pronounced as /notice/The distinction between rhoticity and non-rhoticity is one of the most prominent ways in which varieties of the English language are classified. In rhotic accents, the sound of the historical English rhotic consonant, pronounced as //r//, is preserved in all pronunciation contexts. In non-rhotic accents, speakers no longer pronounce pronounced as //r// in postvocalic environments: when it is immediately after a vowel and not followed by another vowel.[1] For example, in isolation, a rhotic English speaker pronounces the words hard and butter as and, but a non-rhotic speaker "drops" or "deletes" the pronounced as //r// sound and pronounces them as and . When an r is at the end of a word but the next word begins with a vowel, as in the phrase "better apples," most non-rhotic speakers will preserve the pronounced as //r// in that position (the linking R) since it is followed by a vowel in this case.[2]
The rhotic dialects of English include most of those in Scotland, Ireland, the United States, and Canada. As of the 21st century, the non-rhotic dialects include those in Wales, Australia and South Africa, and most of those in England and New Zealand. Among certain speakers, like some in the northeastern coastal and southern United States,[3] rhoticity is a sociolinguistic variable: postvocalic pronounced as //r// is deleted depending on an array of social factors,[4] such as being more correlated in the 21st century with lower socioeconomic status, greater age, particular ethnic identities, and informal speaking contexts. These correlations have varied through the last two centuries.
Evidence from written documents suggests that loss of postvocalic /r/ began sporadically in England during the mid-15th century, but those /r/-less spellings were uncommon and were restricted to private documents, especially those written by women. In the mid-18th century, postvocalic /r/ was still pronounced in most environments, but by the 1740s to the 1770s, it was often deleted entirely, especially after low vowels. By the early 19th century, the southern British standard was fully transformed into a non-rhotic variety, but some variation persisted as late as the 1870s.
In the 18th century and possibly the 17th century, the loss of postvocalic pronounced as //r// in some British English influenced southern and eastern American port cities with close connections to Britain, causing their upper-class pronunciation to become non-rhotic, while other American regions remained rhotic. Non-rhoticity then became the norm more widely in many eastern and southern regions of the United States, as well as generally prestigious, until the 1860s, when the American Civil War began to shift American centers of wealth and political power to rhotic areas, which had fewer cultural connections to the old colonial and British elites. Non-rhotic American speech continued to hold some level of prestige up until the mid-20th century, but rhotic speech in particular became rapidly prestigious nationwide after World War II, for example as reflected in the national standard of mass media (like radio, film, and television) being firmly rhotic since the mid-20th century onwards.
The earliest traces of a loss of pronounced as //r// in English appear in the early 15th century and occur before coronal consonants, especially pronounced as //s//, giving modern ass 'buttocks' (English, Old (ca.450-1100);: ears, English, Middle (1100-1500);: ers or English, Middle (1100-1500);: ars), and bass (fish) (OE English, Old (ca.450-1100);: bærs, ME English, Middle (1100-1500);: bars). A second phase of the loss of pronounced as //r// began during the 15th century and was characterized by sporadic and lexically variable deletion, such as English, Middle (1100-1500);: monyng 'morning' and English, Middle (1100-1500);: cadenall 'cardinal'. Those spellings without pronounced as //r// appeared throughout the 16th and 17th centuries, but they were uncommon and were restricted to private documents, especially those written by women. No English authorities described loss of pronounced as //r// in the standard language before the mid-18th century, and many did not fully accept it until the 1790s.
During the mid-17th century, several sources described pronounced as //r// as being weakened but still present. The English playwright Ben Jonson's English Grammar, published posthumously in 1640, recorded that pronounced as //r// was "sounded firme in the beginning of words, and more liquid in the middle, and ends." The next major documentation of the pronunciation of pronounced as //r// appeared a century later, in 1740, when the British author of a primer for French students of English said that "in many words r before a consonant is greatly softened, almost mute, and slightly lengthens the preceding vowel."[5]
By the 1770s, postvocalic pronounced as //r//-less pronunciation was becoming common around London even in formal educated speech. The English actor and linguist John Walker used the spelling ar to indicate the long vowel of aunt in his 1775 rhyming dictionary. In his influential Critical Pronouncing Dictionary and Expositor of the English Language (1791), Walker reported, with a strong tone of disapproval, that "the r in lard, bard,... is pronounced so much in the throat as to be little more than the middle or Italian a, lengthened into baa, baad...." Americans returning to England after the American Revolutionary War, which lasted from 1775 to 1783, reported surprise at the significant changes in the fashionable pronunciation that had taken place.
By the early 19th century, the southern English standard had been fully transformed into a non-rhotic variety, but it continued to be variable in the 1870s. The extent of rhoticity in England in the mid-19th century is summarized as widespread in the book New Zealand English: its Origins and Evolution:
In the late 19th century, Alexander John Ellis found evidence of accents being overwhelmingly rhotic in urban areas that are now firmly non-rhotic, such as Birmingham and the Black Country,[6] and Wakefield in West Yorkshire.[7]
The Survey of English Dialects in the 1950s and the 1960s recorded rhotic or partially-rhotic accents in almost every part of England, including in the counties of West Yorkshire,[8] East Yorkshire,[9] Lincolnshire[10] and Kent,[11] where rhoticity has since disappeared. The Atlas Linguarum Europae found that there was still rhoticity in the West Yorkshire site of Golcar as late as 1976.[12] A study published in 2014 found that there is still some rhoticity amongst older residents of Berwick upon Tweed and Carlisle, both of which are close to the border with rhotic Scotland, but that this was absent from the majority of inhabitants.[13]
The loss of postvocalic pronounced as //r// in the British prestige standard in the late 18th and the early 19th centuries influenced the American port cities with close connections to Britain, which caused upper-class pronunciation to become non-rhotic in many Eastern and Southern port cities such as New York City, Boston, Alexandria, Charleston, and Savannah. Like regional dialects in England, however, the accents of other areas in the United States remained rhotic in a display of linguistic "lag", which preserved the original pronunciation of pronounced as //r//.
Non-rhotic pronunciation continued to influence American prestige speech until the American Civil War of the 1860s began shifting the United States centers of wealth and political power to areas with fewer cultural connections to the old colonial and British elites. Still, the non-rhotic prestige persisted in the Eastern United States and among the upper class even into the early 20th century, by which time many speakers of the East and South were non-rhotic or variably rhotic, often even regardless of their class background.
The most decisive shift of the general American population towards rhoticity (even in previously non-rhotic regions) followed the Second World War. For instance, rapidly after the 1940s, the standard broadcasting pronunciation heard in national radio and television became firmly rhotic, aligned more with the General American English of Midwestern, Western, and non-coastal Americans. The prestige of non-rhoticity thus reversed, with non-rhoticity in the 20th century up until today increasingly associated with lower-class rather than higher-class speakers, as in New York City.
The biggest strongholds of non-rhoticity in the United States have always been eastern New England, New York City, and the former plantation region of the South: a band from the South's Atlantic Coast west to the Mississippi River. However, non-rhoticity has been notably declining in all three of these areas since the mid-20th century. In fact, a strongly articulated /r/, alongside full rhoticity, has been dominant throughout the South since then.[14] African-American Vernacular English, meanwhile, continues to be largely non-rhotic since most African Americans originate from the former plantation region, where non-rhotic speech dominated in the past.[15]
In most non-rhotic accents, if a word ending in written "r" is followed immediately by a word beginning with a vowel, the pronounced as //r// is pronounced, as in water ice. That phenomenon is referred to as "linking R." Many non-rhotic speakers also insert an epenthetic pronounced as //r// between vowels when the first vowel is one that can occur before syllable-final r (drawring for drawing). The so-called "intrusive R" has been stigmatized, but many speakers of Received Pronunciation (RP) now frequently "intrude" an epenthetic pronounced as //r// at word boundaries, especially if one or both vowels is schwa. For example, the idea of it becomes the idea-r-of it, Australia and New Zealand becomes Australia-r-and New Zealand, the formerly well-known India-r-Office and "Laura Norder" (Law and Order). The typical alternative used by RP speakers (and some rhotic speakers as well) is to insert an intrusive glottal stop wherever an intrusive r would otherwise have been placed.
