In the history of English phonology

English phonology

English phonology is the study of the sound system of the English language. Like many languages, English has wide variation in pronunciation, both historically and from dialect to dialect...

, there were many diachronic

Historical linguistics

Historical linguistics is the study of language change. It has five main concerns:* to describe and account for observed changes in particular languages...

 sound changes affecting vowel

Vowel

In phonetics, a vowel is a sound in spoken language, such as English ah! or oh! , pronounced with an open vocal tract so that there is no build-up of air pressure at any point above the glottis. This contrasts with consonants, such as English sh! , where there is a constriction or closure at some...

s, especially involving phonemic splits and mergers.

Great Vowel Shift and Trisyllabic laxing

The Great Vowel Shift

Great Vowel Shift

The Great Vowel Shift was a major change in the pronunciation of the English language that took place in England between 1350 and 1500.The Great Vowel Shift was first studied by Otto Jespersen , a Danish linguist and Anglicist, who coined the term....

 was a series of chain shift

Chain shift

In phonology, a chain shift is a phenomenon in which several sounds move stepwise along a phonetic scale. The sounds involved in a chain shift can be ordered into a "chain" in such a way that, after the change is complete, each phoneme ends up sounding like what the phoneme before it in the chain...

s 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

Trisyllabic laxing

Trisyllabic laxing or trisyllabic shortening is any of three processes in English whereby tense vowels become lax Trisyllabic laxing or trisyllabic shortening is any of three processes in English whereby tense vowels (which are long vowels or diphthongs) become lax Trisyllabic laxing or...

 in Middle English created many long–short pairs. The result can be seen in such words as,

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

*Middle English /ou/ merged with /o/.

Tense–lax neutralization

Tense–lax neutralization refers to a neutralization, in a particular phonological

Phonology

Phonology is, broadly speaking, the subdiscipline of linguistics concerned with the sounds of language. That is, it is the systematic use of sound to encode meaning in any spoken human language, or the field of linguistics studying this use...

 context in a particular language, of the normal distinction between tense and lax vowels

Tenseness

In phonology, tenseness is a particular vowel quality that is phonemically contrastive in many languages, including English. It has also occasionally been used to describe contrasts in consonants. Unlike most distinctive features, the feature [tense] can be interpreted only relatively, that is, in...

.

In some varieties of English, this occurs in particular before /ŋ/ and (in rhotic dialects) before coda

Syllable coda

In phonology, a syllable coda comprises the consonant sounds of a syllable that follow the nucleus, which is usually a vowel. The combination of a nucleus and a coda is called a rime. Some syllables consist only of a nucleus with no coda...

 /r/ (that is, /r/ followed by a consonant or at the end of a word); it also occurs, to a lesser extent, before tautosyllabic /ʃ/ and /ɡ/. Some examples of neutralization of /ɛ/ to /eɪ/ before /ɡ/ are beg, egg, Greg, keg, leg and pegs coming to rhyme with Craig, Hague, plague and vague.

Some varieties (including most American English

American English

American English is a set of dialects of the English language used mostly in the United States. Approximately two-thirds of the world's native speakers of English live in the United States....

 dialects) have significant vocalic neutralization before intervocalic /r/, as well. See English-language vowel changes before historic r

English-language vowel changes before historic r

In the phonological history of the English language, vowels followed by the phoneme have undergone a number of phonological changes...

.

Low front vowels

• æ-tensing is a process that occurs in some accents
  Accent (linguistics)
  In linguistics, an accent is a manner of pronunciation peculiar to a particular individual, location, or nation.An accent may identify the locality in which its speakers reside , the socio-economic status of its speakers, their ethnicity, their caste or social class, their first language In...
  
   of North American English
  North American English
  North American English is the variety of the English language of North America, including that of the United States and Canada. Because of their shared histories and the similarities between the pronunciation, vocabulary and accent of American English and Canadian English, the two spoken languages...
  
