as //t//, pronounced as //d//, and pronounced as //n// was also a traditional feature of Cockney speech, which continues to be the case after pronounced as //n//, but now, after pronounced as //t// and pronounced as //d//, yod-coalescence is now more common.[13]
Some East Anglian accents such as Norfolk dialect extend yod-dropping not only to the position after pronounced as //t//, pronounced as //d// or pronounced as //n// but also to the position after nonalveolar consonants as well: pairs like beauty/booty, mute/moot, cute/coot can then be homophonous.[14] A well-known series of British television advertisements beginning in the 1980s featured Bernard Matthews, who was from Norfolk and described his turkeys as "bootiful" (for beautiful). Such accents pronounce a pronounced as //j// in words like "use", "unit", etc. only if there is no consonant before the pronounced as //j//.
| brewed | brood | pronounced as /ˈbruːd/ | |
| brume | broom | pronounced as /ˈbruːm/ | |
| chews | choose | pronounced as /ˈtʃuːz/ | |
| chute | shoot | pronounced as /ˈʃuːt/ | |
| drupe | droop | pronounced as /ˈdruːp/ | |
| rheum | room | pronounced as /ˈruːm/ | |
| rude | rood | pronounced as /ˈruːd/ | |
| rue | roo | pronounced as /ˈruː/ | |
| ruse | roos | pronounced as /ˈruːz/ | |
| threw | through | pronounced as /ˈθruː/ | |
| yew | you | pronounced as /ˈjuː/ | |
| yule | you'll | pronounced as /ˈjuːl/ |
| Blume | bloom | pronounced as /ˈbluːm/ | ||
| glume | gloom | pronounced as /ˈgluːm/ | ||
| Lewis | pronounced as /ˈluːɪs/ | |||
| lieu | loo | pronounced as /ˈluː/ | ||
| lieu | Lou | pronounced as /ˈluː/ | ||
| look | pronounced as /ˈluːk/ | With foot–goose merger. | ||
| lune | loon | pronounced as /ˈluːn/ | ||
| lute | loot | pronounced as /ˈluːt/ | ||
| slew | slough | pronounced as /ˈsluː/ | ||
| slue | slough | pronounced as /ˈsluː/ | ||
| sue | pronounced as /ˈsuː/ | |||
| suit | soot | pronounced as /ˈsuːt/ | With foot–goose merger. |
| adieu | ado | pronounced as /əˈduː/ | |
| dew | do | pronounced as /ˈduː/ | |
| Dewar | doer | pronounced as /ˈduːər/ | |
| due | do | pronounced as /ˈduː/ | |
| dune | Doon | pronounced as /ˈduːn/ | |
| knew | nu | pronounced as /ˈnuː/ | |
| new | nu | pronounced as /ˈnuː/ | |
| tune | toon | pronounced as /ˈtuːn/ |
| beaut | boot | pronounced as /ˈbuːt/ | |
| beauty | booty | pronounced as /ˈbuːti/ | |
| butte | boot | pronounced as /ˈbuːt/ | |
| cue | coo | pronounced as /ˈkuː/ | |
| cute | coot | pronounced as /ˈkuːt/ | |
| feud | food | pronounced as /ˈfuːd/ | |
| few | foo | pronounced as /ˈfuː/ | |
| fuel | fool | pronounced as /ˈfuːl/ | With vile–vial merger. |
| hew | who | pronounced as /ˈhuː/ | |
| hews | who's | pronounced as /ˈhuːz/ | |
| hews | whose | pronounced as /ˈhuːz/ | |
| hue | who | pronounced as /ˈhuː/ | |
| hues | who's | pronounced as /ˈhuːz/ | |
| hues | whose | pronounced as /ˈhuːz/ | |
| Hugh | who | pronounced as /ˈhuː/ | |
| Hughes | who's | pronounced as /ˈhuːz/ | |
| Hughes | whose | pronounced as /ˈhuːz/ | |
| coo | pronounced as /ˈkuː/ | ||
| kyu | coo | pronounced as /ˈkuː/ | |
| mew | moo | pronounced as /ˈmuː/ | |
| mew | moue | pronounced as /ˈmuː/ | |
| mewed | mood | pronounced as /ˈmuːd/ | |
| muse | moos | pronounced as /ˈmuːz/ | |
| muse | moues | pronounced as /ˈmuːz/ | |
| mute | moot | pronounced as /ˈmuːt/ | |
| pew | poo | pronounced as /ˈpuː/ | |
| pule | pool | pronounced as /ˈpuːl/ | |
| pure | poor | pronounced as /ˈpʊə(r)/ | |
| Q; cue | coo | pronounced as /ˈkuː/ | |
| que | coo | pronounced as /ˈkuː/ | |
| queue | coo | pronounced as /ˈkuː/ |
Yod-coalescence is a process that fuses the clusters pronounced as //dj, tj, sj, zj// into the sibilants pronounced as /[dʒ, tʃ, ʃ, ʒ]/ respectively (for the meanings of those symbols, see English phonology). The first two are examples of affrication.
