Phonological history of English vowels explained

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

Great Vowel Shift and trisyllabic laxing

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

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

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

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

Tense–lax neutralization

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

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

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

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

Monophthongs

Low front vowels

See main article: Pronunciation of English ⟨a⟩.

• /æ/ tensing is a process that occurs in some accents of North American and some Australian English whereby the vowel pronounced as //æ// is raised and lengthened or diphthongised in various environments. In some dialects it involves an allophonic split whilst in others it affects all pronounced as //æ//s. There are dialects, however, where the split is phonological.
• The bad–lad split is a phonological split of the Early Modern English short vowel phoneme pronounced as //æ// into a short pronounced as //æ// and a long pronounced as //æː//. This split is found in some varieties of English in England and Australia.
• In Modern English, a new phoneme, pronounced as //ɑː//, developed that did not exist in Middle English.
• The trap–bath split is a vowel split whereby the Early Modern English phoneme pronounced as //æ// merged with the pronounced as //ɑː// in certain environments. It occurs mainly in southern varieties of English English, the Boston accent and the Southern Hemisphere accents (although it is somewhat variable in Australia).

Low back vowels

See main article: Phonological history of English low back vowels.

• The father–bother merger is a merger of the Early Modern English vowels pronounced as //ɑː// and pronounced as //ɒ// that occurs in almost all varieties of North American English.
• The lot–cloth split is the result of a late 17th-century sound change that lengthened pronounced as //ɒ// to pronounced as /[ɒː]/ before voiceless fricatives (off, broth, cost), voiced velars (dog, long) and also before pronounced as //n// in the word gone.
• The cot–caught merger is a phonemic merger that occurs in some varieties of English causing the vowel in words like cot, rock, and doll to be pronounced the same as the vowel in the words caught, talk, law, and small.
• The psalm–sum merger is a phenomenon occurring in Singaporean English where the phonemes pronounced as //ɑ// and pronounced as //ʌ// are both pronounced pronounced as //ɑ//. In Australian English they are distinguished only by vowel length.
• The bud–bird merger is a merger of pronounced as //ʌ// and pronounced as //ɜ// occurring for some speakers of Jamaican English.

High back vowels

See main article: Phonological history of English high back vowels.

• The foot–goose merger is a phonemic merger of the vowels pronounced as //ʊ// and pronounced as //uː// found in distinct dialects of English: Scotland, Northern Ireland and the far north of England use pronounced as //u// for both these sets of words.^[2]
• The foot–strut split is the split of Middle English pronounced as //ʊ// into two distinct phonemes pronounced as //ʊ// (as in foot) and pronounced as //ʌ// (as in strut) that occurs in most accents of English (except most Northern English accents).
• The strut–comma merger is the merger of pronounced as //ʌ// and pronounced as //ə// found in Welsh English and in many varieties of General American.
• In Modern English, the vowels pronounced as //iu//, pronounced as //ɛu//, and pronounced as //y//^[3] (the last occurring only in French loanwords) of Middle English have been merged.

High front vowels

See main article: Phonological history of English high front vowels.

• The weak vowel merger is a phonemic merger of the unstressed pronounced as //ɪ// (sometimes written as pronounced as //ɨ//) with pronounced as //ə// (schwa) with in certain dialects of English. As a result of this merger the words rabbit and abbot rhyme.
• The kit split is a split of EME pronounced as //ɪ// found in South African English, where kit pronounced as /[kɪt]/ and bit pronounced as /[bət]/ do not rhyme.
• The pin–pen merger is a conditional phonemic merger of pronounced as //ɪ// and pronounced as //ɛ// before the nasal consonants pronounced as /[m]/, pronounced as /[n]/ and pronounced as /[ŋ]/.
• Happy tensing is the process in which final lax pronounced as /[ɪ]/ becomes tense pronounced as /[i]/ in words like happy.
• The meet–meat merger is the merger of the Early Modern English vowel pronounced as //eː// with the vowel pronounced as //iː//. The merger is complete outside the British Isles and virtually complete within them.
• The mitt–meet merger^[4] is a phenomenon occurring in Malaysian English and Singaporean English where the phonemes pronounced as //iː// and pronounced as //ɪ// are both pronounced pronounced as //i//.^[5]
• The met–mat merger is a phenomenon occurring in Malaysian English and Singaporean English where the phonemes pronounced as //ɛ// and pronounced as //æ// are both pronounced pronounced as //ɛ//.
• The next–text split is a vowel split occurring in Singaporean English where next pronounced as //nekst// and text pronounced as //tɛkst// use different vowel phonemes and do not rhyme.^{[6] [7]}
• The met–mate merger is a phenomenon occurring for some speakers of Zulu English where pronounced as //eɪ// and pronounced as //ɛ// are both pronounced pronounced as //ɛ//.
• The thank–think merger is the lowering of pronounced as //ɪ// to pronounced as //æ// before the velar nasal pronounced as //ŋ// that can be found in the speech of speakers of African American Vernacular English.
• The pit–pet merger is a complete merger of pronounced as //ɪ// and pronounced as //ɛ// – not restricted to positions before nasals – occurring for some speakers of Newfoundland English.