   whereby the vowel /æ/ is raised and lengthened or diphthong
  Diphthong
  A diphthong , also known as a gliding vowel, refers to two adjacent vowel sounds occurring within the same syllable. Technically, a diphthong is a vowel with two different targets: That is, the tongue moves during the pronunciation of the vowel...
  
  ised in various environments. In some dialects it involves an allophonic split whilst in others it affects all /æ/s. There are dialects, however, where the split is phonemic.
• The bad–lad split is a phonemic split of the Early Modern English short vowel
  Vowel
  In phonetics, a vowel is a sound in spoken language, such as English ah! or oh! , pronounced with an open vocal tract so that there is no build-up of air pressure at any point above the glottis. This contrasts with consonants, such as English sh! , where there is a constriction or closure at some...
  
   phoneme /æ/ into a short /æ/ and a long /æː/. This split is found in some varieties of English English and Australian English
  Australian English
  Australian English is the name given to the group of dialects spoken in Australia that form a major variety of the English language....
  
  .
• In Modern English, a new phoneme, /ɑː/, developed that did not exist in Middle English
  Middle English
  Middle English is the stage in the history of the English language during the High and Late Middle Ages, or roughly during the four centuries between the late 11th and the late 15th century....
  
  .
• The trap–bath split is a vowel split whereby the Early Modern English
  Early Modern English
  Early Modern English is the stage of the English language used from about the end of the Middle English period to 1650. Thus, the first edition of the King James Bible and the works of William Shakespeare both belong to the late phase of Early Modern English...
  
   phoneme /æ/ merged with the /ɑː/ in certain environments. It occurs mainly in southern varieties of English English, the Boston accent
  Boston accent
  The Boston dialect is the dialect characteristic of English spoken in the city of Boston and much of eastern Massachusetts. The accent and closely related accents can be heard commonly in an area stretching into much of Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Maine, and areas of south-western Nova Scotia...
  
   and the Southern Hemisphere accents.

Low back vowels

• The father–bother merger is a merger of the Early Modern English
  Early Modern English
  Early Modern English is the stage of the English language used from about the end of the Middle English period to 1650. Thus, the first edition of the King James Bible and the works of William Shakespeare both belong to the late phase of Early Modern English...
  
   vowels /ɑː/ and /ɒ/ that occurs in almost all varieties of North American English
  North American English
  North American English is the variety of the English language of North America, including that of the United States and Canada. Because of their shared histories and the similarities between the pronunciation, vocabulary and accent of American English and Canadian English, the two spoken languages...
  
  .
• The lot–cloth split is the result of a late 17th century sound change that lengthened /ɒ/ to [ɒː] before voiceless
  Voiceless
  In linguistics, voicelessness is the property of sounds being pronounced without the larynx vibrating. Phonologically, this is a type of phonation, which contrasts with other states of the larynx, but some object that the word "phonation" implies voicing, and that voicelessness is the lack of...
  
   fricatives (off, broth, cost), voiced velars (dog, long) and also before /n/ in the word gone.
• The cot–caught merger is a phonemic merger that occurs in some varieties of English causing the vowel
  Vowel
  In phonetics, a vowel is a sound in spoken language, such as English ah! or oh! , pronounced with an open vocal tract so that there is no build-up of air pressure at any point above the glottis. This contrasts with consonants, such as English sh! , where there is a constriction or closure at some...
  
   in words like cot, rock, and doll to be pronounced the same as the vowel in the words caught, talk, law, and small.
• The psalm–sum merger is a phenomenon occurring in Singaporean English where the phonemes /ɑ/ and /ʌ/ are both pronounced /ɑ/. In Australian English
  Australian English
  Australian English is the name given to the group of dialects spoken in Australia that form a major variety of the English language....
  
   they are distinguished only by vowel length
  Vowel length
  In linguistics, vowel length is the perceived duration of a vowel sound. Often the chroneme, or the "longness", acts like a consonant, and may etymologically be one, such as in Australian English. While not distinctive in most dialects of English, vowel length is an important phonemic factor in...
  
