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English
diphthong A diphthong ( ; , ), also known as a gliding vowel, is a combination of two adjacent vowel sounds within the same syllable. Technically, a diphthong is a vowel with two different targets: that is, the tongue (and/or other parts of the speech ...
s have undergone many changes since the Old and Middle English periods. The sound changes discussed here involved at least one phoneme which historically was a diphthong.


Old English

Old English diphthongs could be short or long. Both kinds arose from
sound change A sound change, in historical linguistics, is a change in the pronunciation of a language. A sound change can involve the replacement of one speech sound (or, more generally, one phonetic feature value) by a different one (called phonetic chan ...
s occurring in Old English itself, although the long forms sometimes also developed from
Proto-Germanic Proto-Germanic (abbreviated PGmc; also called Common Germanic) is the reconstructed proto-language of the Germanic branch of the Indo-European languages. Proto-Germanic eventually developed from pre-Proto-Germanic into three Germanic br ...
diphthongs. They were mostly of the
height-harmonic A diphthong ( ; , ), also known as a gliding vowel, is a combination of two adjacent vowel sounds within the same syllable. Technically, a diphthong is a vowel with two different targets: that is, the tongue (and/or other parts of the speech ...
type (both elements at the same
height Height is measure of vertical distance, either vertical extent (how "tall" something or someone is) or vertical position (how "high" a point is). For example, "The height of that building is 50 m" or "The height of an airplane in-flight is ab ...
) with the second element further back than the first. The set of diphthongs that occurred depended on
dialect The term dialect (from Latin , , from the Ancient Greek word , 'discourse', from , 'through' and , 'I speak') can refer to either of two distinctly different types of linguistic phenomena: One usage refers to a variety of a language that is ...
(and their exact pronunciation is in any case uncertain). Typical diphthongs are considered to have been as follows: * high, fully backing, , spelt (found in
Anglian dialects Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlers in the mid-5th c ...
, but merged into in
Late West Saxon Late may refer to: * LATE, an acronym which could stand for: ** Limbic-predominant age-related TDP-43 encephalopathy, a proposed form of dementia ** Local-authority trading enterprise, a New Zealand business law ** Local average treatment effe ...
) * high, narrower, possibly , spelt (found in Late West Saxon) * mid, , spelt * low, , spelt As with
monophthong A monophthong ( ; , ) is a pure vowel sound, one whose articulation at both beginning and end is relatively fixed, and which does not glide up or down towards a new position of articulation. The monophthongs can be contrasted with diphthongs, wh ...
s, the length of the diphthongs was not indicated in spelling, but in modern editions of OE texts the long forms are often written with a macron: , , , . In the transition from Old to Middle English, all of these diphthongs generally merged with monophthongs.


Middle English


Development of new diphthongs

Although the Old English diphthongs merged into monophthongs, Middle English began to develop a new set of diphthongs, in which the second element was a high or . Many of these came about through vocalization of the
palatal approximant The voiced palatal approximant, or yod, is a type of consonant used in many spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is . The equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is j, and in the Americanist phonetic n ...
or the
labio-velar approximant Labiovelar consonant may refer to: * Labial–velar consonant such as (a consonant made at two places of articulation, one at the lips and the other at the soft palate) * Labialized velar consonant such as or (a consonant with an approximant-lik ...
(which was sometimes from an earlier
voiced velar fricative The voiced velar fricative is a type of consonantal sound that is used in various spoken languages. It is not found in Modern English but existed in Old English. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is , ...
, an
allophone In phonology, an allophone (; from the Greek , , 'other' and , , 'voice, sound') is a set of multiple possible spoken soundsor ''phones''or signs used to pronounce a single phoneme in a particular language. For example, in English, (as in '' ...
of ), when they followed a vowel. For example: * OE ''dæg'' ("day") and ''weg'' ("way") (where the had been palatalized to ) became and * OE ''clawu'' ("claw") and ''lagu'' ("law") became and Diphthongs also arose as a result of vowel breaking before (which had allophones and in this position – for the subsequent disappearance of these sounds, see ''h''-loss). For example: * OE ''streht'' ("straight") became * OE ''þoht'' ("thought") became The diphthongs that developed by these processes also came to be used in many
loanword A loanword (also loan word or loan-word) is a word at least partly assimilated from one language (the donor language) into another language. This is in contrast to cognates, which are words in two or more languages that are similar because ...
s, particularly those from
Old French Old French (, , ; Modern French: ) was the language spoken in most of the northern half of France from approximately the 8th to the 14th centuries. Rather than a unified language, Old French was a linkage of Romance dialects, mutually intel ...
. For a table showing the development of the Middle English diphthongs, see Middle English phonology (diphthong equivalents).