Unlike yod-dropping, yod-coalescence frequently occurs with clusters that would be considered to span a syllable boundary and so commonly occurs before unstressed syllables. For example, in educate, the pronounced as //dj// cluster would not usually be subject to yod-dropping in General American, as the pronounced as //d// is assigned to the previous syllable, but it commonly coalesces to pronounced as /[dʒ]/. Here are a few examples of yod-coalescence universal in all English dialects:
In some other words, the coalesced pronunciation is common in English dialects around the world, but an older non-coalesced form still exists among some speakers of standard British English:
Coalescence can even occur across word boundaries, as in the colloquial "gotcha" (for got you) and "whatcha" (for what're you).
In certain English accents, yod-coalescence also occurs in stressed syllables, as in tune and dune. That occurs in Australian, Cockney, Estuary English, Zimbabwean English, some speakers of Hiberno-English, Newfoundland English, South African English, and to a certain extent[15] in New Zealand English, RP, many speakers in Scottish English, and even some varieties of English in Asia, like Philippine English (many speakers because of the influence by the phonology of their mother languages). That results in pronunciations such as the following:
In certain varieties such as Australian, Ugandan, and some RP, stressed pronounced as /[sj, zj]/ can also coalesce:
That can lead to additional homophony; for instance, dew and due come to be pronounced the same as Jew.
Yod-coalescence has traditionally been resisted in Received Pronunciation. It has certainly become established in words of the first group listed above (nature, soldier, pressure etc.), but it is not yet universal in those of the second group (educate etc.), and it does not generally occur in those of the third group (dew, tune etc.).[16]
| deuce | juice | pronounced as /ˈdʒuːs/ | |
| dew | Jew | pronounced as /ˈdʒuː/ | |
| dewed | Jude | pronounced as /ˈdʒuːd/ | |
| dual | jewel | pronounced as /ˈdʒuːəl/ | |
| due | Jew | pronounced as /ˈdʒuː/ | |
| duel | jewel | pronounced as /ˈdʒuːəl/ | |
| duke | juke | pronounced as /ˈdʒuːk/ | |
| duly | Julie | pronounced as /ˈdʒuːli/ | |
| dune | June | pronounced as /ˈdʒuːn/ | |
| duty | Judy | pronounced as /ˈdʒuːɾi/ | With intervocalic alveolar flapping. |
| sue | shoe | pronounced as /ˈʃuː/ | |
| sue | shoo | pronounced as /ˈʃuː/ | |
| suit | chute | pronounced as /ˈʃuːt/ | |
| suit | shoot | pronounced as /ˈʃuːt/ | |
| 'tude | chewed | pronounced as /ˈtʃuːd/ |
See also
As a result of this reduction, pairs of words like rap and wrap, rite and write, etc. are homophones in practically all varieties of Modern English. They remain distinct in the Doric dialect of Scots, where the wr- cluster is pronounced pronounced as //vr//. Alexander John Ellis reported distinctions between wr and r in Cumbria and in several varieties of Scots in the nineteenth century.[18]
Old English also had a cluster pronounced as //wl//, which reduced to pronounced as //l// during Middle English. For example, the word lisp derives from Old English wlisp(ian).
The pronounced as //kn// cluster was spelled cn- in Old English; this changed to kn- in Middle English, and this spelling survives in Modern English, despite the loss of the pronounced as //k// sound. Cognates in other Germanic languages usually still sound the initial pronounced as //k//. For example, the Old English ancestor of knee was English, Old (ca.450-1100);: cnēo, pronounced pronounced as //kneːo̯//, and the cognate word in Modern German is German: Knie, pronounced pronounced as //kniː//.