  .
• The bud–bird merger is a merger of /ʌ/ and /ɜ/ occurring for some speakers of Jamaican English
  Jamaican English
  Jamaican English or Jamaican Standard English is a dialect of English spoken in Jamaica. It melds parts of both American English and British English dialects, along with many aspects of Irish intonation...
  
  .

High back vowels

• The foot–goose merger is a phonemic merger of the vowels /ʊ/ and /uː/ found in distinct dialect
  Dialect
  The term dialect is used in two distinct ways, even by linguists. One usage refers to a variety of a language that is a characteristic of a particular group of the language's speakers. The term is applied most often to regional speech patterns, but a dialect may also be defined by other factors,...
  
  s of English: Scotland, Northern Ireland and the far north of England use /u/ for both these sets of words.
• The foot–strut split is the split of Middle English
  Middle English
  Middle English is the stage in the history of the English language during the High and Late Middle Ages, or roughly during the four centuries between the late 11th and the late 15th century....
  
   /ʊ/ into two distinct phonemes /ʊ/ (as in foot) and /ʌ/ (as in strut) that occurs in most accents of English (except most Northern English
  Northern English
  Northern English is a group of dialects of the English language. It includes the North East England dialects, which are similar in some respects to Scots....
  
   accents).
• In Modern English, the vowels /iu/, /ɛu/, and /y/ (the latter occurring only in French loanwords) of Middle English have been merged.

High front vowels

• The weak vowel merger is a phonemic merger of /ə/ (schwa
  Schwa
  In linguistics, specifically phonetics and phonology, schwa can mean the following:*An unstressed and toneless neutral vowel sound in some languages, often but not necessarily a mid-central vowel...
  
  ) with unstressed /ɪ/ (sometimes written as /ɨ/) in certain dialects of English. As a result of this merger the words abbot and rabbit rhyme.
• The kit–bit split is a split of EME /ɪ/ found in South African English
  South African English
  The term South African English is applied to the first-language dialects of English spoken by South Africans, with the L1 English variety spoken by Zimbabweans, Zambians and Namibians, being recognised as offshoots.There is some social and regional variation within South African English...
  
  , where kit [kɪt] and bit [bət] do not rhyme.
• The pin–pen merger is a conditional merger of /ɪ/ and /ɛ/ before the nasal consonant
  Nasal consonant
  A nasal consonant is a type of consonant produced with a lowered velum in the mouth, allowing air to escape freely through the nose. Examples of nasal consonants in English are and , in words such as nose and mouth.- Definition :...
  
  s [m], [n] and [ŋ].
• Happy tensing is the process in which final lax
  Tenseness
  In phonology, tenseness is a particular vowel quality that is phonemically contrastive in many languages, including English. It has also occasionally been used to describe contrasts in consonants. Unlike most distinctive features, the feature [tense] can be interpreted only relatively, that is, in...
  
   [ɪ] becomes tense [i] in words like happy.
• The meet–meat merger is the merger of the Early Modern English
  Early Modern English
  Early Modern English is the stage of the English language used from about the end of the Middle English period to 1650. Thus, the first edition of the King James Bible and the works of William Shakespeare both belong to the late phase of Early Modern English...
  
   vowel /eː/ with the vowel /iː/. The merger is complete outside the British Isles and virtually complete within them.
• The mitt–meet merger is a phenomenon occurring in Malaysian English
  Malaysian English
  Malaysian English , formally known as Malaysian Standard English , is a form of English used and spoken in Malaysia as a second language...
  
   and Singaporean English where the phonemes /iː/ and /ɪ/ are both pronounced /i/.
• The met–mat merger is a phenomenon occurring in Malaysian English
  Malaysian English
  Malaysian English , formally known as Malaysian Standard English , is a form of English used and spoken in Malaysia as a second language...
  
   and Singaporean English where the phonemes /ɛ/ and /æ/ are both pronounced /ɛ/.
• The met–mate merger is a phenomenon occurring for some speakers of Zulu English
  Zulu English
  Zulu English is a variety of the English language spoken almost exclusively in South Africa among native speakers of Zulu. This variety is heavily influenced by the phonology and lexicon of the Zulu languages....
  