For non-rhotic speakers, what was once a vowel, followed by pronounced as //r//, is now usually realized as a long vowel. That is called compensatory lengthening, which occurs after the elision of a sound. In RP and many other non-rhotic accents card, fern, born are thus pronounced pronounced as /[kɑːd]/, pronounced as /[fɜːn]/, pronounced as /[bɔːn]/ or similar (actual pronunciations vary from accent to accent). That length may be retained in phrases and so car pronounced in isolation is pronounced as /[kɑː]/, but car owner is pronounced as /[ˈkɑːrəʊnə]/. A final schwa usually remains short and so water in isolation is pronounced as /[wɔːtə]/.[16]
In RP and similar accents, the vowels pronounced as //iː// and pronounced as //uː// (or pronounced as //ʊ//), when they are followed by r, become diphthongs that end in schwa and so near is pronounced as /[nɪə]/ and poor is pronounced as /[pʊə]/. They have other realizations as well, including monophthongal ones. Once again, the pronunciations vary from accent to accent. The same happens to diphthongs followed by r, but they may be considered to end in rhotic speech in pronounced as //ər//, which reduces to schwa, as usual, in non-rhotic speech. In isolation, tire, is pronounced pronounced as /[taɪə]/ and sour is pronounced as /[saʊə]/.[16] For some speakers, some long vowels alternate with a diphthong ending in schwa and so wear may be pronounced as /[wɛə]/ but wearing pronounced as /[ˈwɛːrɪŋ]/.
The compensatory lengthening view is challenged by Wells, who stated that during the 17th century, stressed vowels followed by pronounced as //r// and another consonant or word boundary underwent a lengthening process, known as pre-r lengthening. The process was not a compensatory lengthening process but an independent development, which explains modern pronunciations featuring both pronounced as /[ɜː]/ (bird, fur) and pronounced as /[ɜːr]/ (stirring, stir it) according to their positions: pronounced as /[ɜːr]/ was the regular outcome of the lengthening, which shortened to pronounced as /[ɜː]/ after r-dropping occurred in the 18th century. The lengthening involved "mid and open short vowels" and so the lengthening of pronounced as //ɑː// in car was not a compensatory process caused by r-dropping.
Even General American commonly drops the pronounced as //r// in non-final unstressed syllables if another syllable in the same word also contains pronounced as //r//, which may be referred to as r-dissimilation. Examples include the dropping of the first pronounced as //r// in the words surprise, governor, and caterpillar. In more careful speech, all pronounced as //r// sounds are still retained.
Rhotic accents include most varieties of Scottish English, Irish or Hiberno-English, Canadian English, American English, Barbadian English and Philippine English.
Non-rhotic accents include most varieties of English English, Welsh English, Australian English, South African English, Nigerian English, Trinidadian and Tobagonian English, Standard Malaysian English and Singaporean English.
Non-rhotic accents have been dominant in New Zealand English since the 1870s, but in general rhoticity is increasing quickly. Rhotic New Zealand English was historically restricted to Murihiku (the "Southland burr") but rhoticity now is widely used in a region stretching from South Auckland down into the upper North Island, and elsewhere particularly among Pasifika communities. This particular rhoticism manifests itself mostly in the nurse vowel, but with the force vowel often remaining non-rhotic.[17] [18] [19] [20]
Semi-rhotic accents have also been studied, such as Jamaican English, in which r is pronounced (as in even non-rhotic accents) before vowels, but also in stressed monosyllables or stressed syllables at the ends of words (e.g. in "car" or "dare"). It is not pronounced at the end of unstressed syllables (e.g. in "water") or before consonants (e.g. "market").
Variably rhotic accents are widely documented, in which deletion of r (when not before vowels) is optional. In these dialects the probability of deleting r may vary depending on social, stylistic, and contextual factors. Variably rhotic accents comprise much of Indian English, Pakistani English, and Caribbean English, for example, as spoken in Tobago, Guyana, Antigua and Barbuda, and the Bahamas.[21] They include current-day New York City English,[22] most modern varieties of Southern American English, New York Latino English, and some Eastern New England English, as well as some varieties of Scottish English.
Non-rhotic accents in the Americas include those of the rest of the Caribbean and Belize. There are people with non-rhotic accents who are children of at least one rhotic-accented parent but grew up, or were educated, in non-rhotic countries like Australia, England, New Zealand, South Africa, or Wales. By contrast, people who have at least one non-rhotic-accented parent but were raised or started their education in Canada, any rhotic Caribbean country, Ireland, Scotland, or the United States speak with rhotic accents.
Most English varieties in England are non-rhotic today, which stems from a trend in southeastern England that accelerated from the very late 18th century onwards. Rhotic accents are still found south and west of a line from near Shrewsbury to around Portsmouth (especially in the West Country), in the Corby area because of migration from Scotland in the 1930s,[23] in some of Lancashire (north and west of the centre of Manchester, increasingly among older and rural speakers only), in some parts of Yorkshire and Lincolnshire, and in the areas that border Scotland.
The prestige form exerts a steady pressure toward non-rhoticity. Thus, the urban speech of Bristol or Southampton is more accurately described as variably rhotic, the degree of rhoticity being reduced as one moves up the class and formality scales.[24]
Most Scottish accents are rhotic. Non-rhotic speech has been reported in Edinburgh since the 1970s and Glasgow since the 1980s.[25]
Welsh English is mostly non-rhotic, but variable rhoticity is present in accents influenced by Welsh, especially in North Wales. Additionally, while Port Talbot English is largely non-rhotic, some speakers may supplant the front vowel of bird with pronounced as //ɚ//.[26]
American English is now predominantly rhotic. In the late 19th century, non-rhotic accents were common throughout much of the coastal Eastern and Southern United States, including along the Gulf Coast. Non-rhotic accents were established in all major U.S. cities along the Atlantic coast except for the Delaware Valley area, centered on Philadelphia and Baltimore, because of its early Scots-Irish rhotic influence.
After the American Civil War and even more intensely during the early-to-mid-20th century, presumably correlated with the Second World War, rhotic accents began to gain social prestige nationwide, even in the aforementioned areas that were traditionally non-rhotic. Thus, non-rhotic accents are increasingly perceived by Americans as sounding foreign or less educated because of an association with working-class or immigrant speakers in Eastern and Southern cities, and rhotic accents are increasingly perceived as sounding more "General American."[27]
Today, non-rhoticity in the American South among Whites is found primarily among older speakers and only in some areas such as central and southern Alabama, Savannah, Georgia, and Norfolk, Virginia,[3] as well as in the Yat accent of New Orleans. It is still very common all across the South and across all age groups among African American speakers.
The local dialects of eastern New England, especially that of Boston, Massachusetts and extending into the states of Maine and (less so) New Hampshire, show some non-rhoticity along with the traditional Rhode Island dialect, although this feature has been receding in recent generations. The New York City dialect has traditionally been non-rhotic, but William Labov more precisely classifies its current form as variably rhotic,[28] with many of its sub-varieties actually being fully rhotic, such as that of northeastern New Jersey.
