History and description of |
English pronunciation |
---|
Historical stages |
General development |
Development of vowels |
Development of consonants |
Variable features |
Related topics |
The phonology of the open back vowels of the English language has undergone changes both overall and with regional variations, through Old and Middle English to the present. The sounds heard in modern English were significantly influenced by the Great Vowel Shift, as well as more recent developments in some dialects such as the cot窶田aught merger.
In the Old English vowel system, the vowels in the open back area were unrounded: /ノ/, /ノ騨/. There were also rounded back vowels of mid-height: /o/, /oヒ/. The corresponding spellings were ⟨a⟩ and ⟨o⟩, with the length distinctions not normally marked; in modern editions of Old English texts, the long vowels are often written ⟨ト⟩, ⟨ナ⟩.
As the Old English (OE) system developed into that of Middle English (ME), the OE short vowel /ノ/ merged with the fronted /テヲ/ to become a more central ME /a/. Meanwhile, the OE long vowel /ノ騨/ was rounded and raised to ME /ノ藩/. OE short /o/ remained relatively unchanged, becoming a short ME vowel regarded as /o/ or /ノ/, while OE long /oヒ/ became ME /oヒ/ (a higher vowel than /ノ藩/). Alternative developments were also possible; see English historical vowel correspondences for details.
Later, ME open syllable lengthening caused the short vowel /o/ to be normally changed to /ノ藩/ in open syllables. Remaining instances of the short vowel /o/ also tended to become lower. Hence in Late Middle English (around 1400) the following open back vowels were present, distinguished by length: [1]
By 1600, the following changes had occurred:
There were thus two open back monophthongs:
and one open back diphthong:
By 1700, the following further developments had taken place:
That left the standard form of the language with four open back vowels:
From the 18th century on, the following changes have occurred:
This leaves RP with three back vowels:
and General American with two:
In a few varieties of English, the vowel in lot is unrounded, pronounced toward [ノ]. This is found in the following dialects:
There's also evidence for it in South East England as early as the late 16th century and as late as the 19th century. [2] [3]
Linguists[ which?] disagree as to whether the unrounding of the lot vowel occurred independently in North America (probably occurring around the end of the 17th century) or was imported from certain types of speech current in Britain at that time.[ citation needed]
In such accents outside of North America, lot typically is pronounced as [lノ奏], [4] therefore being kept distinct from the vowel in palm, pronounced [pノ騨仁] or [paヒ仁]. However, the major exception to this is North American English, where the vowel is lengthened to merge with the vowel in palm, as described below. This merger is called the LOT窶撤ALM merger or more commonly the father窶澱other merger. (See further below.)
The father窶澱other merger is a phonemic merger of the lexical sets LOT and PALM. It represents unrounded lot, as detailed above, taken a step further. On top of being unrounded, the length distinction between the vowel in lot and bother and the vowel in palm and father is lost, so that the two groups merge. This causes father and bother to become rhymes.