''Vein–vain'' merger

Early Middle English had two separate diphthongs and . The vowel was typically represented orthographically with "ei" or "ey" and the vowel was typically represented orthographically with "ai" or ay". These came to be
merged Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) are business transactions in which the ownership of companies, other business organizations, or their operating units are transferred to or consolidated with another company or business organization. As an aspect ...
, perhaps by the fourteenth century. The merger is reflected in all dialects of present-day English. In early Middle English, before the merger, ''way'' and ''day'', which came from Old English ''weġ'' and ''dæġ'', had and respectively. Similarly, ''vein'' and ''vain'' (borrowings from French) were pronounced differently as and . After the merger, ''vein'' and ''vain'' were
homophone A homophone () is a word that is pronounced the same (to varying extent) as another word but differs in meaning. A ''homophone'' may also differ in spelling. The two words may be spelled the same, for example ''rose'' (flower) and ''rose'' (pa ...
s, and ''way'' and ''day'' had the same vowel. The merged vowel was a diphthong, transcribed or . Later (around the 17th century) this diphthong would merge in most dialects with the monophthong of words like ''pane'' in the ''pane–pain'' merger.


Late Middle English

The English of southeastern England around 1400 had seven diphthongs, of which three ended in a front vowel: * as in ''nail'', ''day'', ''whey'' (the product of the ''vein–vain'' merger) * as in ''joy'', ''noise'', ''royal'', ''coy'' * as in ''boil'', ''destroy'', ''coin'', ''join'' and four ended in a back vowel: * as in ''view'', ''new'', ''due'', ''use'', ''lute'', ''suit'', ''adieu'' (the
product of a merger Product may refer to: Business * Product (business), an item that serves as a solution to a specific consumer problem. * Product (project management), a deliverable or set of deliverables that contribute to a business solution Mathematics * Produ ...
of earlier and , also incorporating French loans that originally had ) * as in ''few'', ''dew'', ''ewe'', ''shrewd'', ''neuter'', ''beauty'' * as in ''cause'', ''law'', ''salt'', ''change'', ''chamber'', ''psalm'', ''half'', ''dance'', ''aunt''. * as in ''low'', ''soul'' Typical spellings are as in the examples above. The spelling ''ew'' is ambiguous between and , and the spellings ''oi'' and ''oy'' are ambiguous between and . The most common words with ''ew'' pronounced were ''dew'', ''few'', ''hew'', ''lewd'', ''mew'', ''newt'', ''pewter'', ''sew'', ''shew'' (''show''), ''shrew'', ''shrewd'' and ''strew''. Words in which was commonly used included ''boil'', ''coin'', ''destroy'', ''join'', ''moist'', ''point'', ''poison'', ''soil'', ''spoil'', ''Troy'', ''turmoil'' and ''voice'', although there was significant variation.


Modern English


16th century

By the mid-16th century, the
Great Vowel Shift The Great Vowel Shift was a series of changes in the pronunciation of the English language that took place primarily between 1400 and 1700, beginning in southern England and today having influenced effectively all dialects of English. Through ...
had created two new diphthongs out of the former long close monophthongs and of Middle English. The diphthongs were as in ''tide'', and as in ''house''. Thus, the English of south-eastern England could then have had nine diphthongs. By the late 16th century, the inventory of diphthongs had been reduced as a result of several developments, all of which took place in the mid-to-late 16th century: * merged into and so ''dew'' and ''due'' became homophones. * (from the ''vein–vain'' merger) became
monophthongized Monophthongization is a sound change by which a diphthong becomes a monophthong, a type of vowel shift. It is also known as ungliding, as diphthongs are also known as gliding vowels. In languages that have undergone monophthongization, digraphs ...
and merged with the of words like ''name'' (which before the Great Vowel Shift had been long ). For more information, see ''pane–pain'' merger, below. * , as in ''cause'', became monophthongized to . * , as in ''low'', was monophthongized to That would later rise to , which merged with the vowel of ''toe''; see ''toe–tow'' merger, below. That left , , , and as the diphthongs of south-eastern England.