   where /eɪ/ and /ɛ/ are both pronounced /ɛ/.
• The bred–bread merger is a process that occurred in Middle English
  Middle English
  Middle English is the stage in the history of the English language during the High and Late Middle Ages, or roughly during the four centuries between the late 11th and the late 15th century....
  
   that caused Middle English /ɛː/ to be shortened in some words.
• The bit–bet merger is a merger of /ɪ/ and /ɛ/ occurring for some speakers of Newfoundland English
  Newfoundland English
  Newfoundland English is a name for several accents and dialects thereof the English found in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador. Most of these differ substantially from the English commonly spoken elsewhere in Canada...
  
  .

Diphthongs

• The vein–vain merger is the merger of the Middle English diphthong
  Diphthong
  A diphthong , also known as a gliding vowel, refers to two adjacent vowel sounds occurring within the same syllable. Technically, a diphthong is a vowel with two different targets: That is, the tongue moves during the pronunciation of the vowel...
  
  s /ai/ and /ei/ that occurs in all dialects of present English.
• The following mergers are grouped together by Wells
  John C. Wells
  John Christopher Wells is a British phonetician and Esperanto teacher. Wells is a professor emeritus at University College London, where until his retirement in 2006 he held the departmental chair in phonetics....
  
   as the long mid mergers. They occur in all but a few dialects of English.
  • The pane–pain merger is a merger of the long mid monophthong /eː/ and the diphthong /ɛi/.
  • The toe–tow merger is a merger of the Early Modern English
    Early Modern English
    Early Modern English is the stage of the English language used from about the end of the Middle English period to 1650. Thus, the first edition of the King James Bible and the works of William Shakespeare both belong to the late phase of Early Modern English...
    
     vowels /oː/ and /ɔu/.
• The cot–coat merger is a phenomenon occurring for some speakers of Zulu English
  Zulu English
  Zulu English is a variety of the English language spoken almost exclusively in South Africa among native speakers of Zulu. This variety is heavily influenced by the phonology and lexicon of the Zulu languages....
  
   where the phonemes /ɒ/ and /oʊ/ are not distinguished.
• The rod–ride merger is a merger of /ɑ/ and /aɪ/ occurring for some speakers of African American Vernacular English
  African American Vernacular English
  African American Vernacular English —also called African American English; less precisely Black English, Black Vernacular, Black English Vernacular , or Black Vernacular English —is an African American variety of American English...
  
  .
• The pride–proud merger is a merger of the diphthongs /aɪ/ and /aʊ/ before voiced consonants occurring for some speakers of African American Vernacular English
  African American Vernacular English
  African American Vernacular English —also called African American English; less precisely Black English, Black Vernacular, Black English Vernacular , or Black Vernacular English —is an African American variety of American English...
  
  .
• The line–loin merger is a merger between the diphthongs /aɪ/ and /ɔɪ/ that occurs in some English dialects.
• The coil–curl merger is a merger of /ɔɪ/ and /ɜr/ which historically occurred in some dialects of English. It is particularly associated with the dialects of New York
  New York
  New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
  
   and New Orleans.

Mergers before intervocalic r

Mergers before intervocalic r are quite widespread in North American English

North American English

North American English is the variety of the English language of North America, including that of the United States and Canada. Because of their shared histories and the similarities between the pronunciation, vocabulary and accent of American English and Canadian English, the two spoken languages...

.

• The Mary–marry–merry merger is the merger of /æ/ and /ɛ/ with historic /eɪ/ before intervocalic /r/.
• The mirror–nearer merger is the merger of /ɪ/ with /iː/ before intervocalic /r/.
• The hurry–furry merger is the merger of /ʌ/ before intervocalic /r/ with /ɜr/.
• The furry–ferry merger, common in the Philadelphia accent
  Philadelphia accent
  The Philadelphia dialect is the dialect of English spoken in Philadelphia; and extending into Philadelphia's suburbs in the Delaware Valley and southern New Jersey. It is one of the best-studied dialects of American English since Philadelphia's University of Pennsylvania is the home institution of...
  