African-American Vernacular English (AAVE) is largely non-rhotic, and in some non-rhotic Southern and AAVE accents, there is no linking r; that is, pronounced as //r// at the end of a word is deleted even when the following word starts with a vowel; thus, "Mister Adams" is pronounced pronounced as /[mɪstə(ʔ)ˈædəmz]/. In a few such accents, intervocalic pronounced as //r// is deleted before an unstressed syllable even within a word if the following syllable begins with a vowel. In such accents, pronunciations like pronounced as /[kæəˈlaːnə]/ for Carolina, or pronounced as /[bɛːˈʌp]/ for "bear up" are heard.[29] [30]
This pronunciation occurs in AAVE[31] and occurred for many older non-rhotic Southern speakers.[32] AAVE spoken in areas in which non-AAVE speakers are rhotic is likelier to be rhotic. Rhoticity is generally more common among younger AAVE-speakers.[33]
Typically, even non-rhotic modern varieties of American English pronounce the pronounced as //r// in pronounced as //ɜːr// (as in "bird," "work," or "perky") and realize it, as in most rhotic varieties, as pronounced as /link/ (an r-colored mid central vowel) or pronounced as /[əɹ]/ (a sequence of a mid central vowel and a postalveolar or retroflex approximant).
Canadian English is entirely rhotic except for small isolated areas in southwestern New Brunswick, parts of Newfoundland, and the Lunenburg English variety spoken in Lunenburg and Shelburne Counties, Nova Scotia, which may be non-rhotic or variably rhotic.[34]
The prestige form of English spoken in Ireland is rhotic and most regional accents are rhotic, but some regional accents, particularly in the area around counties Louth and Cavan are notably non-rhotic and many non-prestige accents have touches of non-rhoticity. In Dublin, the traditional local dialect is largely non-rhotic, but the more modern varieties, referred to by Hickey as "mainstream Dublin English" and "fashionable Dublin English", are fully rhotic. Hickey used that as an example of how English in Ireland does not follow prestige trends in England.[35]
The English spoken in Asia is predominantly rhotic. In the case of the Philippines, that may be explained because Philippine English is heavily influenced by the American dialect and because of Spanish influence in the various Philippine languages. Many East Asians in mainland China, Japan, Korea, and Taiwan who have a good command of English generally have rhotic accents because of the influence of American English. That excludes Hong Kong, whose English dialect is a result of its almost 150-year history as a British Crown colony and later a British dependent territory.
The lack of consonant /r/ in Cantonese contributes to the phenomenon, but has rhoticity started to exist because of the handover in 1997 and influence by the US and East Asian entertainment industries. Many older and younger speakers among South and East Asians have a non-rhotic accent. Speakers of Semitic (Arabic, Hebrew, etc.), Turkic (Turkish, Azeri, etc.), Iranian languages (Persian, Kurdish, etc.) in West Asia speak English with a rhotic pronunciation because of the inherent phonotactics of their native languages.
Indian English is variably rhotic and can vary between being non-rhotic by most education systems being based on British English or rhotic from the underlying phonotactics of the native Indo-Aryan and Dravidian languages and the influence of American English.[36] Other Asian regions with non-rhotic English are Malaysia, Singapore, and Brunei.[37] A typical Malaysian's English would be almost totally non-rhotic because of the nonexistence of rhotic endings in both languages of influence. A more educated Malaysian's English may be non-rhotic because Standard Malaysian English is based on RP (Received Pronunciation).[38] [39]
The classical English spoken in Brunei is non-rhotic. A change that seems to be taking place is that Brunei English is now becoming rhotic from the influence of American English, from the influence of Standard Malay, which is rhotic, and from influence of the languages of Indians in Brunei, Tamil and Punjabi. Rhoticity is used by Chinese Bruneians. The English in the neighboring Malaysia and Singapore remains non-rhotic. In Brunei English, rhoticity is equal to Philippine dialects of English and Scottish and Irish dialects. Non-rhoticity is mostly found in older generations. The phenomenon is almost similar to the status of American English, which has greatly reduced non-rhoticity.[38] [39]
A typical teenager's Southeast Asian English would be rhotic,[40] mainly from the prominent influence by American English. Spoken English in Myanmar is non-rhotic, but there are a number of English speakers with a rhotic or partially-rhotic pronunciation. Sri Lankan English may be rhotic.
The English spoken in most of Africa is based on RP and is generally non-rhotic. Pronunciation and variation in African English accents are largely affected by native African language influences, level of education, and exposure to Western influences. The English accents spoken in the coastal areas of West Africa are primarily non-rhotic because of the underlying varieties of Niger-Congo languages that are spoken in that part of West Africa.
Rhoticity may exist in the English that is spoken in the areas in which rhotic Afro-Asiatic or Nilo-Saharan languages are spoken across northern West Africa and in the Nilotic regions of East Africa. More modern trends show an increasing American influence on African English pronunciation particularly among younger urban affluent populations, which may overstress the American rhotic "r", which creates a pseudo-Americanised accent.
By and large, the official spoken English used in post-colonial African countries is non-rhotic. Standard Liberian English is also non-rhotic because its liquids are lost at the end of words or before consonants.[41] South African English is mostly non-rhotic, especially in the Cultivated dialect, which is based on RP, except for some Broad varieties spoken in the Cape Province (typically in -er suffixes, as in writer). It appears that postvocalic pronounced as //r// is entering the speech of younger people under the influence of American English and perhaps of the Scottish dialect that was brought by the Scottish settlers.
Standard Australian English is non-rhotic. A degree of rhoticity has been observed in a particular sublect of the Australian Aboriginal English spoken on the coast of South Australia, especially in speakers from the Point Pearce and Raukkan settlements. These speakers realise pronounced as //r// as pronounced as /[ɹ]/ in the preconsonantal postvocalic position (after a vowel and before a consonant), though only within stems: pronounced as /[boːɹd]/ "board", pronounced as /[tʃɜɹtʃ]/ "church", pronounced as /[pɜɹθ]/ "Perth"; but pronounced as /[flæː]/ "flour", pronounced as /[dɒktə]/ "doctor", pronounced as /[jɪəz]/ "years". It has been speculated that the feature may derive from the fact that many of the first settlers in coastal South Australia, including Cornish tin-miners, Scottish missionaries, and American whalers, spoke rhotic varieties.[42]
New Zealand English is predominantly non-rhotic. Southland and parts of Otago in the far south of New Zealand's South Island are rhotic from apparent Scottish influence. Many Māori and Pasifika people, who tend to speak a specific dialect of English, speak with a strong "r," but they are not the only ones to do so.[43] Older Southland speakers use pronounced as //ɹ// variably after vowels, but younger speakers now use pronounced as //ɹ// only with the vowel and occasionally with the vowel. Younger Southland speakers pronounce pronounced as //ɹ// in third term pronounced as //ˌθɵːɹd ˈtɵːɹm// (General NZE pronunciation: pronounced as //ˌθɵːd ˈtɵːm//) but only sometimes in farm cart pronounced as //ˈfɐːm ˌkɐːt// (usually the same as in General NZE).[44]
Non-prevocalic pronounced as //ɹ// among non-rhotic speakers is sometimes pronounced in a few words, including Ireland pronounced as //ˈɑɪəɹlənd//, merely pronounced as //ˈmiəɹli//, err pronounced as //ɵːɹ//, and the name of the letter R pronounced as //ɐːɹ// (General NZE pronunciations: pronounced as //ˈɑɪələnd, ˈmiəli, ɵː, ɐː//). The Māori accent varies from the European-origin New Zealand accent. Some Māori speakers are semi-rhotic. That feature is not clearly identified to any particular region or attributed to any defined language shift. The Māori language tends to pronounce "r" as usually an alveolar tap pronounced as /[ɾ]/, like in the Scottish dialect.[45]
Some phonemic mergers are characteristic of non-rhotic accents and usually include one item that historically contained an R, which has been lost in the non-rhotic accent, and another that never did so.