17th century

By the late 17th century, these further developments had taken place in the dialect of south-eastern England: * The falling diphthong of ''due'' and ''dew'' changed to a rising diphthong, which became the sequence . The change did not occur in all dialects, however; see
Yod-dropping The phonological history of the English language includes various changes in the phonology of consonant clusters. H-cluster reductions The H-cluster reductions are various consonant reductions that have occurred in the history of English, inv ...
. * The diphthongs and of ''tide'' and ''house'' widened to and , respectively. * The diphthong merged into . Contemporary literature had frequent rhymes such as ''Mind''–''join'd'' in Congreve, ''join''–''line'' in Pope, ''child''–''spoil'd'' in Swift, ''toils''–''smiles'' in Dryden. The present-day pronunciations with in the ''oi'' words result from regional variants, which had always had , rather than , perhaps because of influence by the spelling. The changes caused only the three diphthongs , and to remain.


Later developments

In the 18th century or later, the monophthongs (the products of the ''pane''–''pain'' and ''toe''–''tow'' mergers) became diphthongal in Standard English. That produced the vowels and . In RP, the starting point of the latter diphthong has now become more centralized and is commonly written . RP has also developed
centering diphthong A diphthong ( ; , ), also known as a gliding vowel, is a combination of two adjacent vowel sounds within the same syllable. Technically, a diphthong is a vowel with two different targets: that is, the tongue (and/or other parts of the speech ...
s , , , as a result of breaking before /r/ and the loss of when it is not followed by another vowel (see English-language vowel changes before historic ). They occur in words like ''near'', ''square'' and ''cure''. Present-day RP is thus normally analyzed as having eight diphthongs: the five closing diphthongs , , , , (of ''face'', ''goat'', ''price'', ''mouth'' and ''choice'') and the three centering diphthongs , , . General American does not have the centering diphthongs (at least, not as independent phonemes). For more information, see English phonology (vowels).


Variation in present-day English


''Coil''–''curl'' merger

The ''coil''–''curl'' or ''oil''–''earl'' merger is a vowel merger that historically occurred in some non-rhotic dialects of American English, due to an up-gliding vowel.


''Cot''–''coat'' merger

The ''cot''–''coat'' merger is a phenomenon exhibited by some speakers of
Zulu English Zulu English is a variety of English, spoken almost exclusively in South Africa among the Zulu. The variety is heavily influenced by the phonology and lexicon of the Zulu language Zulu (), or isiZulu as an endonym, is a Southern Bantu langua ...
in which the phonemes and are not distinguished, making "cot" and "coat" homophones. Zulu English also generally has a merger of and , so that sets like "cot", "caught" and "coat" can be homophones. This merger can also be found in some broad Central Belt
Scottish English Scottish English ( gd, Beurla Albannach) is the set of varieties of the English language spoken in Scotland. The transregional, standardised variety is called Scottish Standard English or Standard Scottish English (SSE). Scottish Standa ...
accents.


''Line''–''loin'' merger

The ''line''–''loin'' merger is a merger between the diphthongs and that occurs in some accents of Southern English English,
Hiberno-English Hiberno-English (from Latin '' Hibernia'': "Ireland"), and in ga, Béarla na hÉireann. or Irish English, also formerly Anglo-Irish, is the set of English dialects native to the island of Ireland (including both the Republic of Ireland ...
, Newfoundland English, and
Caribbean English Caribbean English (CE, CarE) is a set of dialects of the English language which are spoken in the Caribbean and Liberia, most countries on the Caribbean coast of Central America, and Guyana and Suriname on the coast of South America. Carib ...
. Pairs like ''line'' and ''loin'', ''bile'' and ''boil'', ''imply'' and ''employ'' are homophones in merging accents.