  , is the merger of /ɛ/ and /ʌ/ before intervocalic /r/.
• The tory–torrent merger is the merger of /ɒ/ and /ɔː/ before intervocalic /r/.

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 [iːr] and [eːr], which is found in some accents of modern English.
• The fern–fir–fur merger is the merger of the Middle English vowels /ɪ, ɛ, ʊ/ into [ɜr] when historically followed by /r/ in the coda
  Syllable coda
  In phonology, a syllable coda comprises the consonant sounds of a syllable that follow the nucleus, which is usually a vowel. The combination of a nucleus and a coda is called a rime. Some syllables consist only of a nucleus with no coda...
  
   of the syllable
  Syllable
  A syllable is a unit of organization for a sequence of speech sounds. For example, the word water is composed of two syllables: wa and ter. A syllable is typically made up of a syllable nucleus with optional initial and final margins .Syllables are often considered the phonological "building...
  
  .
• The fur–fair merger is a merger of /ɜr/ with /ɛər/ that occurs in some accents.
• The steer–stir merger is a possible merger of /ɜr/ with /ɪər/ that may occur in some American
  American English
  American English is a set of dialects of the English language used mostly in the United States. Approximately two-thirds of the world's native speakers of English live in the United States....
  
   and the English dialects.
• The tower–tire and tower–tar mergers are found in some accents of Southern British English
  British English
  British English, or English , is the broad term used to distinguish the forms of the English language used in the United Kingdom from forms used elsewhere...
  
  . The tire–tar merger is found in some Midland and Southern U.S. accents.
  • The tower–tire causes the /aʊə/ of tower to merge with the /aɪə/ of tire.
  • The tower–tar merger causes the /aʊə/ of tower to merge with the /ɑː/ of tar.
  • The tire–tar merger causes the /aɪr/ of tire to merge with the /ɑːr/ of tar.
• The cure–fir merger is a merger of /ʊər/ with /ɜr/ or /ʊr/ with /ɜr/ that occurs in East Anglia
  East Anglia
  East Anglia is a traditional name for a region of eastern England, named after an ancient Anglo-Saxon kingdom, the Kingdom of the East Angles. The Angles took their name from their homeland Angeln, in northern Germany. East Anglia initially consisted of Norfolk and Suffolk, but upon the marriage of...
  
  n and American English
  American English
  American English is a set of dialects of the English language used mostly in the United States. Approximately two-thirds of the world's native speakers of English live in the United States....
  
   in certain words.
• The pour–poor merger is the merger of /ʊər/ with /ɔr/ or /ʊr/ with /ɔr/.
• The pure–poor split occurs in Australian
  Australian English
  Australian English is the name given to the group of dialects spoken in Australia that form a major variety of the English language....
  
   and New Zealand English
  New Zealand English
  New Zealand English is the dialect of the English language used in New Zealand.The English language was established in New Zealand by colonists during the 19th century. It is one of "the newest native-speaker variet[ies] of the English language in existence, a variety which has developed and...
  
   that causing the centring diphthong
  Diphthong
  A diphthong , also known as a gliding vowel, refers to two adjacent vowel sounds occurring within the same syllable. Technically, a diphthong is a vowel with two different targets: That is, the tongue moves during the pronunciation of the vowel...
  
   /ʊə/ to disappear and split into /ʉːə/ and /oː/.
• The card–cord merger is a merger of Early Modern English [ɑr] with [ɒr], found in some Caribbean
  Caribbean English
  Caribbean English is a broad term for the dialects of the English language spoken in the Caribbean, most countries on the Caribbean coast of Central America, and Guyana. Caribbean English is influenced by the English-based Creole varieties spoken in the region, but they are not the same. In the...
  