A merger of words like bad and bared occurs, in some dialects of North American English, as an effect of two historical developments. First, when the vowel is sporadically raised, creating a new phoneme /ɛə/ distinct from /æ/. Second, when this occurs in non-rhotic dialects, there is potential for the /ɛə/ phoneme to merge with, causing bad and bared to become homophones. Thus, the merger occurs almost exclusively in some New York City English. In extreme cases, these two can also merge with, causing bad and bared to become homophonous with beard.[46]
| add | aired | pronounced as /ɛəd/ | |
| bad | bared | pronounced as /bɛəd/ | |
| cad | cared | pronounced as /kɛəd/ | |
| dad | dared | pronounced as /dɛəd/ | |
| fad | fared | pronounced as /fɛəd/ |
A merger of words like bud and bird (pronounced as //ɜːr// and pronounced as //ʌ//) occurs for some speakers of Jamaican English and makes bud and bird homophones as pronounced as //bʌd//. The conversion of pronounced as //ɜːr// to pronounced as /[ʌ]/ or pronounced as /[ə]/ is also found in places scattered around England and Scotland. Some speakers, mostly rural, in the area from London to Norfolk exhibit this conversion, mainly before voiceless fricatives. This gives pronunciation like first pronounced as /[fʌst]/ and worse pronounced as /[wʌs]/.
| blood | blurred | pronounced as /ˈblʌd/ | |
| bud | bird | pronounced as /ˈbʌd/ | |
| bug | berg | pronounced as /ˈbʌɡ/ | |
| bug | burg | pronounced as /ˈbʌɡ/ | |
| bugger | burger | pronounced as /ˈbʌɡə/ | |
| bummer | Burma | pronounced as /ˈbʌmə/ | |
| bun | burn | pronounced as /ˈbʌn/ | |
| bunt | burnt | pronounced as /ˈbʌnt/ | |
| bust | burst | pronounced as /ˈbʌst/ | |
| cluck | clerk | pronounced as /ˈklʌk/ | |
| colo(u)r | curler | pronounced as /ˈkʌlə/ | |
| cub | curb | pronounced as /ˈkʌb/ | |
| cud | curd | pronounced as /ˈkʌd/ | |
| cuddle | curdle | pronounced as /ˈkʌdəl/ | |
| cull | curl | pronounced as /ˈkʌl/ | |
| cut | curt | pronounced as /ˈkʌt/ | |
| duck | dirk | pronounced as /ˈdʌk/ | |
| fun | fern | pronounced as /ˈfʌn/ | |
| fussed | first | pronounced as /ˈfʌst/ | |
| fuzz | furs | pronounced as /ˈfʌz/ | |
| gull | girl | pronounced as /ˈɡʌl/ | |
| gully | girly | pronounced as /ˈɡʌli/ | |
| huddle | hurdle | pronounced as /ˈhʌdəl/ | |
| hull | hurl | pronounced as /ˈhʌl/ | |
| Hun | urn | pronounced as /ˈʌn/ | With H-dropping. |
| hut | hurt | pronounced as /ˈhʌt/ | |
| luck | lurk | pronounced as /ˈlʌk/ | |
| muck | murk | pronounced as /ˈmʌk/ | |
| puck | perk | pronounced as /ˈpʌk/ | |
| pus | purse | pronounced as /ˈpʌs/ | |
| putt | pert | pronounced as /ˈpʌt/ | |
| shuck | shirk | pronounced as /ˈʃʌk/ | |
| shut | shirt | pronounced as /ˈʃʌt/ | |
| spun | spurn | pronounced as /ˈspʌn/ | |
| stud | stirred | pronounced as /ˈstʌd/ | |
| such | search | pronounced as /ˈsʌtʃ/ | |
| suck | cirque | pronounced as /ˈsʌk/ | |
| suckle | circle | pronounced as /ˈsʌkəl/ | |
| suffer | surfer | pronounced as /ˈsʌfə/ | |
| sully | surly | pronounced as /ˈsʌli/ | |
| ton(ne) | tern, turn | pronounced as /ˈtʌn/ | |
| tough | turf | pronounced as /ˈtʌf/ | |
| tuck | Turk | pronounced as /ˈtʌk/ |
In the terminology of John C. Wells, this consists of the merger of the lexical sets comma and letter. It is found in all or nearly all non-rhotic accents and is present even in some accents that are in other respects rhotic, such as those of some speakers in Jamaica and the Bahamas.
In some accents, syllabification may interact with rhoticity and result in homophones for which non-rhotic accents have centering diphthongs. Possibilities include Korea–career, Shi'a–sheer, and Maia–mire,[47] and skua may be identical with the second syllable of obscure.[48]
| area | airier | pronounced as /ˈɛəriə/ | |
| cheetah | cheater | pronounced as /ˈtʃiːtə/ | |
| coda | coder | pronounced as /ˈkoʊdə/ | |
| coma | comber | pronounced as /ˈkoʊmə/ | |
| custody | custardy | pronounced as /ˈkʌstədi/ | |
| Ghana | garner | pronounced as /ˈɡɑːnə/ | |
| feta | fetter | pronounced as /ˈfɛtə/ | |
| formally | formerly | pronounced as /ˈfɔːməli/ | |
| karma | calmer | pronounced as /ˈkɑːmə/ | |
| lemur | pronounced as /ˈliːmə/ | ||
| Luna | lunar | pronounced as /ˈl(j)uːnə/ | |
| manna | manner, manor | pronounced as /ˈmænə/ | |
| mynah | miner, minor | pronounced as /ˈmaɪnə/ | |
| panda | pander | pronounced as /ˈpændə/ | |
| parka | Parker | pronounced as /ˈpɑːkə/ | |
| pita | pronounced as /ˈpiːtə/ | "Pita" may also be pronounced pronounced as //ˈpɪtə// and therefore not merged. | |
| rota | rotor | pronounced as /ˈroʊtə/ | |
| schema | schemer | pronounced as /ˈskiːmə/ | |
| taiga | tiger | pronounced as /ˈtaɪɡə/ | |
| terra | terror | pronounced as /ˈtɛrə/ | |
| tuba | tuber | pronounced as /ˈt(j)uːbə/ | |
| tuna | tuner | pronounced as /ˈt(j)uːnə/ | |
| Vespa | vesper | pronounced as /ˈvɛspə/ | |
| Wanda | wander | pronounced as /ˈwɒndə/ | |
| wicker | pronounced as /ˈwɪkə/ |
A merger of words like batted and battered is present in non-rhotic accents which have undergone the weak vowel merger. Such accents include Australian, New Zealand, most South African and some non-rhotic English (e.g. Norfolk, Sheffield) speech. The third edition of Longman Pronunciation Dictionary lists pronounced as //əd// (and pronounced as //əz// mentioned below) as possible (though less common than pronounced as //ɪd// and pronounced as //ɪz//) British pronunciations, which means that the merger is an option even in RP.