Most dialects of English reduced the initial cluster pronounced as //kn// to pronounced as //n// relatively recently; the change seems to have taken place in educated English during the 17th century.[19] Several German-language grammars of English from the late 17th and early 18th centuries transcribed English kn- as tn-, dn-, implying that a stage of assimilation (or perhaps debuccalization to pronounced as //ʔn//) preceded that of complete reduction.[20]
The cluster is preserved in some Scots dialects,[21] and Alexander John Ellis recorded it in parts of the Northern English counties of Cumbria and Northumberland in the late nineteenth century.[22]
The song The Gnu jokes about this silent g and other silent letters in English. In fact the g in gnu may always have been silent in English, since this loanword did not enter the language until the late 18th century.[24] The trumpeter Kenny Wheeler wrote a composition titled Gnu High, a pun on "new high".
In some types of Caribbean English, the initial clusters pronounced as //sp//, pronounced as //st//, and pronounced as //sk// are reduced by the loss of pronounced as //s//. The following stop is then subject to regular aspiration (or devoicing of the following approximant) in its new word-initial environment. Some examples of such pronunciations are:
| spit | → 'pit | pronounced as /[ˈspɪt]/ | → pronounced as /[ˈpʰɪt]/ | |
| stomach | → 'tomach | pronounced as /[ˈstʌmək]/ | → pronounced as /[ˈtʰʌmək]/ | |
| spend | → 'pen | pronounced as /[ˈspɛnd]/ | → pronounced as /[ˈpʰɛn]/ (also affected by final cluster reduction) | |
| squeeze | → 'queeze | pronounced as /[ˈskwiːz]/ | → pronounced as /[ˈkʰw̥iːz]/ |
The change in fact applies not only at the end of a word, but generally at the end of a morpheme. If a word ending in -ng is followed by a suffix or is compounded with another word, the pronounced as /[ŋ]/ pronunciation normally remains. For example, in the words fangs, sings, singing, singer, wronged, wrongly, hangman, there is no pronounced as /[ɡ]/ sound. An exception is the comparative and superlative forms of adjectives: in the words longer/longest, stronger/strongest, younger/youngest, the pronounced as /[ɡ]/ is pronounced in most accents. The pronunciation with pronounced as /[ɡ]/ is thus possible only before a vowel; before a consonant, the only possibility is a bare pronounced as /[ŋ]/.
In other cases (when it is not morpheme-final), word-internal -ng- does not show the effects of coalescence, and the pronunciation pronounced as /[ŋɡ]/ is retained, as in finger and angle. This means that the words finger and singer do not rhyme in most modern varieties of English, although they did in Middle English. The process of NG-coalescence might therefore be referred to as the singer–finger split.
Some accents, however, do not show the full effects of NG-coalescence as described above. In these accents, sing may be found with pronounced as /[ŋɡ]/, and singer may rhyme with finger.[27] This is particularly associated with English English accents in areas such as Lancashire, the West Midlands and Derbyshire, and is also present in north-east varieties of Welsh English. This includes the cities of Birmingham (see Brummie), Manchester (see Manchester dialect), Liverpool (see Scouse), Sheffield and Stoke-on-Trent (see Potteries dialect). This also occurs in a small area of Kent. As this occurs around the mining area of Kent, it might be a result of large-scale migration by miners from other more northerly coalfields to Kent in the 1920s.
It is also associated with some American English accents in the New York City area.[28]
On the other hand, in some accents of the west of Scotland and Ulster, NG-coalescence is extended to morpheme-internal position, so that finger is pronounced pronounced as //ˈfɪŋər// (cf. Dutch vinger pronounced as //ˈvɪŋər//), thus rhyming with singer (although the pronounced as /[ɡ]/ is not dropped before a stressed syllable, as in engage).
It is because of NG-coalescence that pronounced as //ŋ// is now normally regarded one of the phonemes of standard English. In Middle English, the pronounced as /[ŋ]/ can be regarded as an allophone of pronounced as //n//, occurring before velar consonants, but in Modern English, in view of minimal pairs such as pan–pang and sin–sing, that analysis no longer appears to hold. Nevertheless, some linguists (particularly generativists) do regard a word like sing as being underlyingly pronounced as //sɪnɡ//, positing a rule that deletes pronounced as /[ɡ]/ after a nasal before a morpheme boundary, after the nasal has undergone assimilation. A problem with this view is that there are a few words in which pronounced as /[ŋ]/ is followed neither by a velar nor a morpheme boundary (such as gingham, dinghy, orangutan and Singapore for those speakers who pronounce them without pronounced as /[ɡ]/), and some in which the pronounced as /[ɡ]/ is not deleted before a morpheme boundary (longer etc., as noted above).