This occurs in the great majority of North American accents; of the North American dialects that have unrounded lot, the only notable exception to the merger is New York City English, where the opposition with the [ノ曽-type vowel is somewhat tenuous. [5] [6]
Examples of possible homophones resulting from the merger include Khan and con (/kノ創/) as well as Saab and sob (/sノ礎/). [7]
While the accents in northeastern New England, such as the Boston accent, also remain unmerged, lot remains rounded and merges instead with cloth and thought. [5] [6]
/ノ:/ | /ノ/ or /ノ/ [a] | IPA (using ⟨ノ⟩ for the merged vowel) | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
ah | awe | ヒ伊 | with the cot-caught merger |
balm | bomb | ヒbノ僧 | when the <l> in balm is unsounded |
Bali | bolly [8] | ヒbノ鼠i | |
baht | bot | ヒbノ奏 | |
baht | bought | ヒbノ奏 | with the cot-caught merger |
Dalテュ | dolly | ヒdノ鼠i | |
Hajj | Hodge | ヒhノ租ハ | |
Khan | con | ヒkノ創 | |
la [9] | law | ヒlノ | with the cot-caught merger |
lager | logger | ヒlノ組ノ决 | |
Mali | Molly | ヒmノ鼠i | |
pa | paw | ヒpノ | with the cot-caught merger |
palm | pom | ヒpノ僧 | when the <l> in palm is unsounded |
Prague | prog [10] | ヒprノ組 | |
Raab | rob | ヒrノ礎 | |
Saab | sob | ヒsノ礎 | |
Shah | Shaw | ヒ位λ | with the cot-caught merger |
Siテ「n | Sean, Shaun, Shawn | ヒ位λ創 | with the cot-caught merger |
Siテ「n | shone | ヒ位λ創 | |
Stalin | stalling | ヒstノ鼠ノェn | with the cot-caught merger and G-dropping. |
The LOT窶鼎LOTH split is the result of a late 17th-century sound change that lengthened /ノ/ to [ノ塚疹 before voiceless fricatives, and also before /n/ in the words gone and sometimes on. It was ultimately raised and merged with /ノ藩/ of words like thought, although in some accents that vowel is actually open [ノ塚疹. This means that CLOTH is not a separate vowel; rather, it means "either LOT or THOUGHT, depending on the accent". The sound change is most consistent in the last syllable of a word, and much less so elsewhere (see below). Some words that entered the language later, especially when used more in writing than speech, are exempt from the lengthening, e.g. joss and Goth with the short vowel. Similar changes took place in words with ⟨a⟩; see trap窶澱ath split and /テヲ/-tensing.
The cot窶田aught merger, discussed below, has removed the distinction in some dialects.
As a result of the lengthening and raising, in the above-mentioned accents cross rhymes with sauce, and soft and cloth also have the vowel /ノ藩/. Accents affected by this change include American English accents that lack the cot-caught merger and, formerly, RP, although today words of this group almost always have short /ノ/ in RP.
The lengthening and raising generally happened before the fricatives /f/, /ホク/ and /s/. In American English, the raising was extended to the environment before velars /ナ/ and /ノ。/, and sometimes before /k/ as well, giving pronunciations like /lノ版/ for long, /dノ繁。/ for dog and /ヒtハλ婆lノ冲/ for chocolate.
In the varieties of American English that have the lot窶田loth split, the lot vowel is usually symbolized as /ノ/, often called the "short o" for historical reasons, as the corresponding RP vowel /ノ/ is still short (and it contrasts with /ノ騨/ as in father and start). The thought vowel is usually transcribed as /ノ/ and it is often called the "open o". Its actual phonetic realization may be open [ ノ], whereas the lot vowel may be realized as central [ テ、]. Some words vary as to which vowel they have. For example, words that end in -og like frog, hog, fog, log, bog etc. have /ノ/ in some accents and /ノ/ in others.