Schwa

Schwa syncope is the deletion of schwa. English has the tendency to delete schwa when it appears in a mid-word syllable that comes after the stressed syllable. Kenstowicz (1994) states that "... American English schwa deletes in medial posttonic syllables ...", and gives as examples words such as sep(a)rate (as an adjective), choc(o)late, cam(e)ra and elab(o)rate (as an adjective), where the schwa (represented by the letters in parentheses) has a tendency to be deleted.^[8]

Diphthongs

See main article: Phonological history of English diphthongs.

• The vein–vain merger is the merger of the Middle English diphthongs pronounced as //ai// and pronounced as //ei// that occurs in all dialects of present English.
• The following mergers are grouped together by Wells as the long mid mergers. They occur in all but a few dialects of English.
  • The pane–pain merger is a merger of the long mid monophthong pronounced as //eː// and the diphthong pronounced as //ɛi//.
  • The toe–tow merger is a merger of the Early Modern English vowels pronounced as //oː// and pronounced as //ɔu//.
• The cot–coat merger is a phenomenon occurring for some speakers of Zulu English where the phonemes pronounced as //ɒ// and pronounced as //oʊ// are not distinguished.
• The rod–ride merger is a merger of pronounced as //ɑ// and pronounced as //aɪ// occurring for some speakers of African American Vernacular English and Southern American English.
• The pride–proud merger is a merger of the diphthongs pronounced as //aɪ// and pronounced as //aʊ// before voiced consonants occurring for some speakers of African American Vernacular English.
• Some Welsh English speakers distinguish "rode" /roːd/ and "cole" /koːl/ from "road" /roəd/ and "coal" /koəl/.^[9]
• Some Welsh English speakers distinguish "muse" /myːz/ and "due" /dyː/ from "mews" /mɪuz/ and "dew" /dɪu/.^[9]
• The line–loin merger is a merger between the diphthongs pronounced as //aɪ// and pronounced as //ɔɪ// that occurs in some English dialects.
• The coil–curl merger is a merger of pronounced as //ɔɪ// and pronounced as //ɜr// which historically occurred in some dialects of English. It is particularly associated with the dialects of New York City and New Orleans.

Vowel changes before historic /r/

See main article: English-language vowel changes before historic /r/.

Mergers before intervocalic /r/

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

• The Mary–marry–merry merger is the merger of pronounced as //ær// and pronounced as //ɛr// with pronounced as //ɛər// (historic pronounced as //eɪr//).
• The mirror–nearer merger is the merger of pronounced as //ɪr// with pronounced as //ɪər// (historic pronounced as //iːr//).
• The hurry–furry merger is the merger of pronounced as //ʌr// with pronounced as //ɜr//.
• The furry–ferry merger, common in the Philadelphia accent, is the merger of pronounced as //ʌr// with pronounced as //ɛr//.
• Intervocalic pronounced as //ɒr// merges either with pronounced as //ɑr// as in starry or pronounced as //ɔr// as in glory.