Long mid mergers

The earliest stage of
Early Modern English Early Modern English or Early New English (sometimes abbreviated EModE, EMnE, or ENE) is the stage of the English language from the beginning of the Tudor period to the English Interregnum and Restoration, or from the transition from Middle E ...
had a contrast between the long mid monophthongs (as in ''pane'' and ''toe'' respectively) and the diphthongs (as in ''pain'' and ''tow'' respectively). In the vast majority of Modern English accents these have been merged, so that the pairs ''pane''–''pain'' and ''toe''–''tow'' are homophones. These mergers are grouped together by Wells as the long mid mergers.


''Pane''–''pain'' merger

The ''pane''–''pain'' merger is a merger of the long mid monophthong and the diphthong that occurs in most dialects of English. In the vast majority of Modern English accents the vowels have been merged; whether the outcome is monophthongal or diphthongal depends on the accent. But in a few regional accents, including some in
East Anglia East Anglia is an area in the East of England, often defined as including the counties of Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire. The name derives from the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of the East Angles, a people whose name originated in Anglia, in ...
, South
Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...
, and even
Newfoundland Newfoundland and Labrador (; french: Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador; frequently abbreviated as NL) is the easternmost province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic region. The province comprises the island of Newfoundland and the continental region ...
, the merger has not gone through (at least not completely), so that pairs like ''pane''/''pain'' are distinct. A distinction, with the ''pane'' words pronounced with and the ''pain'' words pronounced with , survived in Norfolk English into the 20th century. Trudgill describes the disappearance of this distinction in Norfolk, saying that "This disappearance was being effected by the gradual and variable transfer of lexical items from the set of to the set of as part of dedialectalisation process, the end-point of which will soon be (a few speakers even today maintain a vestigial and variable distinction) the complete merger of the two lexical sets under — the completion of a slow process of lexical diffusion." Walters (2001) reports the survival of the distinction in the
Welsh English Welsh English ( cy, Saesneg Gymreig) comprises the dialects of English spoken by Welsh people. The dialects are significantly influenced by Welsh grammar and often include words derived from Welsh. In addition to the distinctive words and gr ...
spoken in the
Rhondda Valley Rhondda , or the Rhondda Valley ( cy, Cwm Rhondda ), is a former coalmining area in South Wales, historically in the county of Glamorgan. It takes its name from the River Rhondda, and embraces two valleys – the larger Rhondda Fawr valley ('' ...
, with in the ''pane'' words and in the ''pain'' words. In accents that preserve the distinction, the phoneme is usually represented by the spellings ''ai'', ''ay'', ''ei'' and ''ey'' as in ''day'', ''play'', ''rain'', ''pain'', ''maid'', ''rein'', ''they'' etc. and the phoneme is usually represented by ''aCe'' as in ''pane'', ''plane'', ''lane'', ''late'' etc. and sometimes by ''é'' and ''e'' as in ''re'', ''café'', ''Santa Fe'' etc.