There are also significant complexities in the pronunciation of written o occurring before one of the triggering phonemes /f ホク s ナ ノ。/ in a non-final syllable. In other cases, however, the use of the open o as opposed to the short o is largely predictable. Just like with /テヲ/-tensing and the trap窶澱ath split, there seems to be an open-syllable constraint. Namely, the change did not affect words with /ノ/ in open syllables unless they were closely derived from words with /ノ/ in closed syllables. Hence /ノ/ occurs in crossing, crosser, crosses because it occurs in cross. In contrast, possible, jostle, impostor, profit, Gothic, and boggle all have /ノ/. However, there are still exceptions in words like Boston and foster. [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] [17] A further list of words is mentioned in the table below:
Set | THOUGHT (/ノ/) | LOT (/ノ/) | Variable |
---|---|---|---|
/-f/ | coffer, coffin, cough, off, office, often, soften, trough, etc. | philosophical, profit | coffee, offense, offer, waffle |
/-ft/ | croft, loft, lofty, soft, etc. | waft | 窶 |
/-g/ | dog | boggle, cog, flog | blog, boondoggle, fog, frog, hog, log, soggy, tog, etc. |
/-k/ | chocolate | all other words in this set | mock |
/-n/ | gone | all other words in this set | beyond, on, want, wont |
/-ナ/ | long, longest, song, strong, thong, wrong, etc. | Congo, bongo, congress, conquer | donkey, conch |
/-s/ | boss, cross, floss, glossy, loss, moss, toss, etc. | apostle, fossil, jostle, oscillate, philosophy, posse, possible, possum, rhinoceros, velocity | glossary |
/-st/ | accost, Boston, cost, foster, frost, lost | apostrophe, (a/pro)gnostic, hostage, hostel, hostile, impostor, nostril, ossify, ostensible, ostentatious, ostracism, posterity, prosecute, roster | Gloucester, nostalgia, ostrich, rostrum |
/-ハ/ | Washington, wash, washer | all other words in this set | gosh, quash, squash, swash |
/-ホク/ | broth, cloth, froth, moth, etc. | Goth, Gothic | sloth, swath, troth, wrath |
Some words may vary depending on the speaker like (coffee, offer, donkey, soggy, boondoggle, etc. with either /ノ/ or /ノ/).[ citation needed] Meanwhile, other words vary by region. For example, the word on, which in Northern American English dialects without the cot-caught merger is pronounced /ノ創/, rhyming with don, but in Midland and Southern American English without the merger is pronounced /ノ馬/, rhyming with dawn. The isogloss for this difference, termed the ON line, lies between New York City and Philadelphia on the East Coast and runs West as far as speakers without the merger can be found. [18]
The cot窶caught merger (also known as the low back merger or the LOT窶典HOUGHT merger) is a phonemic merger occurring in many accents of English, where the vowel sound in words like cot, nod, and stock (the LOT vowel), has merged with that of caught, gnawed, and stalk (the THOUGHT vowel). For example, with the merger, cot and caught become perfect homophones.