Mergers before historic coda /r/

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

• The cheer–chair merger is the merger of the Early Modern English sequences pronounced as /[iːr]/ and pronounced as /[eːr]/, which is found in some accents of modern English.
• The fern–fir–fur merger is the merger of the Middle English vowels pronounced as //ɪ, ɛ, ʊ// into pronounced as /[ɜr]/ when historically followed by pronounced as //r// in the coda of the syllable.
• The fur–fair merger is a merger of pronounced as //ɜːr// with pronounced as //ɛər// that occurs in some accents.
• The nurse–near merger is a possible merger of pronounced as //ɜːr// with pronounced as //ɪər// that may occur in some American and the West Country English dialects.
• The pronounced as //aɪər//–pronounced as //aʊər//–pronounced as //ɑːr// merger is found in some accents of Southern British English. It causes tire, tower, and tar to be homophones. The pronounced as //aɪər//–pronounced as //ɑːr// merger is found in some Midland and Southern U.S. accents. It causes tire and tar to be homophones.
• The cure–fir merger is a merger of pronounced as //ʊər// with pronounced as //ɜːr// or pronounced as //ʊr// with pronounced as //ɜːr// that occurs in East Anglian and American English in certain words.
• The pour–poor merger is the merger of pronounced as //ʊər// with pronounced as //ɔːr//.
• The card–cord merger is a merger of Early Modern English pronounced as /[ɑːr]/ with pronounced as /[ɒr]/, found in some Caribbean, English West Country and Southern and Western U.S. accents.
• The horse–hoarse merger is the merger of pronounced as //ɔː// and pronounced as //oʊ// before historic pronounced as //r// occurring in most varieties of English.
• The square–nurse merger occurs in some areas of England. The two sets are sometimes merged to pronounced as //ɛː// (Liverpool, east coast of Yorkshire) and sometimes to pronounced as //ɜː// (south Lancashire).
• The pronounced as //aʊr//–pronounced as //aʊər// merger occurs for many speakers of English. It caused power and sour to rhyme.

Vowel changes before historic /l/

See main article: English-language vowel changes before historic /l/.

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

See also

• Great Vowel Shift
• List of dialects of the English language
• Phonological history of English
• Phonological history of English consonants
• Trisyllabic laxing

Notes and References

1. Freeman. Valerie. Bag, beg, bagel: Prevelar raising and merger in Pacific Northwest English. University of Washington Working Papers in Linguistics. 2014. 29 March 2024.
2. Book: John C. Wells. John C.. Wells. Accents of English 2: The British Isles. 2. Cambridge University Press. 9780521285407. 971171807. 1982. 402.
3. E. J. Dobson (English pronunciation, 1500–1700, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1968, passim) and other scholars before him postulated the existence of a vowel /y/ beside /iu̯/ in early Modern English. But see Fausto Cercignani, On the alleged existence of a vowel /y:/ in early Modern English, in “English Language and Linguistics”, 26/2, 2022, pp. 263–277 https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/english-language-and-linguistics/article/on-the-alleged-existence-of-a-vowel-y-in-early-modern-english/AC739707E998A98AFFD515678D9B1E14.
4. Hung. Tony. 2002. English as a global language: Implications for teaching. The ACELT Journal. 5. 2. 3–10.
5. en. 15. 1. Teaching and Learning. 1994. The Features of Singapore English Pronunciation: Implications for Teachers. David. Deterding. Robert. Hvitfeldt. 98–107.
6. Book: Deterding, David. English in Southeast Asia: Literacies, Literatures and Varieties. 2007. 2–29. David. Prescott. Andy. Kirkpatrick. Isabel. Martin. Azirah. Hashim. Cambridge Scholars Press. Newcastle, UK. The Vowels of the Different Ethnic Groups in Singapore. 978-1847182241.
7. David. Deterding. Emergent patterns in the vowels of Singapore English. English World-Wide. 26. 2. 2005. 179–97. 10.1075/eww.26.2.04det.
8. Book: Kenstowicz, Michael J.. Phonology in generative grammar. Michael J. Kenstowicz. Wiley-Blackwell. 1994. 978-1-55786-426-0. 450897985.
9. Book: Phonetics for Dummies. 9781118505083. Katz. William F.. 2013. 1027577087. Hoboken, N.J.. John Wiley & Sons.