''Toe''–''tow'' merger

The ''toe''–''tow'' merger is a merger of the
Early Modern English Early Modern English or Early New English (sometimes abbreviated EModE, EMnE, or ENE) is the stage of the English language from the beginning of the Tudor period to the English Interregnum and Restoration, or from the transition from Middle E ...
vowels (as in ''toe'') and (as in ''tow'') that occurs in most dialects of English. (The vowels in Middle English and at the beginning of the Early Modern English period were and respectively, and they shifted in the second phase of the
Great Vowel Shift The Great Vowel Shift was a series of changes in the pronunciation of the English language that took place primarily between 1400 and 1700, beginning in southern England and today having influenced effectively all dialects of English. Through ...
.) The merger occurs in the vast majority of Modern English accents; whether the outcome is monophthongal or diphthongal depends on the accent. The traditional phonetic transcription for
General American General American English or General American (abbreviated GA or GenAm) is the umbrella accent of American English spoken by a majority of Americans. In the United States it is often perceived as lacking any distinctly regional, ethnic, or so ...
and earlier
Received Pronunciation Received Pronunciation (RP) is the accent traditionally regarded as the standard and most prestigious form of spoken British English. For over a century, there has been argument over such questions as the definition of RP, whether it is geo ...
in the 20th century is , a diphthong. But in a few regional accents, including some in
Northern England Northern England, also known as the North of England, the North Country, or simply the North, is the northern area of England. It broadly corresponds to the former borders of Angles, Angle Northumbria, the Anglo-Scandinavian Scandinavian York, K ...
,
East Anglia East Anglia is an area in the East of England, often defined as including the counties of Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire. The name derives from the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of the East Angles, a people whose name originated in Anglia, in ...
and
South Wales South Wales ( cy, De Cymru) is a loosely defined region of Wales bordered by England to the east and mid Wales to the north. Generally considered to include the historic counties of Glamorgan and Monmouthshire, south Wales extends westwards ...
, the merger has not gone through (at least not completely), so that pairs like ''toe'' and ''tow'', ''moan'' and ''mown'', ''groan'' and ''grown'', ''sole'' and ''soul'', ''throne'' and ''thrown'' are distinct. In 19th century England, the distinction was still very widespread; the main areas with the merger were in the northern
Home Counties The home counties are the counties of England that surround London. The counties are not precisely defined but Buckinghamshire and Surrey are usually included in definitions and Berkshire, Essex, Hertfordshire and Kent are also often included ...
and parts of the
Midlands The Midlands (also referred to as Central England) are a part of England that broadly correspond to the Kingdom of Mercia of the Early Middle Ages, bordered by Wales, Northern England and Southern England. The Midlands were important in the In ...
. The distinction is most often preserved in East Anglian accents, especially in
Norfolk Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the Nor ...
. Peter Trudgill discusses this distinction, and states that "...until very recently, all Norfolk English speakers consistently and automatically maintained the nose-knows distinction... In the 1940s and 1950s, it was therefore a totally unremarkable feature of Norfolk English shared by all speakers, and therefore of no salience whatsoever." In a recent investigation into the English of the Fens, young people in west Norfolk were found to be maintaining the distinction, with back or in the ''toe'' set and central in the ''tow'' set, with the latter but not the former showing the influence of
Estuary English Estuary English is an English accent associated with the area along the River Thames and its estuary, including London. Phonetician John C. Wells proposed a definition of Estuary English as "Standard English spoken with the accent of the south ...
. Walters reports the survival of the distinction in the
Welsh English Welsh English ( cy, Saesneg Gymreig) comprises the dialects of English spoken by Welsh people. The dialects are significantly influenced by Welsh grammar and often include words derived from Welsh. In addition to the distinctive words and gr ...
spoken in the
Rhondda Valley Rhondda , or the Rhondda Valley ( cy, Cwm Rhondda ), is a former coalmining area in South Wales, historically in the county of Glamorgan. It takes its name from the River Rhondda, and embraces two valleys – the larger Rhondda Fawr valley ('' ...
, with in the ''toe'' words and in the ''tow'' words. Reports of Maine English in the 1970s reported a similar ''toad-towed'' distinction among older speakers, but was lost in subsequent generations. In accents that preserve the distinction, the phoneme descended from Early Modern English is usually represented by the spellings ''ou'', and ''ow'' as in ''soul'', ''dough'', ''tow'', ''know'', ''though'' etc. or through
L-vocalization ''L''-vocalization, in linguistics, is a process by which a lateral approximant sound such as , or, perhaps more often, velarized , is replaced by a vowel or a semivowel. Types There are two types of ''l''-vocalization: * A labiovelar approxi ...
as in ''bolt'', ''cold'', ''folk'', ''roll'' etc., while that descended from Early Modern English is usually represented by ''oa'', ''oe'', or ''oCe'' as in ''boat'', ''road'', ''toe'', ''doe'', ''home'', ''hose'', ''go'', ''tone'' etc. This merger did not occur before ''r'' originally, and only later occurred (relatively recently) as the horse–hoarse merger. This merger is not universal, however, and thus words with ''our'' and ''oar'' may not sound the same as words with ''or'' in some dialects.