The above-mentioned accents which lack NG-coalescence may more easily be analyzed as lacking a phoneme pronounced as //ŋ//. The same may apply to those where NG-coalescence is extended to morpheme-internal position, since here a more consistent pronounced as /[ɡ]/-deletion rule can be formulated.[29]
G-dropping is a popular name for the feature of speech whereby pronounced as //n// is used in place of the standard pronounced as //ŋ// in weak syllables. This applies especially to the -ing ending of verbs, but also in other words such as morning, nothing, ceiling, Buckingham, etc. G-dropping speakers may pronounce this syllable as pronounced as /[ɪn]/ or pronounced as /[ən]/ (reducing to a syllabic [n] in some cases), while non-G-dropping speakers have pronounced as //ɪŋ// (pronounced as //əŋ// with the weak vowel merger) or pronounced as //iŋ//.[30]
Relative to the great majority of modern dialects, which have NG-coalescence, G-dropping does not involve the dropping of any sound, simply the replacement of the velar nasal with the alveolar nasal. The name derives from the apparent orthographic consequence of replacing the sound written (ng) with that normally written (n). The spelling -in' is sometimes used to indicate that a speaker uses the G-dropping pronunciation, as in makin' for making.
The pronunciation with pronounced as //n// rather than pronounced as //ŋ// is a long-established one. Old English verbs had a present participle in -ende and a verbal noun (gerund) form in -ing(e). These merged into a single form, written -ing, but not necessarily spoken as such – the pronounced as //n// pronunciation may be inherited from the former distinct present participle form. The pronounced as //n// variant appears to have been fashionable generally during the 18th century, with the alternative pronounced as //ɪŋ// being adopted in educated speech around the 1820s, possibly as a spelling pronunciation.[31]
Today, G-dropping is a feature of colloquial and non-standard speech of all regions, including stereotypically of Cockney, Southern American English and African American Vernacular English. Its use is highly correlated with the socioeconomic class of the speaker, with speakers of lower classes using pronounced as //n// with greater frequency. It has also been found to be more common among men than women, and less common in more formal styles of speech.[32]
The fact that the pronounced as //n// pronunciation was formerly associated with certain upper-class speech is reflected in the phrase huntin’, shootin’ and fishin’ (used in referring to country gentry who frequently engaged in such field sports). Further evidence that this pronunciation was once standard comes from old rhymes, as in this couplet from John Gay's 1732 pastoral Acis and Galatea, set to music by Handel:
Shepherd, what art thou pursuing,
Heedless running to thy ruin?
was presumably pronounced "shepherd, what art thou pursuin', heedless runnin' to thy ruin", although this would sound very odd in an opera today. Similarly, in the poetry of Jonathan Swift (1667–1745), -ing forms consistently rhyme with words ending in pronounced as //ɪn//, as in this verse of A Ballad on the Game of Traffic, where "lining" rhymes with "fine in":
But Weston has a new-cast gown
On Sundays to be fine in,
And, if she can but win a crown,
'Twill just new dye the lining.
By analogy with words like these, certain other words ending in pronounced as //m//, which had no historical pronounced as //b// sound, had a silent letter (b) added to their spelling by way of hypercorrection. Such words include limb and crumb.[33]
Where the final cluster pronounced as //mn// occurred, this was reduced to pronounced as //m// (the him-hymn merger), as in column, autumn, damn, solemn. (Compare French French: automne, where the cluster has been reduced to pronounced as //n//.) Both sounds are nonetheless still pronounced before vowels in certain derivatives, such as columnar, autumnal, damnation, solemnity.
General reduction of final consonant clusters occurs in African American Vernacular English and Caribbean English. The new final consonant may be slightly lengthened as an effect.