A large number of homophonous pairs involve the syllabic -es and agentive -ers suffixes, such as merges-mergers and bleaches-bleachers. Because they are so numerous, they are excluded from the list of homophonous pairs below.
| batted | battered | pronounced as /ˈbætəd/ | |
| betted | bettered | pronounced as /ˈbɛtəd/ | |
| busted | bustard | pronounced as /ˈbʌstəd/ | |
| butches | butchers | pronounced as /ˈbʊtʃəz/ | |
| butted | buttered | pronounced as /ˈbʌtəd/ | |
| charted | chartered | pronounced as /ˈtʃɑːtəd/ | |
| chatted | chattered | pronounced as /ˈtʃætəd/ | |
| founded | foundered | pronounced as /ˈfaʊndəd/ | |
| humid | humo(u)red | pronounced as /ˈhjuːməd/ | |
| matted | mattered | pronounced as /ˈmætəd/ | |
| patted | pattered | pronounced as /ˈpætəd/ | |
| pitches | pitchers | pronounced as /ˈpɪtʃəz/ | |
| scatted | scattered | pronounced as /ˈskætəd/ | |
| splendid | splendo(u)red | pronounced as /ˈsplɛndəd/ | |
| tended | tendered | pronounced as /ˈtɛndəd/ |
A conditioned merger of EME pronounced as //oː// and pronounced as //ou// with pronounced as //ə// and pronounced as //ər// is similar to the weak vowel merger, and like it occurs only in unstressed positions and only in certain words. In Cockney, the merged vowel is usually pronounced as /link/, so that fellow is homophonous with feller and fella as pronounced as /[ˈfelɐ]/ (phonemically pronounced as //ˈfɛlə//); thus, words like yellow, marrow, potato, follow, etc. take a similar path. The mid pronounced as /link/ occurs in other non-rhotic accents, such as some older Southern American English. An r-colored pronounced as //ər// occurs instead in rhotic accents, for instance in parts of the west of England and in some deep Southern American English, like Appalachian English, preserving the Middle English phonotactic constraint against final pronounced as //ə//: pronounced as /[ˈjɛlɚ]/. In other words, in traditional Appalachian dialect, the final pronounced as //ə// (as in data and sofa) is distinctly r-colored, thus yielding the same merger as in Cockney but with a distinct phonetic output. Both phenomena are restricted to the broadest varieties of English.
In Cockney, the resulting pronounced as //ə// is subject to pronounced as //r//-insertion, as in tomato and cucumber production pronounced as /[təˈmɑːʔ(ə)ɹ ən ˈkjʉːkʌmbə pɹəˈdʌkʃn̩]/.
In RP, there are certain prefixes such as crypto-, electro- and socio- that have a free variation between pronounced as //əʊ// and pronounced as //ə// before consonants, although in some words the unreduced pronounced as //əʊ// is preferred. Before vowels, only pronounced as //əʊ// occurs.
| hollow | holler | pronounced as /ˈhɒlə(r)/ | ||
| pillow | pillar | pronounced as /ˈpɪlə(r)/ | ||
| winnow | winner | pronounced as /ˈwɪnə(r)/ |
The merger of the lexical sets, and is possible in some Jamaican English and partially also in Northern East Anglian English.
In Jamaica, the merger occurs after deletion of the postvocalic pronounced as //r// in a preconsonantal position, so that fade can be homophonous with feared as pronounced as /[feːd]/, but day pronounced as /[deː]/ is normally distinct from dear pronounced as /[deːɹ]/, though vowels in both words can be analyzed as belonging to the same phoneme (followed by pronounced as //r// in the latter case, so that the merger of and / does not occur). In Jamaican Patois, the merged vowel is an opening diphthong pronounced as /[iɛ]/ and that realization can also be heard in Jamaican English, mostly before a sounded pronounced as //r// (so that fare and fear can be both pronounced as /[feːɹ]/ and pronounced as /[fiɛɹ]/), but sometimes also in other positions. Alternatively, pronounced as //eː// can be laxed to pronounced as /link/ before a sounded pronounced as //r//, which produces a variable Mary-merry merger: pronounced as /[fɛɹ]/.
It is possible in northern East Anglian varieties (to pronounced as /link/), but only in the case of items descended from ME pronounced as //aː//, such as daze. Those descended from ME pronounced as //ai// (such as days), pronounced as //ɛi// and pronounced as //ɛih// have a distinctive pronounced as //æi// vowel. The merger appears to be receding, as items descended from ME pronounced as //aː// are being transferred to the pronounced as //æi// class; in other words, a pane-pain merger is taking place. In the southern dialect area, the pane-pain merger is complete and all three vowels are distinct: is pronounced as /[æi]/, is pronounced as /link/ and is pronounced as /[ɪə]/.
A near-merger of and is possible in General South African English, but the vowels typically remain distinct as pronounced as /[eɪ]/ (for) and pronounced as /link/ (for). The difference between the two phonemes is so sometimes subtle that they're pronounced as /[ðeː]/ can be misheard as they pronounced as /[ðe̞e ~ ðee̝]/ (see zero copula). In other varieties the difference is more noticeable, e.g. pronounced as /[ðeː]/ vs. pronounced as /[ðʌɪ]/ in Broad SAE and pronounced as /[ðɛə]/ vs. pronounced as /[ðeɪ]/ in the Cultivated variety. Even in General SAE, can be pronounced as /[ɛə]/ or pronounced as /link/, strongly distinguished from pronounced as /[eɪ]/. remains distinct in all varieties, typically as pronounced as /[ɪə]/. Kevin Watson reports basically the same, subtle distinction between pronounced as /[eɪ]/ in and pronounced as /link/ in in Scouse. The latter is used not only for but also in the set, so that fur is homophonous with fair as pronounced as /[feː]/ - see square-nurse merger. The vowel is not necessarily as front/close as this and pronunciations such as pronounced as /[fɛː]/ and pronounced as /[fəː]/ also occur, with pronounced as /[fəː]/ being the more traditional variant.
In the Cardiff dialect can also be similar to cardinal pronounced as /link/ (though long pronounced as /link/, as in South Africa), but typically has a fully close ending point pronounced as /[ei]/ and thus the vowels are more distinct than in the General South African accent. An alternative realization of the former is an open-mid monophthong pronounced as /link/. Formerly, was sometimes realized as a narrow diphthong pronounced as /[eɪ]/, but this has virtually disappeared by the 1990s. is phonemically distinct, normally as pronounced as /link/ before any pronounced as //r// (a fleece–near merger) and a disyllabic pronounced as /[iːə]/ elsewhere.
In Geordie, the merger of and is recessive and has never been categorical (pronounced as /link/ has always been a distinct vowel), as can instead be pronounced as the closing diphthong pronounced as /[eɪ]/ or, more commonly, the close-mid front monophthong pronounced as /link/. The latter is the most common choice for younger speakers, who tend to reject the centering diphthongs for, which categorically undoes the merger for those speakers. Even when is realized as an opening-centering diphthong, it may be distinguished from by the openness of the first element: pronounced as /[ɪə]/ or pronounced as /[eə]/ for vs. pronounced as /[iə]/ for .