Lexical set | Example words | Change | GenAm phonemes | Minimal pairs | IPA | Change | Cot窶田aught merger dialects |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
PALM | ah, father, spa | Father窶澱other merger |
/ノ/ | cot, collar, stock, wok, chock, Don |
/kノ奏/, /ヒkノ鼠ノ决/, /stノ遡/, /wノ遡/, /tハλ遡/, /dノ創/ |
Cot窶田aught merger |
/kノ奏/, /ヒkノ鼠ノ决/, /stノ遡/, /wノ遡/, /tハλ遡/, /dノ創/ |
LOT | bother, lot, wasp | ||||||
CLOTH | boss, cloth, dog, off | Cloth-thought merger |
/ノ/ | caught, caller, stalk, walk, chalk, dawn |
/kノ杯/, /ヒkノ罵ノ决/, /stノ婆/, /wノ婆/, /tハλ婆/, /dノ馬/ | ||
THOUGHT | all, thought, flaunt |
The GOAT窶典HOUGHT merger is a merger of the English vowels of GOAT /oハ/ and THOUGHT /ノ藩/ that has been reported in Geordie since the late 20th century, with a quality around [oヒ疹. The merger is more common among younger female speakers. [19]
The merger also exists among older speakers in Bradford English with a quality around [ノ藩疹, but younger speakers are more likely to resist the merger by fronting the GOAT vowel. [19]
/ノ俳:/ | /oハ/ | IPA (using ⟨oヒ⟩ for the merged vowel) | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
aboard | abode | ノ厖boヒ薪 | non-rhotic with the horse-hoarse merger |
alder | older | ヒoヒ薪ノ | |
augur | ogre | ヒoヒ身ノ | |
auk | oak | ヒoヒ震 | |
awe | O | ヒoヒ | |
awe | oh | ヒoヒ | |
awe | owe | ヒoヒ | |
awed | ode | ヒoヒ薪 | |
awning | owning | ヒoヒ刃ノェナ | |
bald | bold | ヒboヒ人d | |
bald | bowled | ヒboヒ人d | |
ball | bowl | ヒboヒ人 | |
boar | beau | ヒboヒ | non-rhotic with the horse-hoarse merger |
bore | beau | ヒboヒ | non-rhotic with the horse-hoarse merger |
boar | bow | ヒboヒ | non-rhotic with the horse-hoarse merger |
bore | bow | ヒboヒ | non-rhotic with the horse-hoarse merger |
board | bode | ヒboヒ薪 | non-rhotic with the horse-hoarse merger |
bored | bode | ヒboヒ薪 | non-rhotic with the horse-hoarse merger |
born | bone | ヒboヒ刃 | non-rhotic |
caulk | coke | ヒkoヒ震 | |
call | coal | ヒkoヒ人 | |
caller | cola | ヒkoヒ人ノ | non-rhotic |
caught | coat | ヒkoヒ腎 | |
cawed | code | ヒkoヒ薪 | |
chalk | choke | ヒtハバヒ震 | |
chord | code | ヒkod | non-rhotic |
clause | close | ヒkloヒ諏 | |
claws | close | ヒkloヒ諏 | |
cord | code | ヒkoヒ薪 | non-rhotic |
cork | coke | ヒkoヒ震 | non-rhotic |
corks | coax | ヒkoヒ震s | non-rhotic |
court | coat | ヒkoヒ腎 | non-rhotic with the horse-hoarse merger |
daunt | don't | ヒdoヒ刃t | |
door | doe | ヒdoヒ | non-rhotic with the horse-hoarse merger |
drawl | droll | ヒdroヒ人 | |
drawn | drone | ヒdroヒ刃 | |
explored | explode | ヒ伊ェksploヒ薪 | non-rhotic with the horse-hoarse merger |
fall | foal | ヒfoヒ人 | |
fawn | phone | ヒfoヒ刃 | |
flaw | flow | ヒfloヒ | |
floor | flow | ヒfloヒ | non-rhotic with the horse-hoarse merger |
for | foe | ヒfoヒ | non-rhotic |
fore | foe | ヒfoヒ | non-rhotic with the horse-hoarse merger |
fork | folk | ヒfoヒ震 | non-rhotic |
form | foam | ヒfoヒ仁 | non-rhotic |
four | foe | ヒfoヒ | non-rhotic with the horse-hoarse merger |
gall | goal | ヒgoヒ人 | |
galled | gold | ヒgoヒ人d | |
Gaul | goal | ヒgoヒ人 | |
gnaw | know | ヒnoヒ | |
gnaw | no | ヒnoヒ | |
hall | hole | ヒhoヒ人 | |
hall | whole | ヒhoヒ人 | |
haul | hole | ヒhoヒ人 | |
haul | whole | ヒhoヒ人 | |
hauled | hold | ヒhoヒ人d | |
haw | ho | ヒhoヒ | |
haw | hoe | ヒhoヒ | |
hawks | hoax | ヒhoヒ震s | |
hoard | hoed | ヒhoヒ薪 | non-rhotic with the horse-hoarse merger |
horn | hone | ヒhoヒ刃 | non-rhotic |
jaw | Joe | ヒdハ弛ヒ | |
laud | lord | ヒloヒ | |
law | low | ヒloヒ | |
lawn | loan | ヒloヒ刃 | |
lawn | lone | ヒloヒ刃 | |
lord | load | ヒloヒ薪 | non-rhotic |
lore | low | ヒloヒ | non-rhotic with the horse-hoarse merger |
mall | mole | ヒmoヒ人 | |
maul | mole | ヒmoヒ人 | |
mauled | mould | ヒmoヒ人d | |
maw | mow | ヒmoヒ | |
more | mow | ヒmoヒ | non-rhotic with the horse-hoarse merger |
mortar | motor | ヒmoヒ腎ノ | non-rhotic |
nor | know | ヒnoヒ | non-rhotic |
nor | no | ヒnoヒ | non-rhotic |
norm | gnome | ヒnoヒ仁 | non-rhotic |
nought | note | ヒnoヒ腎 | |
oar | O | ヒoヒ | non-rhotic with the horse-hoarse merger |
oar | oh | ヒoヒ | non-rhotic with the horse-hoarse merger |
oar | owe | ヒoヒ | non-rhotic with the horse-hoarse merger |
or | O | ヒoヒ | non-rhotic |
or | oh | ヒoヒ | non-rhotic |
or | owe | ヒoヒ | non-rhotic |
order | odour | ヒoヒ薪ノ | non-rhotic |
ore | O | ヒoヒ | non-rhotic with the horse-hoarse merger |
ore | oh | ヒoヒ | non-rhotic with the horse-hoarse merger |
ore | owe | ヒoヒ | non-rhotic with the horse-hoarse merger |
overawed | overrode | oヒ迅ノ厖roヒ薪 | |
pall | pole | ヒpoヒ人 | |
Paul | pole | ヒpoヒ人 | |
pause | pose | ヒpoヒ諏 | |
paws | pose | ヒpoヒ諏 | |
pores | pose | ヒpoヒ諏 | non-rhotic with the horse-hoarse merger |
pours | pose | ヒpoヒ諏 | non-rhotic with the horse-hoarse merger |
porch | poach | ヒpoヒ腎ハ | non-rhotic with the horse-hoarse merger |
pork | poke | ヒpoヒ震 | non-rhotic with the horse-hoarse merger |
portion | potion | ヒpoヒ | non-rhotic with the horse-hoarse merger |
prawn | prone | ヒproヒ刃 | |
quart | quote | ヒkwoヒ腎 | non-rhotic |
raw | row | ヒroヒ | |
roar | row | ヒroヒ | non-rhotic with the horse-hoarse merger |
saw | sew | ヒsoヒ | |
saw | so | ヒsoヒ | |
scald | scold | ヒskoヒ人d | |
scrawl | scroll | ヒskroヒ人 | |
shawl | shoal | ヒ位バヒ人 | |
Shaun | shown | ヒ位バヒ刃 | |
Shaw | show | ヒ位バヒ | |
shore | show | ヒ位バヒ | non-rhotic with the horse-hoarse merger |
shorn | shown | ヒ位バヒ刃 | non-rhotic with the horse-hoarse merger |
slaw | slow | ヒsloヒ | |
snore | snow | ヒsnoヒ | non-rhotic with the horse-hoarse merger |
stalk | Stoke | ヒstoヒ震 | |
stall | stole | ヒstoヒ人 | |
store | stow | ヒstoヒ | non-rhotic with the horse-hoarse merger |
stork | Stoke | ヒstoヒ震 | non-rhotic |
strawed | strode | ヒstroヒ薪 | |
talk | toque | ヒtoヒ震 | |
taught | tote | ヒtoヒ腎 | |
taut | tote | ヒtoヒ腎 | |
tor | toe | ヒtoヒ | non-rhotic |
tor | tow | ヒtoヒ | non-rhotic |
tore | toe | ヒtoヒ | non-rhotic with the horse-hoarse merger |
tore | tow | ヒtoヒ | non-rhotic with the horse-hoarse merger |
torn | tone | ヒtoヒ刃 | non-rhotic with the horse-hoarse merger |
tawny | Tony | ヒtoヒ刃i | |
trawl | troll | ヒtroヒ人 | |
walk | woke | ヒwoヒ震 | |
walled | wold | ヒwoヒ人d | |
war | woe | ヒwoヒ | non-rhotic |
ward | wode | ヒwoヒ薪 | non-rhotic |
warred | wode | ヒwoヒ薪 | non-rhotic |
yore | yo | ヒjoヒ | non-rhotic with the horse-hoarse merger |
York | yolk | ヒjoヒ震 | |
York | yoke | ヒjoヒ震 |
In some London accents of English, the vowel in words such as thought, force, and north, which merged earlier on in these varieties of English, undergoes a conditional split based on syllable structure: closed syllables have a higher vowel quality such as [oヒ疹 (possibly even [oハ馨 in broad Cockney varieties), and open syllables have a lower vowel quality [ノ販斃疹 or a centering diphthong [ノ繁兢.
Originally-open syllables with an inflectional suffix (such as bored) retain the lower vowel quality, creating minimal pairs such as bored [bノ繁囘] vs. board [boヒ薪]. [20]
In broad Geordie, some THOUGHT words (roughly, those spelled with a, as in walk and talk) have [ aヒ] (which phonetically is the long counterpart of TRAP /a/) instead of the standard [ ノ藩]. Those are the traditional dialect forms which are being replaced with the standard [ ノ藩]. [ aヒ] is therefore not necessarily a distinct phoneme in the vowel system of Geordie, also because it occurs as an allophone of /a/ before voiced consonants. [21]
The distribution of the vowel transcribed with ⟨ノ騨⟩ in broad IPA varies greatly among dialects. It corresponds to /テヲ/, /ノ/, /ノ藩/ and (when not prevocalic within the same word) /ノ騨甚/ and even /ノ藩甚/ in other dialects:
For the sake of simplicity, instances of an unrounded LOT vowel (phonetically [ ノ]) that do not merge with PALM/START are excluded from the table below. For this reason, the traditional Norfolk dialect is included but the contemporary one, nor the Cardiff dialect, are not.
Variety | Rhotic | Mergers and splits | Possible spellings | |||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
/ノ池V-ノ騨甚V/ merger | card-cord merger | cot-caught merger | father窶澱other merger | father窶吐arther merger | god-guard merger | lot-cloth split | trap-palm merger | trap-bath split | ⟨a⟩ | ⟨ar⟩ | ⟨au⟩ [b] | ⟨aw⟩ | ⟨o⟩ | ⟨or⟩ | ||
Australian English | no | no | no | no | no | yes | no | no | no | partial [c] | yes | yes | no | no | no | no |
Canadian English | yes | no | no | yes | variable | 窶 | 窶 | 窶 | no | no | yes | no | yes | yes | yes | no |
General American | yes | no | no | variable | yes | 窶 | 窶 | yes | no | no | yes | no | variable | variable | yes | no |
Hiberno-English | yes | no | no | variable | no | 窶 | 窶 | variable | variable | variable | variable | no | no | no | no | no |
New York City English | variable | possible | no | no | variable | variable | variable | yes | no | no | yes | no | no | no | variable | no |
New Zealand English | mostly no | no | no | no | no | mostly yes | no | no | no | yes | yes | mostly yes | no | no | no | no |
Northeastern New England English | variable | no | no | yes | no | variable | no | 窶 | no | no | yes | yes | no | no | no | no |
Northern England English | no | no | no | no | no | yes | no | no | no | no | yes | yes | no | no | no | no |
Philadelphia English | yes | possible | no | no | yes | 窶 | 窶 | yes | no | no | yes | no | no | no | yes | no |
Received Pronunciation | no | no | no | no | no | yes | no | no | no | yes | yes | yes | no | no | no | no |
Scottish English | yes | no | no | mostly yes | no | 窶 | 窶 | 窶 (mostly) | mostly yes | mostly no | mostly no | no | no | no | no | no |
South African English | mostly no | no | no | no | no | mostly yes | no | variable | no | yes | yes | mostly yes | no | no | no | no |
Southern American English | variable | mostly no | mostly no | variable | yes | variable | variable | yes | no | no | yes | variable | variable | variable | yes | mostly no |
Traditional Norfolk dialect | no | variable | no | no | variable | yes | variable | yes | no | yes | yes | yes | no | no | yes | no |
Welsh English | mostly no | no | no | no | no | mostly yes | no | no | no | variable | yes | yes | no | no | no | no |
In many dialects of English, the vowel /oハ/ has undergone fronting. The exact phonetic value varies. Dialects with the fronted /oハ/ include Received Pronunciation; Southern, Midland, and Mid-Atlantic American English; and Australian English. This fronting does not generally occur before /l/, a relatively retracted consonant.
law ball taught caught |
off cloth loss |
lot stop rob cot bother |
father palm calm | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Middle English | auフッ | ノ | a | |
Quality change | auフッ | ノ | a | |
Thought-monophthonging | ノ藩 | ノ | a | |
Pre-fricative lengthening | ノ藩 | ノ塚 | ノ | a |
A-lengthening | ノ藩 | ノ塚 | ノ | aヒ |
Quality change | ノ藩 | ノ塚 | ノ | ノ騨 |
Lot-unrounding | ノ藩 | ノ塚 | ノ | ノ騨 |
Loss of distinctive length | ノ | ノ | ノ | ノ |
Cloth窶thought merger | ノ | ノ | ノ | ノ |
General American output | ノ | ノ | ||
Cot窶caught merger | ノ |