Examples are:
| test | → tes' | pronounced as /[tɛst]/ | → pronounced as /[tɛs(ˑ)]/ | |
| desk | → des' | pronounced as /[dɛsk]/ | → pronounced as /[dɛs(ˑ)]/ | |
| hand | → han' | pronounced as /[hænd]/ | → pronounced as /[hæn(ˑ)]/ | |
| send | → sen' | pronounced as /[sɛnd]/ | → pronounced as /[sɛn(ˑ)]/ | |
| left | → lef | pronounced as /[lɛft]/ | → pronounced as /[lɛf(ˑ)]/ | |
| wasp | → was' | pronounced as /[wɒsp]/ | → pronounced as /[wɒs(ˑ)]/ |
The plurals of test and desk may become tesses and desses by the same rule that gives plural messes from singular mess.[34] [35] [36] [37]
When a consonant cluster ending in a stop is followed by another consonant or cluster in the next syllable, the final stop in the first syllable is often elided. This may happen within words or across word boundaries. Examples of stops that will often be elided in this way include the pronounced as /[t]/ in postman and the pronounced as /[d]/ in cold cuts or band saw.[38]
Historically, similar reductions have taken place before syllabic consonants in certain words, leading to the silent (t) in words like castle and listen. This change took place around the 17th century. In the word often, the pronounced as /[t]/ sound later came to be re-inserted by some speakers as a spelling pronunciation.[39]
An earlier reduction that took place in early Middle English was the change of pronounced as //ts// to pronounced as //s// (the sent-cent merger). This led to the modern sound of soft .
For many speakers, an epenthetic pronounced as /[t]/ is inserted in the final cluster pronounced as //ns//, making it identical or very similar to the cluster pronounced as //nts//. For example, the words prince and prints have come to be homophones or nearly so.
The epenthesis is a natural consequence of the transition from the nasal pronounced as /[n]/ to the fricative pronounced as /[s]/; if the raising of the soft palate (which converts a nasal to an oral sound) is completed before the release of the tongue tip (which enables a fricative sound), an intervening stop pronounced as /[t]/ naturally results.[40] The merger of pronounced as //ns// and pronounced as //nts// is not necessarily complete, however; the duration of the epenthetic pronounced as /[t]/ in pronounced as //ns// has been found to be often shorter (and the pronounced as /[n]/ longer) than in the underlying cluster pronounced as //nts//.[41] Some speakers preserve a clearer distinction, with prince having pronounced as /[ns]/, and prints having pronounced as /[nts]/ or pronounced as /[nʔs]/. The epenthesis does not occur between syllables, in words like consider.[42]
The merger of pronounced as //nz// and pronounced as //ndz// is also possible, making bans and pens sound like bands and pends. However, this is less common than the merger of pronounced as //ns// and pronounced as //nts// described above, and in rapid speech may involve the elision of the pronounced as //d// from pronounced as //ndz// rather than epenthesis in pronounced as //nz//.[43]
Epenthesis of a stop between a nasal and a fricative can also occur in other environments, for example:
Epenthesis may also happen in the cluster pronounced as //ls//, which then becomes pronounced as //lts//, so else rhymes with belts.
An epenthetic pronounced as /[p]/ often intervenes in the cluster pronounced as //mt// in the word dreamt, making it rhyme with attempt.
Some originally epenthetic consonants have become part of the established pronunciation of words. This applies, for instance, to the pronounced as //b// in words like thimble, grumble and scramble.
For the insertion of glottal stops before certain consonants, see Glottalization below.
