Phonological history of English close front vowels
The close and mid-height front vowels of English have undergone a variety of changes over time and often vary by dialect.
Developments involving long vowels
Merger of with and with
had the two vowel pairs and . By English phonology|Middle English], the distinction in quality collapsed, leaving only the short–long pair, which became KIT and PRICE in Modern English. Changes in spelling mean that and are not a good indicators of the Old English distinction between the four sounds. For example, Modern English bridge derives from Old English bryċġ, while Modern English scythe derives from Old English sīþe. The name of the letter acquired an initial sound in it to keep it distinct from the name of the letter.Until Great Vowel Shift
had a long close front vowel, and two long mid front vowels: the close-mid and the open-mid. The three vowels generally correspond to the modern spellings, and respectively, but other spellings are also possible. The spellings that became established in Early Modern English are mostly still used today, but the qualities of the sounds have changed significantly.The and generally corresponded to similar Old English vowels, and came from Old English or. For other possible histories, see English historical vowel correspondences. In particular, the long vowels sometimes arose from short vowels by Middle English open syllable lengthening or other processes. For example, team comes from an originally-long Old English vowel, and eat comes from an originally-short vowel that underwent lengthening. The distinction between both groups of words is still preserved in a few dialects, as is noted in the following section.
Middle English was shortened in certain words. Both long and short forms of such words often existed alongside each other during Middle English. In Modern English, the short form has generally become standard, but the spelling reflects the formerly-longer pronunciation. The words that were affected include several ending in d, such as bread, head, spread, and various others, including breath, weather, and threat. For example, bread was in earlier Middle English but came to be shortened and to be rhymed with bed.
During the Great Vowel Shift, the normal outcome of was a diphthong, which developed into Modern English, as in mine and find. Meanwhile, became, as in feed, and of words like meat became, which later merged with in nearly all dialects, as is described in the following section.
''Meet–meat'' merger
The meet–meat merger or the merger is the merger of the Early Modern English vowel into the vowel . The merger was complete in standard accents of English by about 1700.As noted in the previous section, the Early Modern/New English vowel developed from Middle English via the Great Vowel Shift, and ENE was usually the result of Middle English . The merger saw ENE raised further to become identical to and so Middle English and have become in standard Modern English, and meat and meet are now homophones. The merger did not affect the words in which had undergone shortening, and a handful of other words also escaped the merger in the standard accents and so acquired the same vowel as brake, stake, grate. Hence, the words meat, threat, and great now have three different vowels although all three words once rhymed.
The merger results in the lexical set, as defined by John Wells. Words in the set that had ENE are mostly spelled , with a single in monosyllables or followed by a single consonant and a vowel letter, sometimes or , or irregularly. Most of those that had ENE are spelled , but some borrowed words have a single ,, or otherwise. There are also some loanwords in which is spelled , most of which entered the language later.
There are still some dialects in the British Isles that do not have the merger. Some speakers in Northern England have or in the first group of words but in the second group. In Staffordshire, the distinction might rather be between in the first group and in the second group. In some varieties of Irish English, the first group has, and the second preserves. A similar contrast has been reported in parts of Southern and Western England, but it is now rarely encountered there.
In some Yorkshire dialects, an additional distinction may be preserved within the meat set. Words that originally had long vowels, such as team and cream, may have, and those that had an original short vowel, which underwent open syllable lengthening in Middle English, like eat and meat, have a sound resembling, similar to the sound that is heard in some dialects in words like eight and weight that lost a velar fricative.
In Alexander's book about the traditional Sheffield dialect, the spelling "eigh" is used for the vowel of eat and meat, but "eea" is used for the vowel of team and cream. However, a 1999 survey in Sheffield found the pronunciation to be almost extinct there.
Changes before and
In certain accents, when the vowel was followed by, it acquired a laxer pronunciation. In General American, words like near and beer now have the sequence, and nearer rhymes with mirror. In Received Pronunciation, a diphthong has developed and so beer and near are and, and nearer remains distinct from mirror. Several pronunciations are found in other accents, but outside North America, the nearer–''mirror opposition is always preserved. For example, some conservative accents in Northern England have the sequence in words like near, with the schwa disappearing before a pronounced, as in serious.Another development is that bisyllabic may become smoothed to the diphthong in certain words, which leads to pronunciations like, and for vehicle, theatre/theater and idea, respectively. That is not restricted to any variety of English. It happens in both British English and American English as well as other varieties although it is far more common for Britons. The words that have may vary depending on dialect. Dialects that have the smoothing usually also have the diphthong in words like beer, deer, and fear, and the smoothing causes idea, Korea'', etc. to rhyme with those words.