  , English West Country
  West Country dialects
  The West Country dialects and West Country accents are generic terms applied to any of several English dialects and accents used by much of the indigenous population of South West England, the area popularly known as the West Country....
  
   and Southern
  Southern American English
  Southern American English is a group of dialects of the English language spoken throughout the Southern region of the United States, from Southern and Eastern Maryland, West Virginia and Kentucky to the Gulf Coast, and from the Atlantic coast to most of Texas and Oklahoma.The Southern dialects make...
  
   and Western U.S.
  American English
  American English is a set of dialects of the English language used mostly in the United States. Approximately two-thirds of the world's native speakers of English live in the United States....
  
   accents.
• The horse–hoarse merger is the merger of /ɔ/ and /oʊ/ before historic /r/ occurring in most varieties of English.
• The nurse–square merger occurs in some areas of England
  England
  England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
  
  . The two sets are sometimes merged to /ɛː/ (Liverpool, east coast of Yorkshire) and sometimes to /ɜː/ (south Lancashire).

Vowel changes before historic l

• The salary–celery merger is a conditioned merger of /æ/ and /e/ before /l/ occurring in New Zealand
  New Zealand English
  New Zealand English is the dialect of the English language used in New Zealand.The English language was established in New Zealand by colonists during the 19th century. It is one of "the newest native-speaker variet[ies] of the English language in existence, a variety which has developed and...
  
   and Victorian (Australia)
  Victoria (Australia)
  Victoria is the second most populous state in Australia. Geographically the smallest mainland state, Victoria is bordered by New South Wales, South Australia, and Tasmania on Boundary Islet to the north, west and south respectively....
  
   English.
• The fill–feel merger is a conditioned merger of /ɪ/ and /iː/ before /l/ occurring in some dialects of American English
  American English
  American English is a set of dialects of the English language used mostly in the United States. Approximately two-thirds of the world's native speakers of English live in the United States....
  
  .
• The fell–fail merger is a conditioned merger of /ɛ/ and /eɪ/ before /l/ occurring in some varieties of Southern American English
  Southern American English
  Southern American English is a group of dialects of the English language spoken throughout the Southern region of the United States, from Southern and Eastern Maryland, West Virginia and Kentucky to the Gulf Coast, and from the Atlantic coast to most of Texas and Oklahoma.The Southern dialects make...
  
  .
• The full–fool merger is a conditioned merger of /ʊ/ and /uː/ before /l/ mainly occurring the North Midland accent of American English
  American English
  American English is a set of dialects of the English language used mostly in the United States. Approximately two-thirds of the world's native speakers of English live in the United States....
  
  .
• The vile–vial merger involves a partial or complete dephonemicization of schwa
  Schwa
  In linguistics, specifically phonetics and phonology, schwa can mean the following:*An unstressed and toneless neutral vowel sound in some languages, often but not necessarily a mid-central vowel...
  
   after a vowel and before coda /l/.
• Four other conditioned mergers before /l/ which require more study have been mentioned in the literature and are as follows.

} and /ol/ (bull vs. bowl)
} and /ɔl/ (hull vs. hall)
} and /ʌl/ (bull vs. hull)
} and /ol/ (hull vs. hole)

See also

• Phonological history of the English language
  Phonological history of the English language
  The phonological history of English describes changing phonology of the English language over time, starting from its roots in proto-Germanic to diverse changes in different dialects of modern English....
  
  
• Phonological history of English consonants
  Phonological history of English consonants
  The phonological history of English consonants is part of the phonological history of the English language in terms of changes in the phonology of consonants.-H-cluster reductions:* The wine–whine merger is the merger of with...
  
  
• Trisyllabic laxing
  Trisyllabic laxing
  Trisyllabic laxing or trisyllabic shortening is any of three processes in English whereby tense vowels become lax Trisyllabic laxing or trisyllabic shortening is any of three processes in English whereby tense vowels (which are long vowels or diphthongs) become lax Trisyllabic laxing or...
  
  
• Great Vowel Shift
  Great Vowel Shift
  The Great Vowel Shift was a major change in the pronunciation of the English language that took place in England between 1350 and 1500.The Great Vowel Shift was first studied by Otto Jespersen , a Danish linguist and Anglicist, who coined the term....
  
  
• List of dialects of the English language