Some of the words listed below may have different forms in traditional Geordie. For the sake of simplicity, the merged vowel is transcribed with (IPA|eː). For a related merger not involving, see near-square merger.
| hay | hair, hare | here, hear | pronounced as /ˈeː/ | |||
| aid | aired | pronounced as /ˈeːd/ | ||||
| bade | bared | beard | pronounced as /ˈbeːd/ | |||
| bay | bare, bear | beer | pronounced as /ˈbeː/ | In fully non-rhotic varieties. | ||
| day | dare | dear | pronounced as /ˈdeː/ | In fully non-rhotic varieties. | ||
| daze | days | dares | dears | pronounced as /ˈdeːz/ | ||
| face | fierce | pronounced as /ˈfeːs/ | ||||
| fade | fared | feared | pronounced as /ˈfeːd/ | |||
| fay | fare, fair | fear | pronounced as /ˈfeː/ | In fully non-rhotic varieties. | ||
| gay | gear | pronounced as /ˈɡeː/ | In fully non-rhotic varieties. | |||
| gaze | gays | gears | pronounced as /ˈɡeːz/ | |||
| hay, hey | hair, hair | here | pronounced as /ˈheː/ | In fully non-rhotic varieties. | ||
| haze | hays | hairs | hears | pronounced as /ˈheːz/ | ||
| jade | jeered | pronounced as /ˈdʒeːd/ | ||||
| K | Kay | care | pronounced as /ˈkeː/ | In fully non-rhotic varieties. | ||
| K | Kay | care | pronounced as /ˈkeː/ | In fully non-rhotic varieties. | ||
| K | Kay | care | pronounced as /ˈkeː/ | In fully non-rhotic varieties. | ||
| may | mare | mere | pronounced as /ˈmeː/ | In fully non-rhotic varieties. | ||
| maze | maize | mares | pronounced as /ˈmeːz/ | |||
| nay | near | pronounced as /ˈneː/ | In fully non-rhotic varieties. | |||
| phase | fares, fairs | fears | pronounced as /ˈfeːz/ | |||
| pay | pair, pear | peer | pronounced as /ˈpeː/ | In fully non-rhotic varieties. | ||
| raid | reared | pronounced as /ˈreːd/ | ||||
| ray | rare | rear | pronounced as /ˈreː/ | In fully non-rhotic varieties. | ||
| raze | raise, rays | rears | pronounced as /ˈreːz/ | |||
| shade | shared | sheared | pronounced as /ˈʃeːd/ | |||
| spade | spared | speared | pronounced as /ˈspeːd/ | |||
| staid, stayed | stared | steered | pronounced as /ˈsteːd/ | |||
| stay | stare | steer | pronounced as /ˈsteː/ | In fully non-rhotic varieties. | ||
| they | their, there | pronounced as /ˈðeː/ | In fully non-rhotic varieties. | |||
| way, weigh | wear | pronounced as /ˈweː/ | In fully non-rhotic varieties. |
In Wells' terminology, the /ɑː/ - /ɑːr/ merger consists of the merger of the lexical sets PALM and START. It is found in the speech of the great majority of non-rhotic speakers, including those of England, Wales, the United States, the Caribbean, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. It may be absent in some non-rhotic speakers in the Bahamas.
Homophonous pairs resulting from this merger are rare in accents without the father-bother merger (see below). Two such pairs are father-farther and spa-spar
| alms | arms | pronounced as /ˈɑːmz/ | |
| balmy | barmy | pronounced as /ˈbɑːmi/ | |
| calmer | karma | pronounced as /ˈkɑːmə/ | Calmer can also be pronounced with pronounced as //l//: pronounced as //ˈkɑːlmə//. |
| father | farther | pronounced as /ˈfɑːðə/ | |
| Ghana | garner | pronounced as /ˈɡɑːnə/ | |
| lava | larva | pronounced as /ˈlɑːvə/ | |
| ma | mar | pronounced as /ˈmɑː/ | |
| pa | par | pronounced as /ˈpɑː/ | |
| spa | spar | pronounced as /ˈspɑː/ |
In Wells' terminology, the /ɒ/ - /ɑːr/ merger is a merger of LOT and START. This merger occurs in accents with the /ɑː/ - /ɑːr/ merger described above that have also undergone the father-bother merger. This includes most non-rhotic American English (in Rhode Island, New York City, some Southern U.S., and some African-American accents, but not the Boston accent). This results in a greatly expanded number of homophonous pairs, such as god-guard.
| Bob | barb | pronounced as /ˈbɑːb/ | ||
| bot | pronounced as /ˈbɑːt/ | |||
| box | barks | pronounced as /ˈbɑːks/ | ||
| comma | karma | pronounced as /ˈkɑːmə/ | ||
| clock | Clark | pronounced as /ˈklɑːk/ | ||
| cod | card | pronounced as /ˈkɑːd/ | ||
| cop | carp | pronounced as /ˈkɑːp/ | ||
| cot | cart | pronounced as /ˈkɑːt/ | ||
| don | darn | pronounced as /ˈdɑːn/ | ||
| dot | dart | pronounced as /ˈdɑːt/ | ||
| gobble | garble | pronounced as /ˈɡɑːbəl/ | ||
| god | guard | pronounced as /ˈɡɑːd/ | ||
| hock | hark | pronounced as /ˈhɑːk/ | ||
| hop | harp | pronounced as /ˈhɑːp/ | ||
| hot | heart | pronounced as /ˈhɑːt/ | ||
| lock | lark | pronounced as /ˈlɑːk/ | ||
| lodge | large | pronounced as /ˈlɑːdʒ/ | ||
| mock | mark | pronounced as /ˈmɑːk/ | ||
| ox | arcs | pronounced as /ˈɑːks/ | ||
| Polly | parley | pronounced as /ˈpɑːli/ | ||
| potty | party | pronounced as /ˈpɑːti/ | ||
| pox | parks | pronounced as /ˈpɑːks/ | ||
| shod | shard | pronounced as /ˈʃɑːd/ | ||
| shock | shark | pronounced as /ˈʃɑːk/ | ||
| shop | sharp | pronounced as /ˈʃɑːp/ | ||
| stock | stark | pronounced as /ˈstɑːk/ | ||
| top | tarp | pronounced as /ˈtɑːp/ |
In Wells' terminology, this consists of the merger of the lexical sets and . It occurs in Black South African English as a result of its - merger, co-occurring with the /ɑ/ - /ɑːr/ merger described above. The outcome of the merger is an open central vowel pronounced as /link/ or, less frequently, an open-mid back vowel pronounced as /link/.
In Australia and New Zealand, the two vowels contrast only by length: pronounced as /[{{IPAplink|ä}} for ''strut'', and {{IPAplink|äː}}]/ for both palm and start. This (as well as -monophthongization in Australian English) introduces phonemic vowel length to those dialects. In Colchester English, the vowels undergo a qualitative near-merger (with the length contrast preserved) as pronounced as /link/ and pronounced as /link/, at least for middle-class speakers. A more local pronunciation of pronounced as //ɑː// is front pronounced as /link/. A qualitative near-merger is also possible in contemporary General British English, where the vowels come close as pronounced as /link/ vs. pronounced as /link/, with only a slight difference in height in addition to the difference in length.
A three-way merger of pronounced as //ʌ//, pronounced as //ɑː// and pronounced as //æ// is a common pronunciation error among L2 speakers of English whose native language is Italian, Spanish or Catalan. Notably, EFL speakers who aim at the British pronunciation of can't pronounced as //kɑːnt// but fail to lengthen the vowel sufficiently are perceived as uttering a highly-taboo word, cunt pronounced as //kʌnt//.[49] [50]
| buck | bark | pronounced as /ˈbak/ | ||
| bud | bard | pronounced as /ˈbad/ | ||
| bud | barred | pronounced as /ˈbad/ | ||
| budge | barge | pronounced as /ˈbadʒ/ | ||
| bun | barn | pronounced as /ˈban/ | ||
| butt | Bart | pronounced as /ˈbat/ | ||
| cup | carp | pronounced as /ˈkap/ | ||
| cut | cart | pronounced as /ˈkat/ | ||
| duck | dark | pronounced as /ˈdak/ | ||
| duckling | darkling | pronounced as /ˈdaklɪŋ/ | ||
| done | darn | pronounced as /ˈdan/ | ||
| fuss | farce | pronounced as /ˈfas/ | ||
| hut | heart | pronounced as /ˈhat/ | ||
| mud | marred | pronounced as /ˈmad/ | ||
| putt | part | pronounced as /ˈpat/ |
In Wells' terminology, the caught–court merger consists of the merger of the lexical sets THOUGHT and NORTH. It is found in most of the same accents as the father–farther merger described above, including most British English, but is absent from the Bahamas and Guyana.