Other changes
In Geordie, the vowel undergoes an allophonic split, with the monophthong being used in morphologically-closed syllables and the diphthong being used in morphologically-open syllables not only word-finally but also word-internally at the end of a morpheme.Most dialects of English turn into a diphthong, and the monophthongal is in free variation with the diphthongal , particularly word-internally. However, diphthongs are more common word-finally.
Compare the phonological [history of English close back vowels#other changes|identical development of the close back vowel].
Developments involving short vowels
Lowering
short has developed into a lax near-close near-front unrounded vowel,, in Modern English, as found in words like kit. According to Roger Lass, the laxing occurred in the 17th century, but other linguists have suggested that it took place potentially much earlier.The short mid vowels have also undergone lowering and so the continuation of Middle English now has a quality closer to in most accents. Again, however, it is not clear whether the vowel already had a lower value in Middle English.
''Pin''–''pen'' merger
The pin–''pen merger is a conditional merger of and before the nasal consonants,, and. The merged vowel is usually closer to than to. Examples of homophones resulting from the merger include pin–pen, kin–ken and him–hem. The merger is widespread in American English">American English">American English and is also found in many speakers in the Midland region immediately north of the South and in areas settled by migrants from Oklahoma and Texas who settled in the Western United States during the Dust Bowl. It is also a characteristic of much African-American Vernacular English.The pin–pen merger is one of the most widely recognized features of Southern speech. A study of the written responses of American Civil War veterans from Tennessee, together with data from the Linguistic Atlas of the Gulf States and the Linguistic Atlas of the Middle South Atlantic States, shows that the prevalence of the merger was very low up to 1860 but then rose steeply to 90% in the mid-20th century. There is now very little variation throughout the South in general except that Savannah, Austin, Miami, and New Orleans are excluded from the merger. The area of consistent merger includes southern Virginia and most of the South Midland and extends westward to include much of Texas. The northern limit of the merged area shows a number of irregular curves. Central and southern Indiana is dominated by the merger, but there is very little evidence of it in Ohio, and northern Kentucky shows a solid area of distinction around Louisville.
Outside the South, most speakers of North American English maintain a clear distinction in perception and production. However, in the West, there is sporadic representation of merged speakers in Washington, Idaho, Kansas, Nebraska, and Colorado. However, the most striking concentration of merged speakers in the west is around Bakersfield, California, a pattern that may reflect the trajectory of migrant workers from the Ozarks westward.
The raising of to was formerly widespread in Irish English and was not limited to positions before nasals. Apparently, it came to be restricted to those positions in the late 19th and the early 20th centuries. The pin–pen merger is now commonly found only in Southern and South-West Irish English.
A complete merger of and, not restricted to positions before nasals, is found in many speakers of Newfoundland English. The pronunciation in words like bit and bet is, but before, in words like beer and bear'', it is. The merger is common in Irish-settled parts of Newfoundland and is thought to be a relic of the former Irish pronunciation.
| IPA | Notes | ||
| Ben | bin | ||
| bend | binned | ||
| cents | since | ||
| clench | clinch | ||
| den | din | ||
| emigrate | immigrate | ||
| eminent | imminent | ||
| fen | fin | ||
| gem | gym, Jim | ||
| hem | him, hymn | ||
| Jen | gin | ||
| Ken | kin | ||
| lent | lint | ||
| meant | mint | ||
| N | in | ||
| pen | pin | ||
| send | sinned | ||
| sender | cinder | ||
| sense | since | ||
| ten | tin | ||
| tender | tinder | ||
| tent | tint | ||
| tremor | trimmer | ||
| wench | winch | ||
| Wendy | windy |
''Kit–bit'' split
The kit–bit split is a split of standard English that occurs in South African English. The two distinct sounds are:- A standard, or in broader accents, which is used before or after a velar consonant, after , word-initially, generally before , and by some speakers before . It is found only in stressed syllables.
- A centralized vowel, or in broader accents, which is used in other positions.