| Aaron's | errands | pronounced as /ˈɛrən(d)z/ | With Mary-marry-merry merger. |
| -ance | -ants | pronounced as /-ən(t)s/ | |
| antsy | pronounced as /ˈæn(t)si/ | ||
| bans | bands | pronounced as /ˈbæn(d)z/ | |
| Ben's | bends | pronounced as /ˈbɛn(d)z/ | |
| bines | binds | pronounced as /ˈbaɪn(d)z/ | |
| brans | brands | pronounced as /ˈbræn(d)z/ | |
| bunce | bunts | pronounced as /ˈbʌn(t)s/ | |
| binds | pronounced as /ˈbaɪn(d)z/ | ||
| chance | chants | pronounced as /ˈtʃæn(t)s, ˈtʃɑːn(t)s/ | |
| dense | dents | pronounced as /ˈdɛn(t)s/ | |
| dense | dints | pronounced as /ˈdɛn(t)s/ | With pen-pin merger. |
| -ence | -ents | pronounced as /-ən(t)s/ | |
| Erin's | errands | pronounced as /ˈɛrən(d)z/ | With weak vowel merger. |
| fines | finds | pronounced as /ˈfaɪn(d)z/ | |
| fens | fends | pronounced as /ˈfɛn(d)z/ | |
| fends | pronounced as /ˈfɪn(d)z/ | With pen-pin merger. | |
| fins | fends | pronounced as /ˈfɪn(d)z/ | With pen-pin merger. |
| glans | glands | pronounced as /ˈɡlæn(d)z/ | |
| Hans | hands | pronounced as /ˈhæn(d)z/ | Hans may also be pronounced pronounced as //ˈhɑːnz// or pronounced as //ˈhɑːns//. |
| Heinz | hinds | pronounced as /ˈhaɪn(d)z/ | Heinz may also be pronounced pronounced as //ˈhaɪnts//. |
| hence | hints | pronounced as /ˈhɪn(t)s/ | With pen-pin merger. |
| Hines | hinds | pronounced as /ˈhaɪn(d)z/ | |
| inns | ends | pronounced as /ˈɪn(d)z/ | With pen-pin merger. |
| ins | ends | pronounced as /ˈɪn(d)z/ | With pen-pin merger. |
| intense | intents | pronounced as /ɪnˈtɛn(t)s/ | |
| kinds | pronounced as /ˈkaɪn(d)z/ | ||
| LANs | lands | pronounced as /ˈlæn(d)z/ | |
| lens | lends | pronounced as /ˈlɛn(d)z/ | |
| men's | mends | pronounced as /ˈmɛn(d)z/ | |
| mince | mints | pronounced as /ˈmɪn(t)s/ | |
| mines | minds | pronounced as /ˈmaɪn(d)z/ | |
| N's; ens | ends | pronounced as /ˈɛn(d)z/ | |
| patience | patients | pronounced as /ˈpeɪʃən(t)s/ | |
| pawns | ponds | pronounced as /ˈpɑn(d)z/ | With cot-caught merger. |
| pens | pends | pronounced as /ˈpɛn(d)z/ | |
| pins | pends | pronounced as /ˈpɪn(d)z/ | With pen-pin merger. |
| ponce | ponts | pronounced as /ˈpɑn(t)s/ | |
| pons | ponds | pronounced as /ˈpɑn(d)z/ | |
| presence | presents | pronounced as /ˈprɛzən(t)s/ | |
| prince | prints | pronounced as /ˈprɪn(t)s/ | |
| rinse | rents | pronounced as /ˈrɪn(t)s/ | With pen-pin merger. |
| sans | sands | pronounced as /ˈsæn(d)z/ | |
| sense | cents | pronounced as /ˈsɛn(t)s/ | |
| sense | scents | pronounced as /ˈsɛn(t)s/ | |
| since | cents | pronounced as /ˈsɪn(t)s/ | With pen-pin merger. |
| since | scents | pronounced as /ˈsɪn(t)s/ | With pen-pin merger. |
| spins | spends | pronounced as /ˈspɪn(d)z/ | With pen-pin merger. |
| Stan's | stands | pronounced as /ˈstæn(d)z/ | |
| tens | tends | pronounced as /ˈtɛn(d)z/ | |
| tense | tents | pronounced as /ˈtɛn(t)s/ | |
| tense | tints | pronounced as /ˈtɪn(t)s/ | With pen-pin merger. |
| tins | tends | pronounced as /ˈtɪn(d)z/ | With pen-pin merger. |
| vents | pronounced as /ˈvɪn(t)s/ | With pen-pin merger. | |
| wans | wands | pronounced as /ˈwɑn(d)z/ | |
| wens | wends | pronounced as /ˈwɛn(d)z/ | |
| wens | winds (n.) | pronounced as /ˈwɪn(d)z/ | With pen-pin merger. |
| wince | pronounced as /ˈwɪn(t)s/ | With pen-pin merger. | |
| whence | pronounced as /ˈwɪn(t)s/ | With wine-whine merger. | |
| whines | winds (v.) | pronounced as /ˈwaɪn(d)z/ | With wine-whine merger. |
| wines | winds (v.) | pronounced as /ˈwaɪn(d)z/ | |
| wins | wends | pronounced as /ˈwɪn(d)z/ | With pen-pin merger. |
| wins | winds (n.) | pronounced as /ˈwɪn(d)z/ | |
| wyns, wynns | wends | pronounced as /ˈwɪn(d)z/ | With pen-pin merger. |
| wyns, wynns | winds (n.) | pronounced as /ˈwɪn(d)z/ |
In English as in other languages, assimilation of adjacent consonants is common, particularly of a nasal with a following consonant. This can occur within or between words. For example, the pronounced as //n// in encase is often pronounced pronounced as /[ŋ]/ (becoming a velar nasal by way of assimilation with the following velar stop pronounced as //k//), and the pronounced as //n// in ten men likely becomes pronounced as /[m]/, assimilating with the following bilabial nasal pronounced as //m//. Other cases of assimilation also occur, such as pronunciation of the pronounced as //d// in bad boy as pronounced as /[b]/. Voicing assimilation determines the sound of the endings -s (as in plurals, possessives and verb forms) and -ed (in verb forms): these are voiced (pronounced as /[z]/, pronounced as /[d]/) following a voiced consonant (or vowel), but voiceless (pronounced as /[s]/, pronounced as /[t]/) after a voiceless consonant, as in gets, knocked.[44]
