Nowadays, Phonological history of English vowels has become a topic of great interest to a wide spectrum of people around the world. From its impact on society to its influence on people's daily lives, Phonological history of English vowels is a topic that has aroused great interest in different areas. Both experts in the field and ordinary people have dedicated time and effort to understanding and analyzing Phonological history of English vowels, seeking to obtain a better understanding of its importance and impact on different aspects of life. In this article, we will explore some of the most relevant aspects related to Phonological history of English vowels, with the aim of offering a comprehensive view on this topic that is of great relevance today.
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History and description of |
English pronunciation |
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Historical stages |
General development |
Development of vowels |
Development of consonants |
Variable features |
Related topics |
In the history of English phonology, there have been many diachronic sound changes affecting vowels, especially involving phonemic splits and mergers.
The Great Vowel Shift was a series of chain shifts that affected historical long vowels but left short vowels largely alone. It is one of the primary causes of the idiosyncrasies in English spelling.
The shortening of ante-penultimate syllables in Middle English created many long–short pairs. The result can be seen in such words as,
Middle English | from long V | from short V |
---|---|---|
ī : i | child /aɪ/ divine mine |
children /ɪ/ divinity mineral |
ē : e ea : e |
serene /iː/ dream |
serenity /ɛ/ dreamt |
ā : a | nation /eɪ/ sane |
national /æ/ sanity |
ō : o | goose /uː/ school |
gosling /ɒ/ scholarly |
oa : o ō : o (Latin) |
holy /oʊ/ cone know* |
holiday /ɒ/ conical knowledge |
ū : u | south /aʊ/ pronounce |
southern /ʌ/ pronunciation |
*Earlier Modern English /ou/ merged with /oː/.
Tense–lax neutralization refers to a neutralization, in a particular phonological context in a particular language, of the normal distinction between tense and lax vowels.
In some varieties of English, this occurs in particular before /ŋ/ and (in rhotic dialects) before coda /r/ (that is, /r/ followed by a consonant or at the end of a word); it also occurs, to a lesser extent, before tautosyllabic /ʃ/.
In the Pacific Northwest, especially in the Seattle area, some speakers have a merger of /ɛ/ with /eɪ/ before /ɡ/. For these speakers, words with /ɛ/ like beg, egg, Greg, keg, leg and peg rhyme with words with /eɪ/ like Craig, Hague, plague and vague.
Some varieties (including most American English dialects) have significant vocalic neutralization before intervocalic /r/, as well. See English-language vowel changes before historic /r/.
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.
Mergers before intervocalic r are quite widespread in North American English.
Various mergers before historic coda r are very common in English dialects.