''Mare''–''mayor'' merger

The ''mare''–''mayor'' merger occurs in many varieties of
British English British English (BrE, en-GB, or BE) is, according to Oxford Dictionaries, "English as used in Great Britain, as distinct from that used elsewhere". More narrowly, it can refer specifically to the English language in England, or, more broadl ...
, in the
Philadelphia dialect Philadelphia English is a variety or dialect of American English native to Philadelphia and extending into Philadelphia's metropolitan area throughout the Delaware Valley, including southeastern Pennsylvania, counties of northern Delaware (espec ...
, and the
Baltimore dialect A Baltimore accent, also known as Baltimorese (sometimes jokingly written Bawlmerese
. The process has bisyllabic pronounced as the centering diphthong in many words. Such varieties pronounce ''mayor'' as , homophonous with ''mare''.
North American English North American English (NAmE, NAE) is the most generalized variety of the English language as spoken in the United States and Canada. Because of their related histories and cultures, plus the similarities between the pronunciations (accents), ...
accents with the merger allow it to affect also sequences without since some words with the sequence merge with , which is associated with æ-tensing. Particularly in the case of derived from , such words are frequently hypercorrected with . The best-known examples are ''mayonnaise'' () and ''graham'' (, a homophone of ''gram'').


''Pride''–''proud'' merger

The ''pride''–''proud'' merger is a merger of the diphthongs and before voiced consonants into monophthongal occurring for some speakers of
African American Vernacular English African-American Vernacular English (AAVE, ), also referred to as Black (Vernacular) English, Black English Vernacular, or occasionally Ebonics (a colloquial, controversial term), is the variety of English natively spoken, particularly in urba ...
making ''pride'' and ''proud'', ''dine'' and ''down'', ''find'' and ''found'' etc. homophones. Some speakers with this merger, may also have the rod–ride merger hence having a three–way merger of , and before voiced consonants, making ''pride'', ''prod'', and ''proud'' and ''find'', ''found'' and ''fond'' homophones.


''Rod''–''ride'' merger

The ''rod''–''ride'' merger is a merger of and occurring for some speakers of
Southern American English Southern American English or Southern U.S. English is a regional dialect or collection of dialects of American English spoken throughout the Southern United States, though concentrated increasingly in more rural areas, and spoken primarily b ...
and
African American Vernacular English African-American Vernacular English (AAVE, ), also referred to as Black (Vernacular) English, Black English Vernacular, or occasionally Ebonics (a colloquial, controversial term), is the variety of English natively spoken, particularly in urba ...
, in which ''rod'' and ''ride'' are merged as . Some other speakers may keep the contrast, so that ''rod'' is and ''ride'' is .


Smoothing of

Smoothing of is a process that occurs in many varieties of
British English British English (BrE, en-GB, or BE) is, according to Oxford Dictionaries, "English as used in Great Britain, as distinct from that used elsewhere". More narrowly, it can refer specifically to the English language in England, or, more broadl ...
where bisyllabic becomes the triphthong in certain words with . As a result, "scientific" is pronounced with three syllables and "science" is pronounced with one syllable.Wells, John "Whatever happened to received pronunciation?
Wells: Whatever happened to received pronunciation?
Author's webpage; accessed 19 April 2011.


See also

* Phonological history of English * Phonological history of English vowels *
Trisyllabic laxing Trisyllabic laxing, or trisyllabic shortening, is any of three processes in English in which tense vowels (long vowels or diphthongs) become lax (short monophthongs) if they are followed by two or more syllables, at least the first of which is un ...
*
Great Vowel Shift The Great Vowel Shift was a series of changes in the pronunciation of the English language that took place primarily between 1400 and 1700, beginning in southern England and today having influenced effectively all dialects of English. Through ...


Notes


References


Bibliography

* * * * * * * * {{History of English Splits and mergers in English phonology English phonology History of the English language