Labov et al. suggest that, in New York City English, this merger is present in perception not production. As in, although even locals perceive themselves using the same vowel in both cases, they tend to produce the / vowel higher and more retracted than the vowel of .
Most speakers with the pawn-porn merger also have the same vowels in caught and court (a merger of THOUGHT and FORCE), yielding a three-way merger of awe-or-ore/oar (see horse-hoarse merger). These include the accents of Southern England (but see THOUGHT split), non-rhotic New York City speakers, Trinidad and the Southern hemisphere.
The lot-cloth split, coupled with those mergers, produces a few more homophones, such as boss–bourse. Specifically, the phonemic merger of the words often and orphan was the basis for a joke in the Gilbert and Sullivan musical, The Pirates of Penzance.
| awe | or | oar, ore | pronounced as /ˈɔː/ | |
| caught | court | pronounced as /ˈkɔːt/ | ||
| caulk | cork | pronounced as /ˈkɔːk/ | ||
| caw | corps | core | pronounced as /ˈkɔː/ | |
| draw | drawer | pronounced as /ˈdrɔː/ | ||
| flaw | floor | pronounced as /ˈflɔː/ | ||
| fought | fort | pronounced as /ˈfɔːt/ | ||
| gnaw | nor | pronounced as /ˈnɔː/ | ||
| laud | lord | pronounced as /ˈlɔːd/ | ||
| law | lore | pronounced as /ˈlɔː/ | ||
| paw | pore, pour | pronounced as /ˈpɔː/ | ||
| raw | roar | pronounced as /ˈrɔː/ | ||
| sauce | source | pronounced as /ˈsɔːs/ | ||
| saw | soar, sore | pronounced as /ˈsɔː/ | ||
| sawed | soared, sword | pronounced as /ˈsɔːd/ | ||
| shorn | pronounced as /ˈʃɔːn/ | |||
| sought | sort | pronounced as /ˈsɔːt/ | ||
| stalk | stork | pronounced as /ˈstɔːk/ | ||
| talk | torque | pronounced as /ˈtɔːk/ | ||
| taught, taut | tort | pronounced as /ˈtɔːt/ |
In Wells' terminology, the paw–poor or law–lure merger consists of the merger of the lexical sets THOUGHT and CURE. It is found in those non-rhotic accents containing the caught–court merger that have also undergone the pour–poor merger. Wells lists it unequivocally only for the accent of Trinidad, but it is an option for non-rhotic speakers in England, Australia and New Zealand. Such speakers have a potential four-way merger taw–tor–tore–tour.
| law | lure | pronounced as /ˈlɔː/ | With yod-dropping. |
| maw | moor | pronounced as /ˈmɔː/ | |
| paw | poor | pronounced as /ˈpɔː/ |
In Wells' terminology, the dough-door merger consists of the merger of the lexical sets GOAT and FORCE. It may be found in some southern U.S. non-rhotic speech, some speakers of African American Vernacular English, some speakers in Guyana and some Welsh speech.
| beau | boar | pronounced as /ˈboʊ/ | |
| beau | bore | pronounced as /ˈboʊ/ | |
| bode | board | pronounced as /ˈboʊd/ | |
| bode | bored | pronounced as /ˈboʊd/ | |
| bone | borne | pronounced as /ˈboʊn/ | |
| bone | pronounced as /ˈboʊn/ | ||
| bow | boar | pronounced as /ˈboʊ/ | |
| bow | bore | pronounced as /ˈboʊ/ | |
| bowed | board | pronounced as /ˈboʊd/ | |
| bowed | bored | pronounced as /ˈboʊd/ | |
| chose | chores | pronounced as /ˈtʃoʊz/ | |
| coast | coursed | pronounced as /ˈkoʊst/ | |
| coat | court | pronounced as /ˈkoʊt/ | |
| code | cored | pronounced as /ˈkoʊd/ | |
| doe | door | pronounced as /ˈdoʊ/ | |
| does | doors | pronounced as /ˈdoʊz/ | |
| dough | door | pronounced as /ˈdoʊ/ | |
| doze | doors | pronounced as /ˈdoʊz/ | |
| floe | floor | pronounced as /ˈfloʊ/ | |
| flow | floor | pronounced as /ˈfloʊ/ | |
| foe | fore | pronounced as /ˈfoʊ/ | |
| foe | four | pronounced as /ˈfoʊ/ | |
| go | gore | pronounced as /ˈɡoʊ/ | |
| goad | gored | pronounced as /ˈɡoʊd/ | |
| hoe | whore | pronounced as /ˈhoʊ/ | |
| hoed | hoard | pronounced as /ˈhoʊd/ | |
| hoed | horde | pronounced as /ˈhoʊd/ | |
| hoed | whored | pronounced as /ˈhoʊd/ | |
| hose | whores | pronounced as /ˈhoʊz/ | |
| lo | lore | pronounced as /ˈloʊ/ | |
| low | lore | pronounced as /ˈloʊ/ | |
| moan | mourn | pronounced as /ˈmoʊn/ | |
| Moe | Moore | pronounced as /ˈmoʊ/ | |
| Moe | more | pronounced as /ˈmoʊ/ | |
| Mona | mourner | pronounced as /ˈmoʊnə/ | |
| mow | Moore | pronounced as /ˈmoʊ/ | |
| mow | more | pronounced as /ˈmoʊ/ | |
| mown | mourn | pronounced as /ˈmoʊn/ | |
| O | oar | pronounced as /ˈoʊ/ | |
| O | ore | pronounced as /ˈoʊ/ | |
| ode | oared | pronounced as /ˈoʊd/ | |
| oh | oar | pronounced as /ˈoʊ/ | |
| oh | ore | pronounced as /ˈoʊ/ | |
| owe | oar | pronounced as /ˈoʊ/ | |
| owe | ore | pronounced as /ˈoʊ/ | |
| owed | oared | pronounced as /ˈoʊd/ | |
| Po | pore | pronounced as /ˈpoʊ/ | |
| Po | pour | pronounced as /ˈpoʊ/ | |
| pore | pronounced as /ˈpoʊ/ | ||
| pour | pronounced as /ˈpoʊ/ | ||
| poach | porch | pronounced as /ˈpoʊtʃ/ | |
| poke | pork | pronounced as /ˈpoʊk/ | |
| pose | pores | pronounced as /ˈpoʊz/ | |
| pose | pours | pronounced as /ˈpoʊz/ | |
| road | roared | pronounced as /ˈroʊd/ | |
| rode | roared | pronounced as /ˈroʊd/ | |
| roe | roar | pronounced as /ˈroʊ/ | |
| rose | roars | pronounced as /ˈroʊz/ | |
| row | roar | pronounced as /ˈroʊ/ | |
| rowed | roared | pronounced as /ˈroʊd/ | |
| sew | soar | pronounced as /ˈsoʊ/ | |
| sew | sore | pronounced as /ˈsoʊ/ | |
| sewed | soared | pronounced as /ˈsoʊd/ | |
| sewed | sored | pronounced as /ˈsoʊd/ | |
| sewed | sword | pronounced as /ˈsoʊd/ | |
| shone | shorn | pronounced as /ˈʃoʊn/ | |
| show | shore | pronounced as /ˈʃoʊ/ | |
| shown | shorn | pronounced as /ˈʃoʊn/ | |
| snow | snore | pronounced as /ˈsnoʊ/ | |
| so | soar | pronounced as /ˈsoʊ/ | |
| so | sore | pronounced as /ˈsoʊ/ | |
| sow | soar | pronounced as /ˈsoʊ/ | |
| sow | sore | pronounced as /ˈsoʊ/ | |
| sowed | soared | pronounced as /ˈsoʊd/ | |
| sowed | sored | pronounced as /ˈsoʊd/ | |
| sowed | sword | pronounced as /ˈsoʊd/ | |
| stow | store | pronounced as /ˈstoʊ/ | |
| toad | toward | pronounced as /ˈtoʊd/ | |
| toe | tore | pronounced as /ˈtoʊ/ | |
| toed | toward | pronounced as /ˈtoʊd/ | |
| tone | torn | pronounced as /ˈtoʊn/ | |
| tow | tore | pronounced as /ˈtoʊ/ | |
| towed | toward | pronounced as /ˈtoʊd/ | |
| woe | wore | pronounced as /ˈwoʊ/ | |
| whoa | wore | pronounced as /ˈwoʊ/ | With wine–whine merger. |
| yo | yore | pronounced as /ˈjoʊ/ | |
| yo | your | pronounced as /ˈjoʊ/ |
In Wells' terminology, the show–sure or toad–toured merger consists of the merger of the lexical sets GOAT and CURE. It may be present in those speakers who have both the dough–door merger described above, and also the pour–poor merger. These include some southern U.S. non-rhotic speakers, some speakers of African-American English (in both cases towards pronounced as //oʊ//) and some speakers in Guyana.