While there are many accents (such as Cockney) in which syllable-final pronounced as //t// is frequently glottalized (realized as a glottal stop, pronounced as /[ʔ]/) regardless of what follows it, the glottaling of pronounced as //t// in clusters is a feature even of standard accents, such as RP. There, pronounced as /[ʔ]/ may be heard for pronounced as //t// in such words and phrases as quite good, quite nice, nights. More precisely, it occurs in RP when pronounced as //t// appears in the syllable coda, is preceded by a vowel, liquid or nasal, and it is followed by another consonant except (normally) a liquid or semivowel in the same word, as in mattress.[45]
Another possibility is pre-glottalization (or glottal reinforcement), where a glottal stop is inserted before a syllable-final stop, rather than replacing it. That can happen before pronounced as //p//, pronounced as //t// and pronounced as //k// or also before the affricate pronounced as //tʃ//. It can occur in RP in the same environments as those mentioned above, without the final restriction so a glottal stop may appear before the pronounced as //t//, as in mattress. It can also occur before a pause as in quite! spoken alone but not in quite easy. In the case of pronounced as //tʃ//, pre-glottalization is common even before a vowel, as in teacher.[46]
According to Wells, this pre-glottalization originated in the 20th century (at least, it was not recorded until then). Glottalization of pronounced as //t// spread rapidly during the 20th century.
Final consonant clusters starting with pronounced as //s// sometimes undergo metathesis, meaning that the order of the consonants is switched. For example, the word ask may be pronounced like "ax", with the pronounced as //k// and the pronounced as //s// switched.
This example has a long history: the Old English verb áscian also appeared as acsian, and both forms continued into Middle English, the latter, metathesizing to "ask". The form axe appears in Chaucer: "I axe, why the fyfte man Was nought housband to the Samaritan?" (Wife of Bath's Prologue, 1386), and was considered acceptable in literary English until about 1600.[47] It persists in some dialects of rural England as well as in Ulster Scots[48] as pronounced as //ˈaks//, and in Jamaican English as pronounced as //ˈaːks//, from where it has entered London English as pronounced as //ˈɑːks//.
S-cluster metathesis has been observed in some forms of African American Vernacular English, although it is not universal, one of the most stigmatized features of AAVE and often commented on by teachers. Examples of possible AAVE pronunciations include:
| ask | → pronounced as //ˈæks// | |
| grasp | → pronounced as //ˈɡræps// | |
| wasp | → pronounced as //ˈwɑps// | |
| gasp | → pronounced as //ˈɡæps// |
For some speakers of African American Vernacular English, the consonant cluster pronounced as //str// is pronounced as pronounced as //skr//. For example, the word street may be pronounced as pronounced as //skrit//.[49]
The form has been found to occur in Gullah and in the speech of some young African Americans born in the Southern United States. It is reported to be a highly stigmatized feature, with children who use it often being referred to speech pathologists.[50]
Yod-rhotacization is a process that occurs for some Memphis AAVE speakers, where pronounced as //j// is rhotacized to pronounced as /[r]/ in consonant clusters, causing pronunciations like:
| beautiful | → pronounced as /[ˈbruɾɪfl̩]/ | |
| cute | → pronounced as /[krut]/ | |
| music | → pronounced as /[ˈmruzɪk]/ |
Compare yod-dropping and yod-coalescence, described above (and also the coil–curl merger, which features the reverse process, pronounced as //r// → pronounced as //j//).