''Thank–think'' merger
The thank–think merger is the lowering of to before the velar nasal that can be found in the speech of speakers of African American Vernacular English, Appalachian English, and Southern American English. For speakers with the lowering, think and thank, sing and sang, etc. can sound alike. It is reflected in the colloquial variant spelling thang of thing. Note that there are very few English words with the sequence, which may help explain how such a dramatic shift could take place.Developments involving weak vowels
Weak vowel merger
The weak vowel merger is the loss of contrast between and unstressed, which occurs in certain dialects of English: notably many Southern Hemisphere, North American, Irish, and 21st-century standard Southern British accents. In speakers with this merger, the words abbot and rabbit rhyme, and Lennon and Lenin are pronounced identically, as are addition and edition. However, it is possible among these merged speakers that a distinction is still maintained in certain contexts, such as in the pronunciation of Rosa's versus roses, because of the morpheme break in Rosa's. If an accent with the merger is also non-rhotic, then for example chatted and chattered will be homophones. The merger also affects the weak forms of some words and causes unstressed it, for instance, to be pronounced with a schwa, so that dig it would rhyme with bigot.The merger is very common in Southern Hemisphere accents. Most speakers of Australian English replace weak with schwa, but in -ing, the pronunciation is frequently. If there is a following, as in paddck or nomadc, some speakers maintain the contrast, but some who have the merger use as the merged vowel. In New Zealand English, the merger is complete, and indeed, is very centralized even in stressed syllables and so it is usually regarded as the same phoneme as although in -ing, it is closer to . In South African English, most speakers have the merger, but in more conservative accents, the contrast may be retained, but often appearing in other positions. In traditional Southern American English, the merger is generally not present, and is also heard in some words that have schwa in RP, such as salad. The lack of the merger is also a traditional feature of New England English. In Caribbean English, schwa is often not used at all, and unreduced vowels are preferred, but if there is a schwa, remains distinct from it.
In traditional RP, the contrast between and weak is maintained, but that may be declining among modern standard speakers of southern England, who increasingly prefer a merger, specifically with the realisation. In RP, the phone, apart from being a frequent allophone of in younger speakers, appears only as an allophone of, which is often centralized when it occurs as a weak vowel, and never as an allophone of. Therefore, can stand for only "Lenin", not "Lennon", which has a lower vowel:. However, speakers may not always clearly perceive that difference, as is sometimes raised to in contact with alveolar consonants. Furthermore, never participates in syllabic consonant formation and so G-dropping in words such as fishing never yields a syllabic nasal * or a sounded mid schwa *, with the most casual RP forms being. Both and especially were considered to be strongly non-standard in England as late as 1982. They are characteristic of Cockney, which otherwise does not feature the weak vowel merger, but can be centralized to as in RP and so and are distinct possibilities in Cockney. In other accents of the British Isles, the contrast between and weak may be variable. In Irish English, the merger is almost universal.
The merger is not complete in Scottish English, whose speakers typically distinguish except from accept, but the latter can be phonemicized with an unstressed : and the former with :. In other environments, and are mostly merged to a quality around, often even when stressed and when before, as in fir and letter . The vowel is :.
Even in accents that do not have the merger, there may be certain words in which traditional is replaced by by many speakers. In RP, is now often heard in place of in endings such as -ace ; -ate ; -less, -let, for the in -ily; -ity, -ible; and in initial weak be-, de-, re-, and e-.
Final, and also and, are commonly realized as syllabic consonants, especially when follows a pair of a vowel and a certain digraph, or that of a diphthong or another vowel and or . In accents without the merger, the use of, rather than, prevents the formation of syllabic consonants. Hence in RP, for example, the second syllable of Barton is pronounced as a syllabic, but that of Martin is. Many non-rhotic speakers also pronounce pattern with, which is accordingly homophonous with Patton.
Particularly in American linguistic tradition, the unmerged weak -type vowel is often transcribed with the barred i, the IPA symbol for the close central unrounded vowel. Another symbol sometimes used is, the non-IPA symbol for a near-close central unrounded vowel. In the third edition of the OED, that symbol is used in the transcription of words that have free variation between and in RP.
| IPA | Notes | ||
| Aaron | Erin | With Mary-marry-merry merger. | |
| accede | exceed | ||
| accept | except | ||
| addition | edition | ||
| Aleutian | elution | ||
| allide | elide | ||
| allied | elide | ||
| allision | elision | ||
| allude | elude | ||
| alluded | eluted | With intervocalic alveolar flapping. | |
| allusion | illusion | ||
| amend | emend | ||
| apatite | appetite | ||
| arrays | erase | Some accents pronounce erase as. | |
| barrel | beryl | With marry-merry merger. | |
| battered | batted | Non-rhotic | |
| bazaar | bizarre | ||
| bettered | betted | Non-rhotic | |
| bleachers | bleaches | Non-rhotic | |
| bustard | busted | Non-rhotic | |
| butchers | butches | Non-rhotic | |
| buttered | butted | Non-rhotic | |
| carat | caret | ||
| carrot | caret | ||
| censors | senses | Non-rhotic | |
| chartered | charted | Non-rhotic | |
| chattered | chatted | Non-rhotic | |
| chiton | chitin | ||
| chromous | chromis | ||
| Devon | Devin | ||
| ferrous | Ferris | ||
| foundered | founded | Non-rhotic | |
| humored | humid | Non-rhotic | |
| installation | instillation | ||
| Lennon | Lenin | ||
| mandrel | mandrill | ||
| mastered | masted | Non-rhotic | |
| mattered | matted | Non-rhotic | |
| mergers | merges | Non-rhotic | |
| modern | modding | Non-rhotic with G-dropping. | |
| officers | offices | Non-rhotic | |
| omission | emission | ||
| parody | parity | With intervocalic alveolar flapping. | |
| pattered | patted | Non-rhotic | |
| pattern | patting | Non-rhotic with G-dropping. | |
| pigeon | pidgin | ||
| proscribe | prescribe | ||
| racers | races | Non-rhotic | |
| Rosa's | roses | ||
| Saturn | satin | Non-rhotic | |
| scattered | scatted | Non-rhotic | |
| seraph | serif | ||
| splendored | splendid | Non-rhotic | |
| surplus | surplice | ||
| tattered | tatted | Non-rhotic | |
| tendered | tended | Non-rhotic | |
| titan | titin |
KIT–commA merger
A phonemic merger between and word-internal comm. The merger occurs in some Inland Northern American English, New Zealand English, and also partially in South African English. In New Zealand English, the merger also encompasses the lett lexical set, so villagers, lid, and balance all share the same vowel. This merger not to be confused with the weak vowel merger, which only merges unstressed rather than as a whole.The merger is present in dialects where the quality of is far removed from , such as Inland Northern American English, but can be a misleading name in the case of other accents.
''Happy'' tensing
Happy tensing is a process whereby a final unstressed i-type vowel becomes tense rather than lax, today found in most dialects of English worldwide. That affects the final vowels of words such as happy, city, hurry, taxi, movie, Charlie, coffee, money and Chelsea. It may also apply in inflected forms of such words containing an additional final consonant sound, such as cities, Charlie's and hurried. It can also affect words such as me, he and she when they are used as clitics, as in show me, would he?Until the 17th century, words in the happ lexical set could either end with the vowel of the lexical set or a short sound. It is not entirely clear when the vowel underwent the transition. The fact that tensing is uniformly present in South African English, Australian English and New Zealand English lends support to the idea that it may have already been present in southern British English already in the early 19th century. However, it is not mentioned by descriptive phoneticians until the early 20th century and even then at first only in American English. The British phonetician Jack Windsor Lewis believed that the vowel moved from to in Britain in the second quarter of the 19th century before it reverted to in non-conservative British accents towards the last quarter of the 20th century.
The laxer pronunciation is also found in some Southern American English, in much of northern England and in Jamaica. In Scottish English, an sound, similar to the Scottish realization of the vowel of day, may be used. It is also still found among some older speakers of Conservative RP. The tense variant, however, is now established in as the norm in Modern RP and General American, and is also the usual form in Canada, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, in southern England and in some northern English regions.
The lax and tense variants of the happy vowel may be identified with the phonemes and respectively. They may also be considered to represent a neutralization between the two phonemes, but for speakers with the tense variant, there is the possibility of contrast in such pairs as taxis and taxes. and consider the tensing to be a neutralization between and. regards the tense variant in modern RP as still an allophone of on the basis that it is shorter and more resistant to diphthongization than is. regards the phenomenon to be a mere substitution of for.
Most modern British dictionaries represent the happy vowel with the symbol . That notation was first introduced in the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English by its pronunciation editor, Gordon Walsh, and it was later taken up by, who extended it to representing the weak vowel found word-medially in situation etc., and by some other dictionaries, including John C. Wells's Longman Pronunciation Dictionary. In 2012, Wells wrote that the notation "seemed like a good idea at the time, but it clearly confuses a lot of people". criticizes the notation for causing "widespread belief in a specific 'happY vowel that "never existed".
Additional mergers
The kit–strut merger is possible in some Glaswegian speech in Scotland. As a result, pairs like fin and fun are homophones.The mitt–meet merger is a phenomenon occurring in Malaysian English and Singaporean English in which the phonemes and are both pronounced. As a result, pairs like mitt and meet, bit and beat, and bid and bead are homophones.
The met–''mat merger is a phenomenon occurring in Malaysian English, Singaporean English and Hong Kong English in which the phonemes and are both pronounced. For some speakers, it occurs only before voiceless consonants, and pairs like met, mat, bet, bat are homophones, but bed, bad or med, mad are kept distinct. For others, it occurs in all positions.
The met–mate merger is a phenomenon occurring for some speakers of Zulu English in which the phonemes and are both pronounced. As a result, the words met and mate'' are homophonous as.