In Geordie, the merger (towards pronounced as //ʊə//, phonetically pronounced as /[uə]/) is variable and recessive. It is also not categorical, as can instead be pronounced as the close-mid monophthongs pronounced as /link/ and pronounced as /link/. The central pronounced as /link/ is as stereotypically Geordie as the merger itself, though it is still used alongside pronounced as /link/ by young, middle-class males who, as younger speakers in general, reject the centering diphthongs for pronounced as //oː// (females often merge pronounced as //oː// with pronounced as //ɔː// instead, see thought-goat merger). This categorically undoes the merger for those speakers. Even when is realized as an opening-centering diphthong, it may be distinguished from by the openness of the first element: pronounced as /[ʊə]/ or pronounced as /[oə]/ vs. pronounced as /[uə]/.
Some of the words listed below may have different forms in traditional Geordie.
| bow | boor | pronounced as /ˈboʊ/ | |
| low | lure | pronounced as /ˈloʊ/ | With yod-dropping. |
| mode | moored | pronounced as /ˈmoʊd/ | |
| mow | moor | pronounced as /ˈmoʊ/ | |
| show | sure | pronounced as /ˈʃoʊ/ | |
| toad | toured | pronounced as /ˈtoʊd/ | |
| toe, tow | tour | pronounced as /ˈtoʊ/ |
A conditioned merger of and is famously associated with early 20th-century New York City English; see coil-curl merger below.
Up-gliding is a diphthongized vowel sound, pronounced as /[əɪ]/, used as the pronunciation of the phoneme . This up-gliding variant historically occurred in some completely non-rhotic dialects of American English and is particularly associated with the early twentieth-century (but now extinct or moribund) dialects of New York City, New Orleans, and Charleston, likely developing in the prior century. In fact, in speakers born before World War I, this sound apparently predominated throughout the older speech of the Southern United States that ranged from "South Carolina to Texas and north to eastern Arkansas and the southern edge of Kentucky." This variant happened only when pronounced as //ɜːr// was followed by a consonant in the same morpheme; thus, for example, stir was never pronounced as /[stəɪ]/; rather, stir would have been pronounced pronounced as /[stə(ɹ)]/.
In some cases, particularly in New York City, the sound gliding from a schwa upwards even led to a phonemic merger of the vowel classes associated with the General American phonemes pronounced as //ɔɪ// as in and pronounced as //ɜːr// as in ; thus, words like coil and curl, as well as voice and verse, were homophones. The merged vowel was typically a diphthong pronounced as /[əɪ]/, with a mid central starting point, rather than the back rounded starting point of pronounced as //ɔɪ// of in most other accents of English. The merger is responsible for the "Brooklynese" stereotypes of bird sounding like boid and thirty-third sounding like toity-toid. This merger is also known for the word soitenly, used often by the Three Stooges comedian Curly Howard as a variant of certainly in comedy shorts of the 1930s and 1940s. The songwriter Sam M. Lewis, a native New Yorker, rhymed returning with joining in the lyrics of the English-language version of "Gloomy Sunday". Except for New Orleans English,[51] [52] this merger did not occur in the South, despite up-gliding existing in some older Southern accents; instead, a distinction between the two phonemes was maintained due to a down-gliding sound: something like pronounced as /[ɔɛ]/.
In 1966, according to a survey that was done by William Labov in New York City, 100% of the people 60 and over used pronounced as /[əɪ]/ for bird. With each younger age group, however, the percentage got progressively lower: 59% of 50- to 59-year-olds, 33% of 40- to 49-year-olds, 24% of 20- to 39-year-olds, and finally, only 4% of 8- to 19-year-olds used pronounced as /[əɪ]/ for bird. Nearly all native New Yorkers born since 1950, even those whose speech is otherwise non-rhotic, now pronounce bird as pronounced as /[bɚd]/. However, Labov reports this vowel to be slightly raised compared to other dialects. In addition, a study from 2014 found [əɪ] variably in two participating native New Yorkers, one of whom was born in the early 1990s.[53]
| adjoin | adjourn | pronounced as /əˈdʒəɪn/ | |
| boil | burl | pronounced as /ˈbəɪl/ | |
| bird | pronounced as /ˈbəɪd/ | ||
| burl | pronounced as /ˈbəɪl/ | ||
| coil | curl | pronounced as /ˈkəɪl/ | |
| coin | kern | pronounced as /ˈkəɪn/ | |
| coitus | pronounced as /ˈkəɪɾəs/ | With weak vowel merger, normally with intervocalic alveolar flapping. | |
| foil | furl | pronounced as /ˈfəɪl/ | |
| goitre; goiter | girder | pronounced as /ˈɡəɪɾə/ | With the t–d merger. |
| hoist | pronounced as /ˈhəɪst/ | ||
| hoist | hurst; Hurst | pronounced as /ˈhəɪst/ | |
| hurl | pronounced as /ˈhəɪl/ | ||
| loin | learn | pronounced as /ˈləɪn/ | |
| oil | earl | pronounced as /ˈəɪl/ | |
| poil | pearl | pronounced as /ˈpəɪl/ | |
| poise | purrs | pronounced as /ˈpəɪz/ | |
| toyed | turd | pronounced as /ˈtəɪd/ | |
| voice | verse | pronounced as /ˈvəɪs/ | |
| vert | pronounced as /ˈvəɪt/ |
Certain words have spellings derived from non-rhotic dialects or renderings of foreign words through non-rhotic pronunciation. In rhotic dialects, spelling pronunciation has caused these words to be pronounced rhotically anyway. Examples include: