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<a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Stressed_vowel_changes"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> 2.2 Stressed vowel changes </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Stressed_vowel_changes-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Reduction_and_loss_of_unstressed_vowels" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-2"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Reduction_and_loss_of_unstressed_vowels"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> 2.3 Reduction and loss of unstressed vowels </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Reduction_and_loss_of_unstressed_vowels-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Vocalization_of_[ɣ]_and_development_of_new_diphthongs" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-2"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Vocalization_of_[ɣ]_and_development_of_new_diphthongs"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> 2.4 Vocalization of [ɣ] and development of new diphthongs </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Vocalization_of_[ɣ]_and_development_of_new_diphthongs-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Breaking" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-2"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Breaking"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> 2.5 Breaking </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Breaking-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Open-syllable_lengthening" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-2"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Open-syllable_lengthening"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> 2.6 Open-syllable lengthening </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Open-syllable_lengthening-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Trisyllabic_laxing" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-2"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Trisyllabic_laxing"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> 2.7 Trisyllabic laxing </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Trisyllabic_laxing-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Pre-cluster_shortening" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-2"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Pre-cluster_shortening"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> 2.8 Pre-cluster shortening </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Pre-cluster_shortening-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Reduction_of_double_consonants" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-2"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Reduction_of_double_consonants"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> 2.9 Reduction of double consonants </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Reduction_of_double_consonants-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-H-loss" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-2"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#H-loss"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> 2.10 H-loss </div> </a> <ul id="toc-H-loss-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Great_Vowel_Shift" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-2"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Great_Vowel_Shift"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> 2.11 Great Vowel Shift </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Great_Vowel_Shift-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Diphthong_loss" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-2"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Diphthong_loss"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> 2.12 Diphthong loss </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Diphthong_loss-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Vowel_equivalents_from_Old_English_to_Modern_English" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-1 vector-toc-list-item-expanded"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Vowel_equivalents_from_Old_English_to_Modern_English"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> 3 Vowel equivalents from Old English to Modern English </div> </a> <button aria-controls="toc-Vowel_equivalents_from_Old_English_to_Modern_English-sublist" class="cdx-button cdx-button--weight-quiet cdx-button--icon-only vector-toc-toggle"> Toggle Vowel equivalents from Old English to Modern English subsection </button> <ul id="toc-Vowel_equivalents_from_Old_English_to_Modern_English-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> <li id="toc-Monophthongs" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-2"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Monophthongs"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> 3.1 Monophthongs </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Monophthongs-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Diphthongs_2" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-2"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Diphthongs_2"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> 3.2 Diphthongs </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Diphthongs_2-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-References" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-1 vector-toc-list-item-expanded"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#References"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> 4 References </div> </a> <ul id="toc-References-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Sources" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-1 vector-toc-list-item-expanded"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Sources"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> 5 Sources </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Sources-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> 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.sidebar-list-title,html.skin-theme-clientpref-night .mw-parser-output .sidebar:not(.notheme) .sidebar-title-with-pretitle{background:transparent!important}html.skin-theme-clientpref-night .mw-parser-output .sidebar:not(.notheme) .sidebar-title-with-pretitle a{color:var(--color-progressive)!important}}@media screen and (prefers-color-scheme:dark){html.skin-theme-clientpref-os .mw-parser-output .sidebar:not(.notheme) .sidebar-list-title,html.skin-theme-clientpref-os .mw-parser-output .sidebar:not(.notheme) .sidebar-title-with-pretitle{background:transparent!important}html.skin-theme-clientpref-os .mw-parser-output .sidebar:not(.notheme) .sidebar-title-with-pretitle a{color:var(--color-progressive)!important}}@media print{body.ns-0 .mw-parser-output .sidebar{display:none!important}}</style><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1129693374"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1129693374"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1129693374"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1129693374"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1129693374"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1129693374"><table class="sidebar nomobile nowraplinks"><tbody><tr><td class="sidebar-pretitle">History and description of</td></tr><tr><th class="sidebar-title-with-pretitle"><a href="/wiki/English_phonology" title="English phonology">English pronunciation</a></th></tr><tr><th class="sidebar-heading"> Historical stages</th></tr><tr><td class="sidebar-content"> <div class="hlist"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Old_English_phonology" title="Old English phonology">Old English</a></li> <li><a class="mw-selflink selflink">Middle English</a></li></ul> </div></td> </tr><tr><th class="sidebar-heading"> <a href="/wiki/Phonological_history_of_English" title="Phonological history of English">General development</a></th></tr><tr><td class="sidebar-content"> <div class="hlist"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Phonological_history_of_Old_English" title="Phonological history of Old English">In Old English</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Phonological_history_of_Scots" title="Phonological history of Scots">In Scots</a></li></ul> </div></td> </tr><tr><th class="sidebar-heading"> <a href="/wiki/Phonological_history_of_English_vowels" title="Phonological history of English vowels">Development of vowels</a></th></tr><tr><td class="sidebar-content"> <div class="hlist"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Pronunciation_of_English_%E2%9F%A8a%E2%9F%A9" title="Pronunciation of English ⟨a⟩">A</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Phonological_history_of_English_close_back_vowels" title="Phonological history of English close back vowels">Close back</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Phonological_history_of_English_close_front_vowels" title="Phonological history of English close front vowels">Close front</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Phonological_history_of_English_diphthongs" title="Phonological history of English diphthongs">Diphthongs</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Great_Vowel_Shift" title="Great Vowel Shift">Great Vowel Shift</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Phonological_history_of_English_open_back_vowels" title="Phonological history of English open back vowels">Open back</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/English-language_vowel_changes_before_historic_/l/" title="English-language vowel changes before historic /l/">Pre-L</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/English-language_vowel_changes_before_historic_/r/" title="English-language vowel changes before historic /r/">Pre-R</a></li></ul> </div></td> </tr><tr><th class="sidebar-heading"> Development of consonants</th></tr><tr><td class="sidebar-content"> <div class="hlist"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Phonological_history_of_English_consonants" title="Phonological history of English consonants">Single consonants</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Phonological_history_of_English_consonant_clusters" title="Phonological history of English consonant clusters">Clusters</a></li></ul> </div></td> </tr><tr><th class="sidebar-heading"> Variable features</th></tr><tr><td class="sidebar-content"> <div class="hlist"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Cot%E2%80%93caught_merger" title="Cot–caught merger">Cot–caught merger</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Drawl" title="Drawl">Drawl</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Flapping" title="Flapping">Flapping</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/H-dropping" title="H-dropping">H-dropping</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/L-vocalization" title="L-vocalization">L-vocalization</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Pronunciation_of_English_%E2%9F%A8ng%E2%9F%A9" title="Pronunciation of English ⟨ng⟩">NG</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Pronunciation_of_English_/r/" title="Pronunciation of English /r/">R</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Rhoticity_in_English" title="Rhoticity in English">Rhoticity</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/T-glottalization" title="T-glottalization">T-glottalization</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Pronunciation_of_English_%E2%9F%A8th%E2%9F%A9" title="Pronunciation of English ⟨th⟩">TH</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Pronunciation_of_English_%E2%9F%A8wh%E2%9F%A9" title="Pronunciation of English ⟨wh⟩">WH</a></li></ul> </div></td> </tr><tr><th class="sidebar-heading"> Related topics</th></tr><tr><td class="sidebar-content"> <div class="hlist"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/History_of_English" title="History of English">History of English</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/English_orthography" title="English orthography">Spelling</a></li></ul> </div></td> </tr><tr><td class="sidebar-navbar"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1129693374"><style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1239400231">.mw-parser-output .navbar{display:inline;font-size:88%;font-weight:normal}.mw-parser-output .navbar-collapse{float:left;text-align:left}.mw-parser-output .navbar-boxtext{word-spacing:0}.mw-parser-output .navbar ul{display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;line-height:inherit}.mw-parser-output .navbar-brackets::before{margin-right:-0.125em;content:"[ "}.mw-parser-output .navbar-brackets::after{margin-left:-0.125em;content:" ]"}.mw-parser-output .navbar li{word-spacing:-0.125em}.mw-parser-output .navbar a>span,.mw-parser-output .navbar a>abbr{text-decoration:inherit}.mw-parser-output .navbar-mini abbr{font-variant:small-caps;border-bottom:none;text-decoration:none;cursor:inherit}.mw-parser-output .navbar-ct-full{font-size:114%;margin:0 7em}.mw-parser-output .navbar-ct-mini{font-size:114%;margin:0 4em}html.skin-theme-clientpref-night .mw-parser-output .navbar li a abbr{color:var(--color-base)!important}@media(prefers-color-scheme:dark){html.skin-theme-clientpref-os .mw-parser-output .navbar li a abbr{color:var(--color-base)!important}}@media print{.mw-parser-output .navbar{display:none!important}}</style><div class="navbar plainlinks hlist navbar-mini"><ul><li class="nv-view"><a href="/wiki/Template:English_phonology_topics" title="Template:English phonology topics"><abbr title="View this template">v</abbr></a></li><li class="nv-talk"><a href="/wiki/Template_talk:English_phonology_topics" title="Template talk:English phonology topics"><abbr title="Discuss this template">t</abbr></a></li><li class="nv-edit"><a href="/wiki/Special:EditPage/Template:English_phonology_topics" title="Special:EditPage/Template:English phonology topics"><abbr title="Edit this template">e</abbr></a></li></ul></div></td></tr></tbody></table> <style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1235681985">.mw-parser-output .side-box{margin:4px 0;box-sizing:border-box;border:1px solid #aaa;font-size:88%;line-height:1.25em;background-color:var(--background-color-interactive-subtle,#f8f9fa);display:flow-root}.mw-parser-output .side-box-abovebelow,.mw-parser-output .side-box-text{padding:0.25em 0.9em}.mw-parser-output .side-box-image{padding:2px 0 2px 0.9em;text-align:center}.mw-parser-output .side-box-imageright{padding:2px 0.9em 2px 0;text-align:center}@media(min-width:500px){.mw-parser-output .side-box-flex{display:flex;align-items:center}.mw-parser-output .side-box-text{flex:1;min-width:0}}@media(min-width:720px){.mw-parser-output .side-box{width:238px}.mw-parser-output .side-box-right{clear:right;float:right;margin-left:1em}.mw-parser-output .side-box-left{margin-right:1em}}</style><div class="side-box metadata side-box-right noprint selfref"><style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1126788409">.mw-parser-output .plainlist ol,.mw-parser-output .plainlist ul{line-height:inherit;list-style:none;margin:0;padding:0}.mw-parser-output .plainlist ol li,.mw-parser-output .plainlist ul li{margin-bottom:0}</style> <div class="side-box-flex"> <div class="side-box-text plainlist">This article contains <a href="/wiki/Phonetic_transcription" title="Phonetic transcription">phonetic transcriptions</a> in the <a href="/wiki/International_Phonetic_Alphabet" title="International Phonetic Alphabet">International Phonetic Alphabet</a> (IPA). For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see <a href="/wiki/Help:IPA" title="Help:IPA">Help:IPA</a>. For the distinction between [ ], / / and ⟨ ⟩, see <a href="/wiki/International_Phonetic_Alphabet#Brackets_and_transcription_delimiters" title="International Phonetic Alphabet">IPA § Brackets and transcription delimiters</a>.</div></div> </div> <a href="/wiki/Middle_English" title="Middle English">Middle English</a> <a href="/wiki/Phonology" title="Phonology">phonology</a> is necessarily somewhat speculative since it is preserved only as a <a href="/wiki/Written_language" title="Written language">written language</a>. Nevertheless, there is a very large <a href="/wiki/Text_corpus" title="Text corpus">text corpus</a> of Middle English. The dialects of Middle English vary greatly over both time and place, and in contrast with Old English and Modern English, spelling was usually phonetic rather than conventional. Words were generally spelled according to how they sounded to the person writing a text, rather than according to a formalised system that might not accurately represent the way the writer's dialect was pronounced, as Modern English is today. The Middle English speech of the city of <a href="/wiki/London" title="London">London</a> in the late 14th century (essentially, the speech of <a href="/wiki/Geoffrey_Chaucer" title="Geoffrey Chaucer">Geoffrey Chaucer</a>) is used as the standard Middle English dialect in teaching and when specifying "the" grammar or phonology of Middle English. It is this form that is described below, unless otherwise indicated. In the rest of the article, abbreviations are used as follows: <table> <tbody><tr> <td> <ul><li>PIE = <a href="/wiki/Proto-Indo-European_language" title="Proto-Indo-European language">Proto-Indo-European</a></li> <li>OE = <a href="/wiki/Old_English" title="Old English">Old English</a></li> <li>PreOE = Pre-Old English</li> <li>ME = <a href="/wiki/Middle_English" title="Middle English">Middle English</a></li></ul> </td> <td> <ul><li>EME = Early Middle English</li> <li>LME = Late Middle English</li> <li>LLME = very late Middle English (post-Chaucer)</li> <li>NE = <a href="/wiki/Modern_English" title="Modern English">Modern English</a></li> <li>ENE = <a href="/wiki/Early_Modern_English" title="Early Modern English">Early Modern English</a></li></ul> </td> <td> </td></tr></tbody></table> <meta property="mw:PageProp/toc" /> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Sound_inventory">Sound inventory</h2>[<a href="/w/index.php?title=Middle_English_phonology&action=edit&section=1" title="Edit section: Sound inventory">edit</a>]</div> The <a href="/wiki/Phone_(phonetics)" title="Phone (phonetics)">surface sounds</a> of Chaucer's Middle English (whether <a href="/wiki/Allophones" class="mw-redirect" title="Allophones">allophones</a> or <a href="/wiki/Phonemes" class="mw-redirect" title="Phonemes">phonemes</a>) are shown in the tables below. Phonemes in bold were added across Middle English; those in italics were removed during the period. <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Consonants">Consonants</h3>[<a href="/w/index.php?title=Middle_English_phonology&action=edit&section=2" title="Edit section: Consonants">edit</a>]</div> <table class="wikitable mw-collapsible"> <caption>Middle English consonants </caption> <tbody><tr> <th> </th> <th><a href="/wiki/Labiodental_consonant" title="Labiodental consonant">Labial</a> </th> <th><a href="/wiki/Dental_consonant" title="Dental consonant">Dental</a> </th> <th><a href="/wiki/Alveolar_consonant" title="Alveolar consonant">Alveolar</a> </th> <th><a href="/wiki/Postalveolar_consonant" title="Postalveolar consonant">Postalveolar</a> </th> <th><a href="/wiki/Palatal_consonant" title="Palatal consonant">Palatal</a> </th> <th><a href="/wiki/Velar_consonant" title="Velar consonant">Velar</a> </th> <th><a href="/wiki/Glottal_consonant" title="Glottal consonant">Glottal</a> </th></tr> <tr> <th><a href="/wiki/Nasal_consonant" title="Nasal consonant">Nasal</a> </th> <td>m </td> <td> </td> <td>n̥ • n </td> <td> </td> <td> </td> <td>(ŋ) </td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <th><a href="/wiki/Stop_consonant" class="mw-redirect" title="Stop consonant">Stop</a> </th> <td>p • b </td> <td> </td> <td>t • d </td> <td>tʃ • dʒ </td> <td> </td> <td>k • g </td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <th><a href="/wiki/Fricative_consonant" class="mw-redirect" title="Fricative consonant">Fricative</a> </th> <td>f • v </td> <td>θ • ð </td> <td>s • z </td> <td>ʃ </td> <td>(ç) </td> <td>(x) • ɣ </td> <td>h </td></tr> <tr> <th><a href="/wiki/Approximant" title="Approximant">Approximant</a> </th> <td> </td> <td> </td> <td>r̥ • r • rˠ<a class="external autonumber" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middle_English_phonology#endnote_1">[1]</a> </td> <td> </td> <td>j </td> <td>ʍ • w </td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <th><a href="/wiki/Lateral_consonant" title="Lateral consonant">Lateral</a> </th> <td> </td> <td> </td> <td>ɬ • l • lˠ </td> <td> </td> <td> </td> <td> </td> <td> </td></tr></tbody></table> 1. <style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1041539562">.mw-parser-output .citation{word-wrap:break-word}.mw-parser-output .citation:target{background-color:rgba(0,127,255,0.133)}</style><a href="#ref_r">^r</a> The exact nature of Middle English r is unknown. This article uses ⟨r⟩ indiscriminately. <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Consonant_allophones">Consonant allophones</h3>[<a href="/w/index.php?title=Middle_English_phonology&action=edit&section=3" title="Edit section: Consonant allophones">edit</a>]</div> The sounds marked in parentheses in the table above are allophones: <ul><li>[ŋ] is an allophone of /n/ occurring before /k/ and /ɡ/ <ul><li>For example, ring ('ring') is [riŋɡ]; [ŋ] did not occur alone in Middle English, unlike in Modern English.</li></ul></li> <li>[ç, x] are allophones of /h/ in syllable-final position after <a href="/wiki/Front_vowel" title="Front vowel">front</a> and <a href="/wiki/Back_vowel" title="Back vowel">back vowels</a>, respectively.</li> <li>Based on evidence from <a href="/wiki/Old_English" title="Old English">Old English</a> and <a href="/wiki/Modern_English" title="Modern English">Modern English</a>, /l/ and /r/ apparently had velarised counterparts or allophones [lˠ] and [rˠ]. These occurred after back vowels or the consonant /w/.</li></ul> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading4"><h4 id="Voiced_fricatives">Voiced fricatives</h4>[<a href="/w/index.php?title=Middle_English_phonology&action=edit&section=4" title="Edit section: Voiced fricatives">edit</a>]</div> In Old English, [v], [ð], [z] were allophones of /f/, /θ/, /s/, respectively, occurring between <a href="/wiki/Vowel" title="Vowel">vowels</a> or <a href="/wiki/Voiced_consonant" class="mw-redirect" title="Voiced consonant">voiced consonants</a>. That led to many alternations: hūs ('house') [huːs] vs. hūses ('of a house') [ˈhuːzes]; wīf ('woman') [wiːf] vs. wīfes ('of a woman') [ˈwiːves]. In Middle English, voiced allophones become phonemes and have become solidly established in Modern English as separate phonemes by several sources: <ol><li>Borrowings from foreign languages, especially <a href="/wiki/Latin" title="Latin">Latin</a>, <a href="/wiki/Ancient_Greek" title="Ancient Greek">Ancient Greek</a> and <a href="/wiki/Old_French" title="Old French">Old French</a>, which introduced sounds where they had not occurred: modern fine vs. vine (both borrowings from French); ether (from Greek) vs. either (native).</li> <li>Dialect mixture between Old English dialects (like <a href="/wiki/Kentish_dialect_(Old_English)" class="mw-redirect" title="Kentish dialect (Old English)">Kentish</a>) that voiced initial fricatives and the more standard dialects that did not. Compare fat vs. vat (both with f- in standard <a href="/wiki/Old_English" title="Old English">Old English</a>) and fox vs. vixen (<a href="/wiki/Old_English" title="Old English">Old English</a> fox vs. fyxen, from <a href="/wiki/Proto-Germanic" class="mw-redirect" title="Proto-Germanic">Proto-Germanic</a> *fuhsa- vs. *fuhsin-).</li> <li>Analogical changes that levelled former alternations: grass, grasses, grassy and glass, glasses, glassy with /s/ replacing the original /z/ between vowels (but to graze and to glaze, still with /z/, originally derived from grass and glass, respectively). Contrast wife vs. wives; greasy, still with a /z/ in some dialects (such as that of <a href="/wiki/Boston" title="Boston">Boston</a>) and staff, with two plurals, analogical staffs and inherited staves.</li> <li>Loss of final /e/, resulting in voiced fricatives at the end of a word where only voiceless fricatives had occurred. That is the source of the modern distinctions house vs. to house, teeth vs. to teethe, half vs. to halve.</li> <li>Reduction of double consonants to single consonants, which explains the contrast between kiss, to kiss (Old English coss, cyssan, with a double s) vs. house, to house with /z/ in the verb (Old English hūs, hūsian, with a single s).</li> <li>A <a href="/wiki/Sandhi" title="Sandhi">sandhi</a> that introduced the voiced fricative /ð/, instead of original /θ/, at the beginning of unstressed function words. Contrast this with initial /ð/ vs. thistle with initial /θ/.</li> <li>A sound change that caused fricatives to be voiced before a fully unstressed syllable.<a href="#cite_note-1">[1]</a> That is reflected in the modern pronunciation of the endings thay are spelled -s (the noun plural ending, the '<a href="/wiki/Saxon_genitive" class="mw-redirect" title="Saxon genitive">Saxon genitive</a>' ending and the third-person present indicative ending), which now have the phonemic shape -/z/, having developed in Middle English from -[əs] to -[əz] and then, after the deletion of the unstressed vowel, to -/z/ (e.g. halls, tells with from earlier halles, telles). The sound change also affects function words ending in original -/s/ that are normally unstressed. Contrast this with /s/ vs. is with /z/; off with /f/ vs. of with /v/, originally the same word; with with /ð/ in many varieties of English vs. pith with /θ/.</li></ol> The status of the sources in Chaucer's Middle English is as follows: <ul><li>The first three sources (borrowing, dialect mixture and analogy) were already established.</li> <li>As indicated by versification, the loss of final /e/ was normal in Chaucer's time before a vowel-initial word and optional elsewhere. That is assumed[<a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed" title="Wikipedia:Citation needed">citation needed</a>] to be a poetic relic, with the loss of final /e/ having been completed in spoken English (a similar situation to Modern French; see <a href="/wiki/E_muet" class="mw-redirect" title="E muet">e muet</a>).</li> <li>The reduction of double consonants was apparently about to occur.[<a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed" title="Wikipedia:Citation needed">citation needed</a>]</li> <li>The sandhi effects on unstressed function words occurred somewhat later, during the transition to Modern English.[<a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed" title="Wikipedia:Citation needed">citation needed</a>]</li></ul> The strongest distinction was between /f/ and /v/ because of the large number of borrowings from <a href="/wiki/Old_French" title="Old French">Old French</a>. It is also the only distinction that is consistently indicated in spelling, as ⟨f⟩ and ⟨v⟩ respectively. /z/ sometimes appears as ⟨z⟩, especially in borrowings from Greek and sometimes as ⟨s⟩. Both /θ/ and /ð/ are spelled ⟨th⟩. <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Vowels">Vowels</h3>[<a href="/w/index.php?title=Middle_English_phonology&action=edit&section=5" title="Edit section: Vowels">edit</a>]</div> <table class="wikitable mw-collapsible" style="text-align: center"> <caption>Middle English vowels </caption> <tbody><tr> <th colspan="2" rowspan="2"> </th> <th colspan="2">Monophthong </th> <th colspan="2">Diphthong </th></tr> <tr> <th>Short </th> <th>Long </th> <th>+ /j/ </th> <th>+ /w/ </th></tr> <tr> <th rowspan="2"><a href="/wiki/Close_vowel" title="Close vowel">Close</a> </th> <th><a href="/wiki/Front_vowel" title="Front vowel">Front</a> </th> <td>i→ɪ • y</td> <td>iː • yː </td> <td>—</td> <td>iw </td></tr> <tr> <th><a href="/wiki/Back_vowel" title="Back vowel">Back</a> </th> <td>u→ʊ </td> <td>uː </td> <td>uj </td> <td>— </td></tr> <tr> <th rowspan="2"><a href="/wiki/Close-mid_vowel" title="Close-mid vowel">Close-mid</a> </th> <th><a href="/wiki/Front_vowel" title="Front vowel">Front</a> </th> <td>e→ɛ • ø</td> <td>eː • øː </td> <td>ej→iː</td> <td>ew→iw </td></tr> <tr> <th><a href="/wiki/Back_vowel" title="Back vowel">Back</a> </th> <td>o→ɔ </td> <td>oː </td> <td>oj→uj </td> <td>ow→ɔw (early), uː (late)1 </td></tr> <tr> <th colspan="2"><a href="/wiki/Mid_vowel" title="Mid vowel">Mid</a> </th> <td>(ə) </td> <td> </td> <td> </td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <th rowspan="2"><a href="/wiki/Open-mid_vowel" title="Open-mid vowel">Open-mid</a> </th> <th><a href="/wiki/Front_vowel" title="Front vowel">Front</a> </th> <td> </td> <td>ɛː • œː </td> <td>ɛj</td> <td>ɛw </td></tr> <tr> <th><a href="/wiki/Back_vowel" title="Back vowel">Back</a> </th> <td> </td> <td>ɔː </td> <td>ɔj </td> <td>ɔw </td></tr> <tr> <th colspan="2"><a href="/wiki/Open_vowel" title="Open vowel">Open</a> </th> <td>a</td> <td>aː </td> <td>æj→ɛj</td> <td>ɒw </td></tr></tbody></table> 1 The Old English sequences /oːw/, /oːɣ/ produced late Middle English /ɔw/ and had apparently passed through early Middle English /ow/: OE grōwan ('grow') /ˈgroːwən/→ LME /ˈɡrɔwə/. However, early Middle English /owx/ that was produced by <a href="/wiki/Middle_English_breaking" class="mw-redirect" title="Middle English breaking">Middle English breaking</a> became late Middle English /uːh/: OE tōh (tough') /toːx/→ EME /towx/ → LME /tuːx/. Apparently, early /ow/ became /ɔw/ before the occurrence of Middle English breaking, which generated new occurrences of /ow/, which later became /uː/. Monophthongs Middle English had a distinction between <a href="/wiki/Close-mid_vowel" title="Close-mid vowel">close-mid</a> and <a href="/wiki/Open-mid_vowel" title="Open-mid vowel">open-mid</a> <a href="/wiki/Vowel_length" title="Vowel length">long vowels</a> but no corresponding distinction in short vowels. The behaviour of <a href="/wiki/Open_syllable_lengthening" title="Open syllable lengthening">open syllable lengthening</a> seems to indicate that the short vowels were open-mid in quality, but according to Lass, they were close-mid. (There is some direct documentary evidence: in early texts, open-mid /ɛː/ was spelled ⟨ea⟩, but both /e/ and /eː/ were spelled ⟨eo⟩.) Later, the short vowels were in fact lowered to become open-mid vowels, as is shown by their values in Modern English. The <a href="/wiki/Front_rounded_vowel" title="Front rounded vowel">front rounded vowels</a> /y yː ø øː œː/ existed in the southwest dialects of Middle English, which developed from the standard <a href="/wiki/West_Saxon_dialect" title="West Saxon dialect">Late West Saxon dialect</a> of <a href="/wiki/Old_English" title="Old English">Old English</a>, but not in the standard Middle English dialect of London. The close vowels /y/ and /yː/ are direct descendants of the corresponding Old English vowels and were indicated as ⟨u⟩. (In the standard dialect of Middle English, the sounds became /i/ and /iː/; in <a href="/wiki/Kentish_dialect" class="mw-redirect" title="Kentish dialect">Kentish</a>, they became /e/ and /eː/.) /yː/ may have existed in learned speech in loanwords from Old French, also spelled ⟨u⟩, but, as it merged with /iw/, becoming /juː/ in Modern English, rather than /iː/, it can be assumed that /iw/ was the vernacular pronunciation that was used in French-derived words. The mid-front rounded vowels /ø øː œː/ likewise had existed in the southwest dialects but not in the standard Middle English dialect of London and were indicated as ⟨o⟩. Sometime in the 13th century, they became unrounded and merged with the normal front mid vowels. They derived from the <a href="/wiki/Old_English" title="Old English">Old English</a> diphthongs /eo̯/ and /eːo̯/. There is no direct evidence that there was ever a distinction between open-mid /œː/ and close-mid /øː/, but it can be assumed because of the corresponding distinction in the unrounded mid front vowels. /øː/ would have derived directly from <a href="/wiki/Old_English" title="Old English">Old English</a> /eːo̯/, and /œː/ derived from the open syllable lengthening of short /ø/, from the Old English short diphthong /eo̯/. The quality of the short open vowel is unclear. In early Middle English, it was presumably central /a/ since it represented the coalescence of the Old English vowels /æ/ and /ɑ/. During <a href="/wiki/Middle_English_breaking" class="mw-redirect" title="Middle English breaking">Middle English breaking</a>, it could not have been a front vowel since /u/ rather than /i/ was introduced after it. During Early Modern English, it was fronted in most environments to [æ] in southern England, and it and even closer values are found in the contemporary speech of southern England, North America and the Southern Hemisphere. It remains [a] in much of Northern England, Scotland and the Caribbean.<a href="#cite_note-2">[2]</a> Meanwhile, the long open vowel, which developed later because of open syllable lengthening, was [aː].<a href="#cite_note-3">[3]</a> It was gradually fronted, to successively [æː], [ɛː] and [eː], in the 16th and the 17th centuries.<a href="#cite_note-4">[4]</a> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading4"><h4 id="Diphthongs">Diphthongs</h4>[<a href="/w/index.php?title=Middle_English_phonology&action=edit&section=6" title="Edit section: Diphthongs">edit</a>]</div> All of the above diphthongs came about during the Middle English. Old English had a number of diphthongs, but all of them had been reduced to monophthongs in the transition to Middle English. Diphthongs in Middle English came about by various processes and at various time periods and tended to change their quality over time. The changes above occurred mostly between early and late Middle English. Early Middle English had a distinction between <a href="/wiki/Open-mid_vowel" title="Open-mid vowel">open-mid</a> and <a href="/wiki/Close-mid_vowel" title="Close-mid vowel">close-mid</a> diphthongs, and all of the close-mid diphthongs had been eliminated by late Middle English. The following processes produced the above diphthongs: <ul><li>Reinterpretation of Old English sequences of a vowel followed by Old English /ɣ/ (which became /w/ after back vowels and /ʝ/ after front vowels) or with pre-existing /j/, /w/: <ul><li>OE weġ ('way') /weʝ/→ EME /wɛj/</li> <li>OE dæġ ('day') /daʝ/ → ME /dæj/ → LME /dɛj/</li></ul></li> <li>Middle English breaking before /h/ ([x] after <a href="/wiki/Back_vowel" title="Back vowel">back vowels</a>, [ç] after <a href="/wiki/Front_vowel" title="Front vowel">front vowels</a>)</li> <li>Borrowing, especially from <a href="/wiki/Old_French" title="Old French">Old French</a></li></ul> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Phonological_processes">Phonological processes</h2>[<a href="/w/index.php?title=Middle_English_phonology&action=edit&section=7" title="Edit section: Phonological processes">edit</a>]</div> <style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1236090951">.mw-parser-output .hatnote{font-style:italic}.mw-parser-output div.hatnote{padding-left:1.6em;margin-bottom:0.5em}.mw-parser-output .hatnote i{font-style:normal}.mw-parser-output .hatnote+link+.hatnote{margin-top:-0.5em}@media print{body.ns-0 .mw-parser-output .hatnote{display:none!important}}</style><div role="note" class="hatnote navigation-not-searchable">See also: <a href="/wiki/Phonological_history_of_English" title="Phonological history of English">Phonological history of English</a>, <a href="/wiki/Old_English_phonology" title="Old English phonology">Old English phonology</a>, and <a href="/wiki/Phonological_history_of_Old_English" title="Phonological history of Old English">Phonological history of Old English</a></div> The following sections describe the major phonological processes occurring between written Late West Saxon, the standard written form of Old English, and the end of Middle English, which is conventionally dated to around 1500 AD. <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Homorganic_lengthening">Homorganic lengthening</h3>[<a href="/w/index.php?title=Middle_English_phonology&action=edit&section=8" title="Edit section: Homorganic lengthening">edit</a>]</div> In late Old English, vowels were lengthened before certain clusters: /nd/, /ld/, /rd/, /mb/, /ŋɡ/. Later, the vowels in many of those words were shortened again, which gives the appearance that no lengthening happened, but evidence from the <a href="/wiki/Ormulum" title="Ormulum">Ormulum</a> indicates otherwise. For details see <a href="/wiki/Phonological_history_of_Old_English#Vowel_lengthening" title="Phonological history of Old English">Phonological history of Old English: Vowel lengthening</a>. <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Stressed_vowel_changes">Stressed vowel changes</h3>[<a href="/w/index.php?title=Middle_English_phonology&action=edit&section=9" title="Edit section: Stressed vowel changes">edit</a>]</div> <a href="/wiki/West_Saxon_dialect" title="West Saxon dialect">Late West Saxon</a>, the standard written form of Old English, included matched pairs of short and long vowels, including seven pairs of pure vowels (the monophthongs /ɑ(ː)/ /æ(ː)/ /e(ː)/ /i(ː)/ /o(ː)/ /u(ː)/ /y(ː)/) and two pairs of height-harmonic diphthongs: /æ(ː)ɑ̯/ and /e(ː)o̯/. Two additional pairs of diphthongs, /i(ː)u̯/ and /i(ː)y̯/, existed in earlier Old English but had been reduced to /e(ː)o̯/ and /y(ː)/, respectively, by late Old English. In the transition to Middle English, the system underwent major changes by eliminating the diphthongs and leaving only one pair of low vowels but with a vowel distinction appearing in the long mid vowels: <ul><li>The diphthongs /æɑ̯/ /æːɑ̯/ simplified to /æ/ and /æː/, respectively. Subsequently, the low vowels were modified as follows: <ul><li>/æ/ and /ɑ/ merged to a single central vowel /a/.</li> <li>/æː/ and /ɑː/ rose to /ɛː/ and /ɔː/, respectively.</li></ul></li> <li>The diphthongs /eo̯/ and /eːo̯/ (as in OE frēond 'friend') respectively simplified to new front-round vowels /ø/ and /øː/ (yielding /frøːnd/ 'friend'). Everywhere except in the southwest, /ø/ and /øː/ were soon respectively unrounded to /e/ and /eː/ (yielding Middle English freend /freːnd/ 'friend'). In the southwest, it took 200 or 300 years for the process to take place, and in the meantime, the sounds were spelled ⟨o⟩ in texts there.</li> <li>The front rounded vowels /y/ and /yː/ unrounded to /i/ and /iː/ respectively everywhere but in the southwest (the former West Saxon area) and the southeast (former <a href="/wiki/Kentish_dialect_(Old_English)" class="mw-redirect" title="Kentish dialect (Old English)">Kentish</a> area). <ul><li>In the southwest, the front rounded vowels /y/ and /yː/ remained, and were spelled ⟨u⟩.</li> <li>In the southeast, the vowels had already been unrounded to /e/ and /eː/ respectively in Old English and remained as such in Middle English.</li></ul></li></ul> That left an asymmetric system consisting of five short vowels /a/ /e/ /i/ /o/ /u/ and six long vowels /ɛː/ /eː/ /iː/ /ɔː/ /oː/ /uː/, with additional front rounded vowels /ø(ː)/ /y(ː)/ in the southwest. Some symmetry was restored by <a href="/wiki/Open_syllable_lengthening" title="Open syllable lengthening">open syllable lengthening</a>, which restored a long low vowel /aː/. <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Reduction_and_loss_of_unstressed_vowels">Reduction and loss of unstressed vowels</h3>[<a href="/w/index.php?title=Middle_English_phonology&action=edit&section=10" title="Edit section: Reduction and loss of unstressed vowels">edit</a>]</div> Unstressed vowels were gradually confused in late Old English although spelling lagged behind because a standardized spelling system existed. By Early Middle English, all unstressed vowels were written ⟨e⟩, which probably represented /ə/. Also, in late Old English, final unstressed /m/ became /n/; during the Middle English period, this final /n/ was dropped when it was part of an inflectional syllable but remained when part of the root like seven or in derivational endings like written). Around Chaucer's time, final /ə/ was dropped. Inflectional evidence suggests that occurred first when the following word began with a vowel. A century or so later, unstressed /ə/ also dropped in the plural genitive ending -es (spelled -s in Modern English) and the past ending -ed. The changes steadily effaced most inflectional endings: <ul><li>OE mētan → ME meete(n) → LME /meːt/ → NE meet /miːt/</li> <li>OE wicu → ME weeke → LME /weːk/ → NE week /wiːk/</li> <li>OE nama → ME nāme → LME /næːm/ → NE name /neɪ̯m/</li></ul> In the last two examples, the stressed vowel was affected by <a href="/wiki/Open-syllable_lengthening" class="mw-redirect" title="Open-syllable lengthening">open-syllable lengthening</a>. <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Vocalization_of_[ɣ]_and_development_of_new_diphthongs">Vocalization of [ɣ] and development of new diphthongs </h3>[<a href="/w/index.php?title=Middle_English_phonology&action=edit&section=11" title="Edit section: Vocalization of [ɣ] and development of new diphthongs">edit</a>]</div> The sound [ɣ], which had been a post-vocalic allophone of /ɡ/, became vocalized to [u]. This occurred around the year 1200.<a href="#cite_note-Britton-5">[5]</a> A new set of diphthongs developed from combinations of vowel+[u] (either from [ɣ] or from pre-existing /w/) or vowel+[i] (from pre-existing /j/) and also from French loanwords: see <a href="#Diphthongs">Diphthongs</a> above. <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Breaking">Breaking</h3>[<a href="/w/index.php?title=Middle_English_phonology&action=edit&section=12" title="Edit section: Breaking">edit</a>]</div> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1251242444"><table class="box-Expand_section plainlinks metadata ambox mbox-small-left ambox-content" role="presentation"><tbody><tr><td class="mbox-image"><a href="/wiki/File:Wiki_letter_w_cropped.svg" class="mw-file-description"><img alt="[icon]" src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/1c/Wiki_letter_w_cropped.svg/20px-Wiki_letter_w_cropped.svg.png" decoding="async" width="20" height="14" class="mw-file-element" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/1c/Wiki_letter_w_cropped.svg/30px-Wiki_letter_w_cropped.svg.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/1c/Wiki_letter_w_cropped.svg/40px-Wiki_letter_w_cropped.svg.png 2x" data-file-width="44" data-file-height="31" /></a></td><td class="mbox-text"><div class="mbox-text-span">This section needs expansion. You can help by <a class="external text" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Middle_English_phonology&action=edit&section=">adding to it</a>. (July 2010)</div></td></tr></tbody></table> During the 12th or the 13th century, /i/ was inserted between a front vowel and a following /h/ (pronounced [ç] in this context), and a vowel /u/ was inserted between a back vowel and a following /h/ (pronounced [x] in this context). A short /a/ was treated as a back vowel in the process; the long equivalent did not occur in the relevant context. See <a href="#H-loss">H-loss</a> below. <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Open-syllable_lengthening">Open-syllable lengthening</h3>[<a href="/w/index.php?title=Middle_English_phonology&action=edit&section=13" title="Edit section: Open-syllable lengthening">edit</a>]</div> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1236090951"><div role="note" class="hatnote navigation-not-searchable">Main article: <a href="/wiki/Open-syllable_lengthening#English" class="mw-redirect" title="Open-syllable lengthening">Open-syllable lengthening § English</a></div> Around the 13th century, <a href="/wiki/Short_vowels" class="mw-redirect" title="Short vowels">short vowels</a> were <a href="/wiki/Open_syllable_lengthening" title="Open syllable lengthening">lengthened in an open syllable</a> (when they followed by a single consonant that in turn was followed by another vowel). In addition, non-low vowels were lowered: /i/ → /eː/, /e/ → /ɛː/, /u/ → /oː/, /o/ → /ɔː/. That accounts, for example, for the vowel difference between staff and the alternative plural staves (Middle English staf vs. stāves, with open-syllable lengthening in the latter word). The process was restricted in the following ways: <ol><li>It did not occur when two or more syllables followed because of the opposing process of <a href="/wiki/Trisyllabic_laxing" title="Trisyllabic laxing">trisyllabic laxing</a>.</li> <li>It only occasionally applied to the high vowels /i/ and /u/, e.g. OE wudu → ME /woːd/ → wood; OE wicu → ME /weːk/ → week. Most instances of /i/ and /u/ remained as such: OE hnutu → NE nut, OE riden → NE ridden.</li></ol> The effects of open-syllable lengthening and <a href="/wiki/Trisyllabic_laxing" title="Trisyllabic laxing">trisyllabic laxing</a> often led to differences in the stem vowel between singular and plural/genitive. Generally, such differences were regularized by analogy in one direction or another but not in a consistent way: <ul><li>ME path, pāthes → NE path, paths, but ME whal, whāles → NE whale, whales</li> <li>ME crādel, cradeles → NE cradle, cradles, but ME sādel, sadeles → NE saddle, saddles</li></ul> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Trisyllabic_laxing">Trisyllabic laxing</h3>[<a href="/w/index.php?title=Middle_English_phonology&action=edit&section=14" title="Edit section: Trisyllabic laxing">edit</a>]</div> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1236090951"><div role="note" class="hatnote navigation-not-searchable">Main article: <a href="/wiki/Trisyllabic_laxing" title="Trisyllabic laxing">Trisyllabic laxing</a></div> In late Old English, vowels were shortened before clusters of two consonants when two or more syllables followed. Later in Middle English, the process was expanded, and applied to all vowels when two or more syllables followed. This led to the Modern English variations between divine vs. divinity, school vs. scholarly, grateful vs. gratitude, etc. In some cases, later changes have led to apparently anomalous results, e.g. south vs. southern with only two syllables (but /suːðernə/ while trisyllabic laxing applied). The change is still fairly productive in Modern English. <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Pre-cluster_shortening">Pre-cluster shortening</h3>[<a href="/w/index.php?title=Middle_English_phonology&action=edit&section=15" title="Edit section: Pre-cluster shortening">edit</a>]</div> In late Old English, vowels were shortened before clusters of three consonants: <ul><li>OE gāst → NE ghost /ɡoʊ̯st/; OE gāstliċ → NE ghastly /ˈɡæstli/, /ˈɡɑːstli/</li> <li>OE ċild → NE child /tʃaɪ̯ld/; OE ċildru + OE -an → NE children /ˈtʃɪldrən/</li> <li>OE gōd → NE good; OE gōdspell → NE gospel</li></ul> As shown by ghastly, this shortening occurred before the raising of OE /ɑː/ to EME /ɔː/, which occurred in the transition to Middle English. Later in Middle English, vowels were shortened before clusters of two consonants, except before /st/ and in some cases where <a href="#Homorganic_lengthening">homorganic lengthening</a> applied. Examples: <ul><li>OE cēpte → kept (cf. OE cēpan → keep)</li> <li>OE mētte → met (cf. OE mētan → meet)</li></ul> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Reduction_of_double_consonants">Reduction of double consonants</h3>[<a href="/w/index.php?title=Middle_English_phonology&action=edit&section=16" title="Edit section: Reduction of double consonants">edit</a>]</div> Double (<a href="/wiki/Gemination" title="Gemination">geminated</a>) consonants were reduced to single ones. This took place after open syllable lengthening; the syllable before a geminate was a closed syllable and so vowels were not lengthened before (originally) doubled consonants. The loss of gemination may have been stimulated by its small <a href="/wiki/Functional_load" title="Functional load">functional load</a> since few <a href="/wiki/Minimal_pairs" class="mw-redirect" title="Minimal pairs">minimal pairs</a> of words existed that were distinguished solely by that feature.<a href="#cite_note-Britton-5">[5]</a> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="H-loss">H-loss</h3>[<a href="/w/index.php?title=Middle_English_phonology&action=edit&section=17" title="Edit section: H-loss">edit</a>]</div> The phoneme /h/, when it occurred in the <a href="/wiki/Syllable_coda" class="mw-redirect" title="Syllable coda">syllable coda</a>, is believed to have had two allophones: the <a href="/wiki/Voiceless_palatal_fricative" title="Voiceless palatal fricative">voiceless palatal fricative</a> [ç], occurring after <a href="/wiki/Front_vowel" title="Front vowel">front vowels</a>, and the <a href="/wiki/Voiceless_velar_fricative" title="Voiceless velar fricative">voiceless velar fricative</a> [x], occurring after <a href="/wiki/Back_vowel" title="Back vowel">back vowels</a>. The usual spelling in both cases was ⟨<a href="/wiki/Gh_(digraph)" title="Gh (digraph)">gh</a>⟩, which is retained today in words like night and taught. Those sounds were lost during later Middle English and Early Modern English. The timing of the process depended on the dialect; the fricatives were still pronounced in some educated speech in the 16th century, but they had disappeared by the late 17th.<a href="#cite_note-Wellsx-6">[6]</a> Loss of the fricatives was accompanied by some <a href="/wiki/Compensatory_lengthening" title="Compensatory lengthening">compensatory lengthening</a> or <a href="/wiki/Diphthongization" class="mw-redirect" title="Diphthongization">diphthongization</a> of preceding vowels. In some cases, the velar fricative [x] developed into /f/; as such, the preceding vowel was shortened, and the [u] of a diphthong was absorbed. Some developments are illustrated below: <ul><li>OE niht ('night') → ME /niht/ [niçt] → /niːt/ → NE /naɪt/ (by the <a href="/wiki/Great_Vowel_Shift" title="Great Vowel Shift">Great Vowel Shift</a>)</li> <li>OE hlæhhan ('to laugh') → ME [ˈlauxə] → LLME /laf/ → ENE /laːf/ → NE /læ(ː)f, lɑːf/</li> <li>OE tōh ('tough') → ME [tuːx] → LLME /tuf/ → NE /tʌf/</li></ul> The variable outcome, along with other variable changes and the ambiguity of the Middle English spelling ⟨ou⟩ (either /ou̯/ or /uː/ in Early Middle English, accounts for the numerous pronunciations of Modern English words in <a href="/wiki/Ough_(orthography)" title="Ough (orthography)">-ough-</a> (e.g. though, through, bough, rough, trough, thought, with -ough- pronounced /ou/, /uː/, /au/, /ʌf/, /ɒf/, /ɔː/ respectively). /h/ spelled -gh- is realized as [x] even today in some traditional dialects of <a href="/wiki/Northern_England" title="Northern England">northern England</a> and more famously in <a href="/wiki/Scots_language" title="Scots language">Scots</a>. Some accents in <a href="/wiki/Northern_England" title="Northern England">northern England</a> lack the /x/ and instead exhibit special vowel developments in some such words: night as /niːt/ (sounds like neat) and in the dialectal words owt and nowt (from aught and naught, pronounced like out and nout, meaning 'anything' and 'nothing'). The modern phoneme /x/ most commonly appears today in the typically-Scottish word <a href="/wiki/Loch" title="Loch">loch</a> and in names such as <a href="/wiki/Buchan" title="Buchan">Buchan</a>. There, the /x/ is usual in Scotland although the alternative /k/ is becoming more common among some younger speakers.<a href="#cite_note-glaswegian-7">[7]</a> The same is true in Wales, in names such as <a href="/wiki/Loughor" title="Loughor">Loughor</a>. English-speakers from elsewhere may replace the /x/ in such cases with /k/, but some use /x/ in imitation of the local pronunciations as they may in certain foreign words such as <a href="/wiki/Bach" class="mw-redirect" title="Bach">Bach</a>, <a href="/wiki/Kharkiv" title="Kharkiv">Kharkiv</a>, <a href="/wiki/Sakhalin" title="Sakhalin">Sakhalin</a> and <a href="/wiki/Chutzpah" title="Chutzpah">chutzpah</a>.<a href="#cite_note-Wellsx-6">[6]</a> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Great_Vowel_Shift">Great Vowel Shift</h3>[<a href="/w/index.php?title=Middle_English_phonology&action=edit&section=18" title="Edit section: Great Vowel Shift">edit</a>]</div> The <a href="/wiki/Great_Vowel_Shift" title="Great Vowel Shift">Great Vowel Shift</a> was a fundamental change in late Middle English (post-Chaucer) and <a href="/wiki/Early_Modern_English" title="Early Modern English">Early Modern English</a> that affected the pronunciation of all of the long vowels. The high vowels /iː/ and /uː/ were <a href="/wiki/Vowel_breaking" title="Vowel breaking">diphthongized</a>, ultimately producing the modern diphthongs /aɪ̯/ and /aʊ̯/, and all other vowels were raised. <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Diphthong_loss">Diphthong loss</h3>[<a href="/w/index.php?title=Middle_English_phonology&action=edit&section=19" title="Edit section: Diphthong loss">edit</a>]</div> This is not normally considered a part of the Great Vowel Shift, but during the same time period, most pre-existing Middle English diphthongs were <a href="/wiki/Monophthongization" title="Monophthongization">monophthongized</a>: <ul><li>/ai̯/ → ENE /ɛː/ → /eː/ → NE /eɪ̯/</li> <li>/au̯/ → ENE /ɔː/</li> <li>/ɔu̯/ → ENE /oː/ → NE /oʊ̯/</li></ul> The remaining diphthongs developed as follows: <ul><li>/ɛu̯/, /iu̯/ → ENE /ɪu̯/ → NE /juː/. /ɪu̯/ is still used in <a href="/wiki/Welsh_English" title="Welsh English">Welsh English</a>.</li> <li>/ɔi̯/, /ui̯/ → NE /ɔɪ̯/</li></ul> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Vowel_equivalents_from_Old_English_to_Modern_English">Vowel equivalents from Old English to Modern English</h2>[<a href="/w/index.php?title=Middle_English_phonology&action=edit&section=20" title="Edit section: Vowel equivalents from Old English to Modern English">edit</a>]</div> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1251242444"><table class="box-Unreferenced_section plainlinks metadata ambox ambox-content ambox-Unreferenced" role="presentation"><tbody><tr><td class="mbox-image"><div class="mbox-image-div"><a href="/wiki/File:Question_book-new.svg" class="mw-file-description"><img alt="" src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/9/99/Question_book-new.svg/50px-Question_book-new.svg.png" decoding="async" width="50" height="39" class="mw-file-element" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/9/99/Question_book-new.svg/75px-Question_book-new.svg.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/9/99/Question_book-new.svg/100px-Question_book-new.svg.png 2x" data-file-width="512" data-file-height="399" /></a></div></td><td class="mbox-text"><div class="mbox-text-span">This section does not <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Citing_sources" title="Wikipedia:Citing sources">cite</a> any <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Verifiability" title="Wikipedia:Verifiability">sources</a>. Please help <a href="/wiki/Special:EditPage/Middle_English_phonology" title="Special:EditPage/Middle English phonology">improve this section</a> by <a href="/wiki/Help:Referencing_for_beginners" title="Help:Referencing for beginners">adding citations to reliable sources</a>. Unsourced material may be challenged and <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Verifiability#Burden_of_evidence" title="Wikipedia:Verifiability">removed</a>. (September 2024) (<a href="/wiki/Help:Maintenance_template_removal" title="Help:Maintenance template removal">Learn how and when to remove this message</a>)</div></td></tr></tbody></table> For a detailed description of the changes between Old English and Middle and Modern English, see the article on the <a href="/wiki/Phonological_history_of_English" title="Phonological history of English">phonological history of English</a>. A summary of the main vowel changes is presented below. The spelling of Modern English largely reflects Middle English pronunciation. <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Monophthongs">Monophthongs</h3>[<a href="/w/index.php?title=Middle_English_phonology&action=edit&section=21" title="Edit section: Monophthongs">edit</a>]</div> This table presents the general developments. Many exceptional outcomes occurred in particular environments. For example, vowels were often lengthened in late Old English before /ld/, /nd/, /mb/, and vowels changed in <a href="/wiki/Phonological_history_of_English_vowels" title="Phonological history of English vowels">complex ways</a> before /r/ throughout the history of English. Vowels were diphthongized in Middle English before /h/, and new diphthongs arose in Middle English by the combination of vowels with Old English ⟨w⟩, ⟨g⟩ /ɣ/ → /w/, and ⟨ġ⟩ /j/. For more information, see the section below. The only conditional development considered in detail below is Middle English open-syllable lengthening. In the column on modern spelling, CV means a sequence of a single consonant followed by a vowel. NOTE: In this table, abbreviations are used as follows: <table> <tbody><tr> <td> <ul><li>OE = <a href="/wiki/Old_English" title="Old English">Old English</a></li> <li>WS = <a href="/wiki/West_Saxon_dialect_(Old_English)" class="mw-redirect" title="West Saxon dialect (Old English)">West Saxon</a> (dialect of <a href="/wiki/Old_English" title="Old English">Old English</a>)</li> <li>ME = <a href="/wiki/Middle_English" title="Middle English">Middle English</a></li> <li>NE = <a href="/wiki/Modern_English" title="Modern English">Modern English</a></li> <li>GA = <a href="/wiki/General_American" class="mw-redirect" title="General American">General American</a> (generalised U.S. accent of <a href="/wiki/Modern_English" title="Modern English">Modern English</a>)</li></ul> </td> <td> <ul><li>RP = <a href="/wiki/Received_Pronunciation" title="Received Pronunciation">Received Pronunciation</a> (prestige British accent of <a href="/wiki/Modern_English" title="Modern English">Modern English</a>)</li> <li>AN = <a href="/wiki/Anglo-Norman_Language" class="mw-redirect" title="Anglo-Norman Language">Anglo-Norman</a></li> <li>leng. = lengthened by <a href="/wiki/Open-syllable_lengthening" class="mw-redirect" title="Open-syllable lengthening">open-syllable lengthening</a></li> <li>occ. = occasionally</li> <li>> = produces by regular <a href="/wiki/Sound_change" title="Sound change">sound change</a></li> <li>>! = produces by analogy or irregular change</li></ul> </td> <td> </td></tr></tbody></table> <table class="wikitable"> <tbody><tr> <th>Late Old English (Anglian), c. 1000 </th> <th>Middle English pronunciation, c. 1400 </th> <th>Modern English spelling, c. 1500 </th> <th>Early Modern English pronunciation, c. 1600 </th> <th>Modern English pronunciation, c. 2000 </th> <th>Source </th> <th>Example </th></tr> <tr> <td rowspan="15">a; æ; ea; ā+CC; often ǣ+CC,ēa+CC; occ. ē+CC (WS ǣ+CC)</td> <td rowspan="12">/a/</td> <td rowspan="12">a</td> <td rowspan="12">/a/</td> <td rowspan="4">/æ/</td> <td>OE a</td> <td>OE mann > man; OE lamb > lamb; OE sang > sang; OE sacc > sack; OE assa > ass (donkey) </td></tr> <tr> <td>OE æ</td> <td>OE fæþm embrace > fathom; OE sæt > sat; OE æt > at; OE mæsse > mass (at church) </td></tr> <tr> <td>OE ea</td> <td>OE weax > wax; OE healf > half /hæf/ (GA) </td></tr> <tr> <td>OE +CC</td> <td>OE āscian > ask /æsk/ (GA); OE fǣtt > fat; OE lǣstan > to last /læst/ (GA) ; OE blēddre (WS blǣddre) > bladder; OE brēmbel (WS brǣmbel) > bramble </td></tr> <tr> <td rowspan="3">(w+, not +g,ck,ng,nk) GA /ɑ/, RP /ɒ/</td> <td>OE a</td> <td>OE swan > swan; OE wasċan > to wash; OE wann dark > wan </td></tr> <tr> <td>OE æ</td> <td>OE swæþ > swath; OE wæsp > wasp </td></tr> <tr> <td>OE ea</td> <td>OE wealwian > to wallow; OE swealwe > swallow (bird) </td></tr> <tr> <td>(+r) /ar/ > GA /ɑr/, RP /ɑː/</td> <td></td> <td>OE heard > hard; OE ærc (WS earc) > ark </td></tr> <tr> <td>(w+ and +r) /ɔr/ > GA /ɔr/, RP /ɔː/</td> <td>OE ea</td> <td>OE swearm > swarm; OE sweart > old poetic swart >! swarthy; OE weardian > to ward; OE wearm > warm; OE wearnian > to warn </td></tr> <tr> <td>(+lC,l#) /ɔː/</td> <td></td> <td>OE smæl > small; OE all (WS eall) > all; OE walcian (WS wealcian) to roll > to walk </td></tr> <tr> <td>(+lm) GA /ɑ/, RP /ɑː/</td> <td></td> <td>OE ælmesse > alms; <a href="/wiki/Latin" title="Latin">Latin</a> palma > OE 'palm > palm </td></tr> <tr> <td>(RP, often +f,s,th) /ɑː/</td> <td></td> <td>OE glæs > glass; OE græs > grass; OE pæþ > path; OE æfter > after; OE āscian /ɑːsk/ > to ask; OE lǣstan /lɑːst/ > to last </td></tr> <tr> <td rowspan="3">(leng.) /aː/ [æː]</td> <td rowspan="3">aCV</td> <td rowspan="3">/ɛː/</td> <td rowspan="2">/eː/ > /eɪ/</td> <td>OE a</td> <td>OE nama > name; OE nacod > naked; OE bacan > to bake </td></tr> <tr> <td>OE æ</td> <td>OE æcer > acre; OE hwæl > whale; OE hræfn > raven </td></tr> <tr> <td>(+r) /eːr/ > GA /ɛr/, RP /ɛə/</td> <td>OE a</td> <td>OE caru > care; OE faran > to fare; OE starian > to stare </td></tr> <tr> <td rowspan="14">e; eo; occ. y; ē+CC; ēo+CC; occ. ǣ+CC,ēa+CC</td> <td rowspan="9">/e/</td> <td rowspan="4">e</td> <td rowspan="4">/ɛ/</td> <td rowspan="4">/ɛ/</td> <td>OE e</td> <td>OE helpan > to help; OE elh (WS eolh) > elk; OE tellan > to tell; OE betera > better; OE streċċan > to stretch </td></tr> <tr> <td>OE eo</td> <td>OE seofon > seven </td></tr> <tr> <td>OE y</td> <td>OE myriġ > merry; OE byrġan > to bury /ˈbɛri/; OE lyft- weak > left (hand); OE cnyll > knell </td></tr> <tr> <td>OE +CC</td> <td>OE cēpte > kept; OE mētte > met; OE bēcnan (WS bīecnan) > to beckon; OE clǣnsian > to cleanse; OE flǣsċ > flesh; OE lǣssa > less; OE frēond > friend /frɛnd/; OE þēofþ (WS þīefþ) > theft; OE hēold > held </td></tr> <tr> <td rowspan="2">(+r) ar</td> <td rowspan="2">/ar/</td> <td>GA /ɑr/, RP /ɑː/</td> <td></td> <td>OE heorte > heart; OE bercan (WS beorcan) > to bark; OE teoru (WS teru) > tar; OE steorra > star </td></tr> <tr> <td>(w+ and +r) /ɔr/ > GA /ɔr/, RP /ɔː/</td> <td></td> <td>AN werra > war; AN werbler > to warble </td></tr> <tr> <td rowspan="3">(occ. +r) er</td> <td rowspan="3">/ɛr/</td> <td rowspan="3">/ər/ > GA /ər/, RP /ɜː/</td> <td>OE e</td> <td>OE sterne (WS stierne, styrne) > stern </td></tr> <tr> <td>OE eo</td> <td>OE eorl > earl; OE eorþe > earth; OE liornian, leornian > to learn </td></tr> <tr> <td>OE +CC</td> <td>OE hērde (WS hīerde) > heard </td></tr> <tr> <td rowspan="5">(leng.) /ɛː/</td> <td rowspan="5">ea,eCV</td> <td rowspan="5">/eː/</td> <td>/iː/</td> <td></td> <td>OE specan > to speak; OE mete > meat; OE beofor > beaver; OE meotan (WS metan) > to mete /miːt/; OE eotan (WS etan) > to eat; OE meodu (WS medu) > mead; OE yfel > evil </td></tr> <tr> <td>(+r) /iːr/ > GA /ɪr/, RP /ɪə/</td> <td></td> <td>OE spere > spear; OE mere > mere (lake) </td></tr> <tr> <td>(occ.) /eɪ/</td> <td></td> <td>OE brecan > to break /breɪk/ </td></tr> <tr> <td>(occ. +r) /eːr/ > GA /ɛr/, RP /ɛə/</td> <td></td> <td>OE beoran (WS beran) > to bear; OE pere, peru > pear; OE swerian > to swear; OE wer man > were- </td></tr> <tr> <td>(often +th,d,t,v) /ɛ/</td> <td></td> <td>OE leþer > leather /lɛðɚ/; OE stede > stead; OE weder > weather; OE heofon > heaven; OE hefiġ > heavy </td></tr> <tr> <td rowspan="7">i; y; ī+CC,ȳ+CC; occ. ēoc,ēc; occ. ī+CV,ȳ+CV</td> <td rowspan="6">/i/</td> <td rowspan="6">i</td> <td rowspan="6">/ɪ/</td> <td rowspan="5">/ɪ/</td> <td>OE i</td> <td>OE writen > written; OE sittan > to sit; OE fisċ > fish; OE lifer > liver </td></tr> <tr> <td>OE y</td> <td>OE bryċġ > bridge; OE cyssan > to kiss; OE dyde > did; OE synn > sin; OE gyldan > to gild; OE bysiġ > busy /ˈbɪzi/ </td></tr> <tr> <td>OE +CC</td> <td>OE wīsdōm > wisdom; OE fīftiġ > fifty; OE wȳsċan > to wish; OE cȳþþ(u) > kith; OE fȳst > fist </td></tr> <tr> <td>OE ȳ+CV,ī+CV</td> <td>OE ċīcen > chicken; OE lȳtel > little </td></tr> <tr> <td>OE ēoc,ēc</td> <td>OE sēoc > sick; OE wēoce > wick; OE ēc + nama > ME eke-name >! nickname </td></tr> <tr> <td>(+r) /ər/ > GA /ər/, RP /ɜː/</td> <td></td> <td>OE gyrdan > to gird; OE fyrst > first; OE styrian > to stir </td></tr> <tr> <td>(leng. — occ.) /eː/</td> <td>ee</td> <td>/iː/</td> <td>/iː/</td> <td></td> <td>OE wicu > week; OE pilian > to peel; OE bitela > beetle </td></tr> <tr> <td rowspan="6">o; ō+CC</td> <td rowspan="4">/o/</td> <td rowspan="4">o</td> <td rowspan="4">/ɔ/</td> <td rowspan="2">GA /ɑ/, RP /ɒ/</td> <td>OE o</td> <td>OE god > god; OE beġeondan > beyond </td></tr> <tr> <td>OE +CC</td> <td>OE gōdspell > gospel; OE fōddor > fodder; OE fōstrian > to foster </td></tr> <tr> <td>(GA, +f,s,th,g,ng) /ɔː/</td> <td></td> <td>OE moþþe > moth; OE cros > cross; OE frost > frost; OE of > off; OE oft > oft; OE sōfte > soft </td></tr> <tr> <td>(+r) /ɔr/ > GA /ɔr/, RP /ɔː/</td> <td></td> <td>OE corn > corn; OE storc > storc; OE storm > storm </td></tr> <tr> <td rowspan="2">(leng.) /ɔː/</td> <td rowspan="2">oa,oCV</td> <td rowspan="2">/oː/</td> <td>GA /oʊ/, RP /əʊ/</td> <td></td> <td>OE fola > foal; OE nosu > nose; OE ofer > over </td></tr> <tr> <td>(+r) /oːr/ > GA /ɔr/, RP /ɔː/</td> <td></td> <td>OE borian > to bore; OE fore > fore; OE bord > board </td></tr> <tr> <td rowspan="11">u; occ. y; ū+CC; w+ e,eo,o,y +r</td> <td rowspan="7">/u/</td> <td rowspan="7">u,o</td> <td rowspan="7">/ʊ/</td> <td rowspan="3">/ʌ/</td> <td>OE u</td> <td>OE bucc > buck /bʌk/; OE lufian > to love /lʌv/; OE uppe > up; OE on bufan > above </td></tr> <tr> <td>OE y</td> <td>OE myċel > ME muchel >! much; OE blysċan > to blush; OE cyċġel > cudgel; OE clyċċan > to clutch; OE sċytel > shuttle </td></tr> <tr> <td>OE +CC</td> <td>OE dūst > dust; OE tūsc > tusk; OE rūst > rust </td></tr> <tr> <td>(b,f,p+ and +l,sh) /ʊ/</td> <td></td> <td>OE full > full /fʊl/; OE bula > bull; OE bysċ > bush </td></tr> <tr> <td rowspan="3">(+r) /ər/ > GA /ər/, RP /ɜː/</td> <td>OE u</td> <td>OE spurnan > to spurn </td></tr> <tr> <td>OE y</td> <td>OE ċyriċe > church; OE byrþen > burden; OE hyrdel > hurdle </td></tr> <tr> <td>OE w+,+r</td> <td>OE word > word; OE werc (WS weorc) > work; OE werold > world; OE wyrm > worm; OE wersa (WS wiersa) > worse; OE weorþ > worth </td></tr> <tr> <td rowspan="4">(leng. — occ.) /oː/</td> <td rowspan="4">oo</td> <td rowspan="4">/uː/</td> <td>/uː/</td> <td></td> <td>OE (brȳd)-guma > ME (bride)-gome >! (bride)-groom </td></tr> <tr> <td>(+r) /uːr/ > /oːr/ > GA /ɔr/, RP /ɔː/</td> <td></td> <td>OE duru > door </td></tr> <tr> <td>(often +th,d,t) /ʌ/</td> <td></td> <td>? </td></tr> <tr> <td>(occ. +th,d,t) /ʊ/</td> <td></td> <td>OE wudu > wood /wʊd/ </td></tr> <tr> <td rowspan="3">ā; often a+ld,mb</td> <td rowspan="3">/ɔː/</td> <td rowspan="3">oa,oCV</td> <td rowspan="3">/oː/</td> <td rowspan="2">GA /oʊ/, RP /əʊ/</td> <td>OE ā</td> <td>OE āc > oak; OE hāl > whole </td></tr> <tr> <td>OE +ld,mb</td> <td>OE camb > comb; OE ald (WS eald) > old; OE haldan (WS healdan) > to hold </td></tr> <tr> <td>(+r) /oːr/ > GA /ɔr/, RP /ɔː/</td> <td></td> <td>OE ār > oar, ore; OE māra > more; OE bār > boar; OE sār > sore </td></tr> <tr> <td rowspan="7">ǣ; ēa</td> <td rowspan="7">/ɛː/</td> <td rowspan="7">ea,eCV</td> <td rowspan="7">/eː/</td> <td rowspan="2">/iː/</td> <td>OE ǣ</td> <td>OE hǣlan > to heal /hiːl/; OE hǣtu > heat; OE hwǣte > wheat </td></tr> <tr> <td>OE ēa</td> <td>OE bēatan > to beat /biːt/; OE lēaf > leaf; OE ċēap > cheap </td></tr> <tr> <td>(+r) /iːr/ > GA /ɪr/, RP /ɪə/</td> <td></td> <td>OE rǣran > to rear ; OE ēare > ear; OE sēar > sere; OE sēarian > to sear </td></tr> <tr> <td>(occ.) /eɪ/</td> <td></td> <td>OE grēat > great /greɪt/ </td></tr> <tr> <td>(occ. +r) /eːr/ > GA /ɛr/, RP /ɛə/</td> <td></td> <td>OE ǣr > ere (before) </td></tr> <tr> <td rowspan="2">(often +th,d,t) /ɛ/</td> <td>OE ǣ</td> <td>OE brǣþ odor > breath; OE swǣtan > to sweat; OE sprǣdan > to spread </td></tr> <tr> <td>OE ēa</td> <td>OE dēad > dead /dɛd/; OE dēaþ death; OE þrēat menace > threat; OE rēad > red; OE dēaf > deaf </td></tr> <tr> <td rowspan="7">ē; ēo; often e+ld</td> <td rowspan="3">/eː/</td> <td rowspan="3">ee,ie(nd/ld)</td> <td rowspan="3">/iː/</td> <td rowspan="3">/iː/</td> <td>OE ē</td> <td>OE fēdan > to feed; OE grēdiġ (WS grǣdiġ) > greedy; OE mē > me; OE fēt > feet; OE dēd (WS dǣd) > deed; OE nēdl (WS nǣdl) > needle </td></tr> <tr> <td>OE ēo</td> <td>OE dēop deep; OE fēond > fiend; OE betwēonum > between; OE bēon > to be </td></tr> <tr> <td>OE +ld</td> <td>OE feld > field; OE ġeldan (WS ġieldan) to pay > to yield </td></tr> <tr> <td rowspan="3">(often +r) /ɛːr/</td> <td rowspan="3">ear,erV</td> <td rowspan="3">/eːr/</td> <td rowspan="2">/iːr/ > GA /ɪr/, RP /ɪə/</td> <td>OE ē</td> <td>OE hēr > here; OE hēran (WS hīeran) > to hear; OE fēr (WS fǣr) > fear </td></tr> <tr> <td>OE ēo</td> <td>OE dēore (WS dīere) > dear </td></tr> <tr> <td>(occ.) /eːr/ > GA /ɛr/, RP /ɛə/</td> <td></td> <td>OE þēr (WS þǣr) > there; OE hwēr (WS hwǣr) > where </td></tr> <tr> <td>(occ. +r) /eːr/</td> <td>eer</td> <td>/iːr/</td> <td>/iːr/ > GA /ɪr/, RP /ɪə/</td> <td></td> <td>OE bēor > beer; OE dēor > deer; OE stēran (WS stīeran) > to steer; OE bēr (WS bǣr) > bier </td></tr> <tr> <td rowspan="4">ī; ȳ; often i+ld,mb,nd; often y+ld,mb,nd</td> <td rowspan="4">/iː/</td> <td rowspan="4">i,iCV</td> <td rowspan="4">/əi/</td> <td rowspan="3">/aɪ/</td> <td>OE ī</td> <td>OE rīdan > to ride; OE tīma > time; OE hwīt > white; OE mīn > mine (of me) </td></tr> <tr> <td>OE ȳ</td> <td>OE mȳs > mice; OE brȳd > bride; OE hȳdan > to hide </td></tr> <tr> <td>OE +ld,mb,nd</td> <td>OE findan > to find; OE ċild > child; OE climban > to climb; OE mynd > mind </td></tr> <tr> <td>(+r) /air/ > GA /aɪr/, RP /aɪə/</td> <td></td> <td>OE fȳr > fire; OE hȳrian > to hire; OE wīr > wire </td></tr> <tr> <td rowspan="5">ō; occ. ēo</td> <td rowspan="5">/oː/</td> <td rowspan="5">oo</td> <td rowspan="5">/uː/</td> <td rowspan="2">/uː/</td> <td>OE ō</td> <td>OE mōna > moon; OE sōna > soon; OE fōd > food /fuːd/; OE dōn > to do </td></tr> <tr> <td>OE ēo</td> <td>OE ċēosan > to choose; OE sċēotan > to shoot </td></tr> <tr> <td>(+r) /uːr/ > /oːr/ > GA /ɔr/, RP /ɔː/</td> <td></td> <td>OE flōr > floor; OE mōr > moor </td></tr> <tr> <td>(occ. +th,d,v) /ʌ/</td> <td></td> <td>OE blōd > blood /blʌd/; OE mōdor > mother /mʌðə(r)/; OE glōf > glove /glʌv/ </td></tr> <tr> <td>(often +th,d,t,k) /ʊ/</td> <td></td> <td>OE gōd > good /gʊd/; OE bōc > book /bʊk/; OE lōcian > to look /lʊk/; OE fōt > foot /fʊt/ </td></tr> <tr> <td rowspan="4">ū; often u+nd</td> <td rowspan="4">/uː/</td> <td rowspan="4">ou</td> <td rowspan="4">/əu/</td> <td rowspan="2">/aʊ/</td> <td>OE ū</td> <td>OE mūs > mouse; OE ūt, ūte > out; OE hlūd > loud </td></tr> <tr> <td>OE +nd</td> <td>OE ġefunden > found; OE hund > hound; OE ġesund > sound (safe) </td></tr> <tr> <td>(+r) /aur/ > GA /aʊr/, RP /aʊə/</td> <td>OE</td> <td>OE ūre > our; OE sċūr > shower; OE sūr > sour </td></tr> <tr> <td>(occ. +t) /ʌ/</td> <td></td> <td>OE būtan > but; OE strūtian > ME strouten > to strut </td></tr></tbody></table> The Modern English vowel that is usually spelled ⟨au⟩ (<a href="/wiki/Received_Pronunciation" title="Received Pronunciation">Received Pronunciation</a>: /ɔː/, <a href="/wiki/General_American" class="mw-redirect" title="General American">General American</a>: /ɔ/ ~ /ɑ/) does not appear in the above chart. Its main source is late Middle English /au̯/ < early /au̯/ and /ɔu/, which come from various sources: Old English ⟨aw⟩ and ⟨ag⟩ (claw < clawu, law < lagu); diphthongization before /h/ (sought < sōhte, taught < tāhte, daughter < dohtor); borrowings from Latin and French (fawn < <a href="/wiki/Old_French" title="Old French">Old French</a> faune, Paul < <a href="/wiki/Latin_language" class="mw-redirect" title="Latin language">Latin</a> Paulus). Other sources are Early Modern English lengthening of /a/ before /l/ (salt, all); occasional shortening and later relengthening of Middle English /ɔː/ (broad < /brɔːd/ < brād); and in <a href="/wiki/American_English" title="American English">American English</a>, lengthening of short o before <a href="/wiki/Unvoiced_fricative" class="mw-redirect" title="Unvoiced fricative">unvoiced fricatives</a> and <a href="/wiki/Voiced_velar" class="mw-redirect" title="Voiced velar">voiced velars</a> (dog, long, off, cross, moth, all with /ɔ/ in American dialects that still maintain the difference between /ɑ/ and /ɔ/). As mentioned above, Modern English is derived from the Middle English of London, which is derived largely from Anglian Old English, with some admixture of West Saxon and Kentish. One of the most noticeable differences among the dialects is the handling of original Old English /y/. By the time of the written Old English documents, the Old English of Kent had already unrounded /y/ to /e/, and the late Old English of Anglia unrounded /y/ to /i/. In the West Saxon area, /y/ remained as such well into Middle English times and was written ⟨u⟩ in Middle English documents from the area. Some words with the sound were borrowed into London Middle English, where the unfamiliar /y/ was substituted with /u/: <ul><li>gild < gyldan, did < dyde, sin < synn, mind < mynd, dizzy < dysiġ, lift < lyft etc. show the normal (Anglian) development;</li> <li>much < myċel shows the West Saxon development;</li> <li>merry < myriġ shows the Kentish development;</li> <li>bury /ˈbɛri/ < byrġan has its spelling from West Saxon but its pronunciation from Kentish;</li> <li>busy /ˈbɪzi/ < bysiġ, build < byldan, buy < bycġan have their spelling from West Saxon but their pronunciation from Anglian.</li></ul> Some apparent instances of modern ⟨e⟩ for Old English ⟨y⟩ are actually regular developments, particularly if the ⟨y⟩ is a development of earlier (West Saxon) ⟨ie⟩ from i-mutation of ⟨ea⟩, as the normal i-mutation of ⟨ea⟩ in Anglian is ⟨e⟩; for example, stern < styrne < *starnijaz, steel < stȳle < *stahliją (cf. <a href="/wiki/Old_Saxon" title="Old Saxon">Old Saxon</a> stehli). Also, some apparent instances of modern ⟨u⟩ for Old English ⟨y⟩ may actually be from the influence of a related form with unmutated ⟨u⟩: sundry < syndriġ, influenced by sundor "apart, differently" (compare to sunder and asunder). <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Diphthongs_2">Diphthongs</h3>[<a href="/w/index.php?title=Middle_English_phonology&action=edit&section=22" title="Edit section: Diphthongs">edit</a>]</div> Note: V means "any vowel"; C means "any consonant"; # means "end of word". <table class="wikitable"> <tbody><tr> <th>Late Old English (Anglian) </th> <th>Early Middle English </th> <th>Late Middle English </th> <th>Early Modern English </th> <th>Modern English </th> <th>Example (Old and Modern English forms given)<a href="#cite_note-8">[8]</a> </th></tr> <tr> <td>æġ, ǣġ</td> <td>/ai/</td> <td rowspan="2">/ai/ [æi]</td> <td rowspan="2">/eː/</td> <td rowspan="2">/eɪ/</td> <td>dæġ > day; mæġ > may; mæġden > maiden; næġl > nail; fæġer > fair; clǣġ > clay; grǣġ > gray </td></tr> <tr> <td>eġ, ēġ#</td> <td>/ɛi/</td> <td>weġ > way; pleġan > to play; reġn > rain; leġer > lair; leġde > laid; hēġ (WS hīeġ) > hay </td></tr> <tr> <td>ēġV</td> <td>/ei/ > /iː/</td> <td rowspan="2">/iː/</td> <td rowspan="2">/əi/</td> <td rowspan="2">/aɪ/</td> <td>ēage > ēġe > eye; lēogan > lēġan > to lie (deceive); flēoge > flēġe > fly </td></tr> <tr> <td>iġ, īġ, yġ, ȳġ</td> <td>/iː/</td> <td>tiġel > tile; liġe > (I) lie ("recline"); hīġian > to hie; ryġe > rye; byġe > (I) buy; drȳġe > dry </td></tr> <tr> <td>æw, aw, agV</td> <td>/au/</td> <td>/au/</td> <td>/ɔː/</td> <td>/ɔː/</td> <td>clawu > claw; lagu > law; dragan > to draw </td></tr> <tr> <td>ǣw, ēaw, ew, eow</td> <td>/ɛu/</td> <td>/ɛu/</td> <td rowspan="3">/juː/</td> <td rowspan="3">/(j)uː/</td> <td>mǣw > mew; lǣwede > lewd; scrēawa > shrew; dēaw > dew </td></tr> <tr> <td>ēw, ēow</td> <td>/eu/</td> <td rowspan="2">/iu/</td> <td>ċēowan > to chew; hrēowan > to rue; blēow > blew; trēowþ > truth </td></tr> <tr> <td>iw, īw, yw, ȳw</td> <td>/iu/</td> <td>hīw > hue; nīwe > new; trīewe (WS) > true; Tīwesdæġ > Tiwesdæġ > Tuesday </td></tr> <tr> <td>āw, āgV, ow, ogV, ōw, ōgV</td> <td>/ɔu/</td> <td>/ɔu/</td> <td>/ou/ > /oː/</td> <td>/əʊ/ (British), /oʊ/ (American)</td> <td>cnāwan > to know; crāwa > crow; snāw > snow; sāwol > soul; āgan > to owe; āgen > own; grōwan > to grow; blōwen > blown; boga > bow /bou/; flogen > flown </td></tr> <tr> <td>ugV, ūgV</td> <td>/uː/</td> <td>/uː/</td> <td>/əu/</td> <td>/aʊ/</td> <td>fugol > fowl; drugaþ > drouth > drought; būgan > to bow /baʊ/ </td></tr> <tr> <td rowspan="2">æh, ah, ag#</td> <td rowspan="2">/auh/</td> <td rowspan="2">/auh/</td> <td>([x] > <a href="/wiki/Null_sign" title="Null sign">∅</a>) /ɔː/</td> <td>/ɔː/</td> <td>slæht (WS sleaht) + -or > slaughter </td></tr> <tr> <td>([x] > /f/) /af/</td> <td>/æf/, /ɑːf/</td> <td>hlæhtor > laughter </td></tr> <tr> <td>eh</td> <td>/ɛih/</td> <td>/ɛih/</td> <td>/ei/ > /eː/</td> <td>/eɪ/</td> <td>streht > straight </td></tr> <tr> <td>ēh</td> <td>/eih/ > /iːh/</td> <td rowspan="2">/iːh/</td> <td rowspan="2">/əi/</td> <td rowspan="2">/aɪ/</td> <td>hēah > hēh > high; þēoh > þēh > thigh; nēh > nigh </td></tr> <tr> <td>ih, īh, yh, ȳh</td> <td>/iːh/</td> <td>reht > riht > right; flyht > flight; līoht > līht > light </td></tr> <tr> <td rowspan="2">āh, āg#, oh, og#</td> <td rowspan="2">/ɔuh/</td> <td rowspan="2">/ɔuh/</td> <td>([x] > <a href="/wiki/Null_sign" title="Null sign">∅</a>) /ou/ > /oː/</td> <td>/əʊ/ (British), /oʊ/ (American)</td> <td>dāg > dāh > dough </td></tr> <tr> <td>([x] > /f/) /ɔf/</td> <td>/ɒf/, /ɔːf/</td> <td>trog > trough </td></tr> <tr> <td>āhC, ohC, ōhC</td> <td>/ɔuh/</td> <td>/ɔuh/</td> <td>/ɔː/</td> <td>/ɔː/</td> <td>āhte > ought; dohtor > daughter; þoht > thought; sōhte > sought </td></tr> <tr> <td rowspan="2">ōh#, ōg#</td> <td rowspan="2">/ouh/ > /uːh/</td> <td rowspan="3">/uːh/</td> <td>([x] > <a href="/wiki/Null_sign" title="Null sign">∅</a>) /əu/</td> <td>/aʊ/</td> <td>bōg > bough; plōg > plōh > plough </td></tr> <tr> <td rowspan="2">([x] > /f/) /ʊf/</td> <td>(centralized) /ʌf/</td> <td>ġenōg, ġenōh > enough; tōh > tough; ruh > rough </td></tr> <tr> <td>uh, ug#, ūh, ūg#</td> <td>/uːh/</td> <td>(non-centralized) /ʊf/</td> <td>Weōcetun > <a href="/wiki/Woughton" title="Woughton">Woughton</a> </td></tr></tbody></table> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="References">References</h2>[<a href="/w/index.php?title=Middle_English_phonology&action=edit&section=23" title="Edit section: References">edit</a>]</div> <style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1239543626">.mw-parser-output .reflist{margin-bottom:0.5em;list-style-type:decimal}@media screen{.mw-parser-output .reflist{font-size:90%}}.mw-parser-output .reflist .references{font-size:100%;margin-bottom:0;list-style-type:inherit}.mw-parser-output .reflist-columns-2{column-width:30em}.mw-parser-output .reflist-columns-3{column-width:25em}.mw-parser-output .reflist-columns{margin-top:0.3em}.mw-parser-output .reflist-columns ol{margin-top:0}.mw-parser-output .reflist-columns li{page-break-inside:avoid;break-inside:avoid-column}.mw-parser-output .reflist-upper-alpha{list-style-type:upper-alpha}.mw-parser-output .reflist-upper-roman{list-style-type:upper-roman}.mw-parser-output .reflist-lower-alpha{list-style-type:lower-alpha}.mw-parser-output .reflist-lower-greek{list-style-type:lower-greek}.mw-parser-output .reflist-lower-roman{list-style-type:lower-roman}</style><div class="reflist"> <div class="mw-references-wrap"><ol class="references"> <li id="cite_note-1"><a href="#cite_ref-1">^</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.ling.upenn.edu/~beatrice/110/ringe-pdfs/fricative-voicing-alternation-outline-history.pdf">Beatrice Santorini. The English fricative voicing rule: an outline history. The Department of Linguistics at the University of Pennsylvania. Citing Jespersen 1909: A modern English grammar on historical principles, p. 188-189</a> </li> <li id="cite_note-2"><a href="#cite_ref-2">^</a> Dobson (1968), pp. 545 ff. </li> <li id="cite_note-3"><a href="#cite_ref-3">^</a> Dobson (1968), pp. 594 ff. </li> <li id="cite_note-4"><a href="#cite_ref-4">^</a> Dobson (1968), p. 594 </li> <li id="cite_note-Britton-5">^ <a href="#cite_ref-Britton_5-0">a</a> <a href="#cite_ref-Britton_5-1">b</a> Britton, D., Degemination in English, with special reference to the Middle English period, (in:) Analysing Older English, CUP 2011, pp. 231 ff. </li> <li id="cite_note-Wellsx-6">^ <a href="#cite_ref-Wellsx_6-0">a</a> <a href="#cite_ref-Wellsx_6-1">b</a> Wells, J.C., Accents of English, CUP 1982, p. 190. </li> <li id="cite_note-glaswegian-7"><a href="#cite_ref-glaswegian_7-0">^</a> <style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1238218222">.mw-parser-output cite.citation{font-style:inherit;word-wrap:break-word}.mw-parser-output .citation q{quotes:"\"""\"""'""'"}.mw-parser-output .citation:target{background-color:rgba(0,127,255,0.133)}.mw-parser-output .id-lock-free.id-lock-free a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/65/Lock-green.svg")right 0.1em center/9px no-repeat}.mw-parser-output .id-lock-limited.id-lock-limited a,.mw-parser-output .id-lock-registration.id-lock-registration a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d6/Lock-gray-alt-2.svg")right 0.1em center/9px no-repeat}.mw-parser-output .id-lock-subscription.id-lock-subscription a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/aa/Lock-red-alt-2.svg")right 0.1em center/9px no-repeat}.mw-parser-output .cs1-ws-icon a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4c/Wikisource-logo.svg")right 0.1em center/12px no-repeat}body:not(.skin-timeless):not(.skin-minerva) .mw-parser-output .id-lock-free a,body:not(.skin-timeless):not(.skin-minerva) .mw-parser-output .id-lock-limited a,body:not(.skin-timeless):not(.skin-minerva) .mw-parser-output .id-lock-registration a,body:not(.skin-timeless):not(.skin-minerva) .mw-parser-output .id-lock-subscription a,body:not(.skin-timeless):not(.skin-minerva) .mw-parser-output .cs1-ws-icon a{background-size:contain;padding:0 1em 0 0}.mw-parser-output .cs1-code{color:inherit;background:inherit;border:none;padding:inherit}.mw-parser-output .cs1-hidden-error{display:none;color:var(--color-error,#d33)}.mw-parser-output .cs1-visible-error{color:var(--color-error,#d33)}.mw-parser-output .cs1-maint{display:none;color:#085;margin-left:0.3em}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-left{padding-left:0.2em}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-right{padding-right:0.2em}.mw-parser-output .citation .mw-selflink{font-weight:inherit}@media screen{.mw-parser-output .cs1-format{font-size:95%}html.skin-theme-clientpref-night .mw-parser-output .cs1-maint{color:#18911f}}@media screen and (prefers-color-scheme:dark){html.skin-theme-clientpref-os .mw-parser-output .cs1-maint{color:#18911f}}</style><cite class="citation web cs1"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.arts.gla.ac.uk/STELLA/Glasgow%20accent/annex4.htm">"Annexe 4: Linguistic Variables"</a>. Arts.gla.ac.uk. Retrieved 2015-02-21.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=unknown&rft.btitle=Annexe+4%3A+Linguistic+Variables&rft.pub=Arts.gla.ac.uk&rft_id=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.arts.gla.ac.uk%2FSTELLA%2FGlasgow%2520accent%2Fannex4.htm&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AMiddle+English+phonology" class="Z3988"> </li> <li id="cite_note-8"><a href="#cite_ref-8">^</a> Many examples from Fernand Mossé (1968), A Handbook of Middle English, tr. James Walker, Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press, pp. 27–29. </li> </ol></div></div> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Sources">Sources</h2>[<a href="/w/index.php?title=Middle_English_phonology&action=edit&section=24" title="Edit section: Sources">edit</a>]</div> <ul><li><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFDobson1968" class="citation book cs1">Dobson, E.J. (1968). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://books.google.com/books?id=AQkFQwAACAAJ">English pronunciation, 1500–1700</a>. Vol. 2. Oxford: Clarendon Press. <a href="/wiki/OCLC_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="OCLC (identifier)">OCLC</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://search.worldcat.org/oclc/310545793">310545793</a>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=English+pronunciation%2C+1500%E2%80%931700&rft.place=Oxford&rft.pub=Clarendon+Press&rft.date=1968&rft_id=info%3Aoclcnum%2F310545793&rft.aulast=Dobson&rft.aufirst=E.J.&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fbooks.google.com%2Fbooks%3Fid%3DAQkFQwAACAAJ&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AMiddle+English+phonology" class="Z3988"></li></ul> <div class="navbox-styles"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1129693374"><style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1236075235">.mw-parser-output .navbox{box-sizing:border-box;border:1px solid #a2a9b1;width:100%;clear:both;font-size:88%;text-align:center;padding:1px;margin:1em auto 0}.mw-parser-output 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href="/wiki/Egyptian_Arabic_phonology" title="Egyptian Arabic phonology">Egyptian</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Hejazi_Arabic_phonology" title="Hejazi Arabic phonology">Hejazi</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Levantine_Arabic_phonology" title="Levantine Arabic phonology">Levantine</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Moroccan_Arabic#Phonology" title="Moroccan Arabic">Moroccan</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Tunisian_Arabic_phonology" title="Tunisian Arabic phonology">Tunisian</a></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Avestan_phonology" title="Avestan phonology">Avestan</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Belarusian_phonology" title="Belarusian phonology">Belarusian</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Bengali_phonology" title="Bengali phonology">Bengali</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Bulgarian_phonology" title="Bulgarian phonology">Bulgarian</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Burmese_phonology" title="Burmese phonology">Burmese</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Catalan_phonology" title="Catalan phonology">Catalan</a></li> <li>Chinese <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Standard_Chinese_phonology" title="Standard Chinese phonology">Mandarin</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Cantonese_phonology" title="Cantonese phonology">Cantonese</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Hokkien_phonology" title="Hokkien phonology">Hokkien</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Northern_Wu_phonology" title="Northern Wu phonology">Northern Wu</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Old_Chinese_phonology" title="Old Chinese phonology">Old</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Historical_Chinese_phonology" title="Historical Chinese phonology">Historical</a></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Chukchi_phonology" title="Chukchi phonology">Chukchi</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Cornish_phonology" title="Cornish phonology">Cornish</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Czech_phonology" title="Czech phonology">Czech</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Danish_phonology" title="Danish phonology">Danish</a></li> <li>Dutch <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Dutch_phonology" title="Dutch phonology">Standard</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Orsmaal-Gussenhoven_dialect_phonology" title="Orsmaal-Gussenhoven dialect phonology">Orsmaal-Gussenhoven dialect</a></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/English_phonology" title="English phonology">English</a> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Australian_English_phonology" title="Australian English phonology">Australian</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/General_American_English" title="General American English">General American</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/New_Zealand_English_phonology" title="New Zealand English phonology">New Zealand</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Received_Pronunciation" title="Received Pronunciation">Received Pronunciation</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/North_American_English_regional_phonology" title="North American English regional phonology">Regional North American</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/White_South_African_English_phonology" title="White South African English phonology">White South African</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Standard_Canadian_English" title="Standard Canadian English">Standard Canadian</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Old_English_phonology" title="Old English phonology">Old</a></li> <li><a class="mw-selflink selflink">Middle</a></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Esperanto_phonology" title="Esperanto phonology">Esperanto</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Estonian_phonology" title="Estonian phonology">Estonian</a></li></ul> </div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%">F–L</th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-even" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Faroese_phonology" title="Faroese phonology">Faroese</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Finnish_phonology" title="Finnish phonology">Finnish</a></li> <li>French <ul><li><a href="/wiki/French_phonology" title="French phonology">Parisian</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Quebec_French_phonology" title="Quebec French phonology">Quebec</a></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Galician_phonology" title="Galician phonology">Galician</a></li> <li>German <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Standard_German_phonology" title="Standard German phonology">Standard</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Bernese_German_phonology" title="Bernese German phonology">Bernese</a></li></ul></li> <li>Greek <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Modern_Greek_phonology" title="Modern Greek phonology">Standard Modern</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Ancient_Greek_phonology" title="Ancient Greek phonology">Ancient</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Koine_Greek_phonology" title="Koine Greek phonology">Koine</a></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Greenlandic_phonology" title="Greenlandic phonology">Greenlandic</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Gujarati_phonology" title="Gujarati phonology">Gujarati</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Hawaiian_phonology" title="Hawaiian phonology">Hawaiian</a></li> <li>Hebrew <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Modern_Hebrew_phonology" title="Modern Hebrew phonology">Modern</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Biblical_Hebrew#Phonology" title="Biblical Hebrew">Biblical</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Tiberian_Hebrew#Phonology" title="Tiberian Hebrew">Tiberian</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Samaritan_Hebrew#Phonology" title="Samaritan Hebrew">Samaritan</a></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Hindustani_phonology" title="Hindustani phonology">Hindustani</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Hungarian_phonology" title="Hungarian phonology">Hungarian</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Icelandic_phonology" title="Icelandic phonology">Icelandic</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Ingrian_phonology" title="Ingrian phonology">Ingrian</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Inuit_phonology" title="Inuit phonology">Inuit</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Irish_phonology" title="Irish phonology">Irish</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Italian_phonology" title="Italian phonology">Italian</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Japanese_phonology" title="Japanese phonology">Japanese</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Kiowa_phonology" title="Kiowa phonology">Kiowa</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Konkani_phonology" title="Konkani phonology">Konkani</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Korean_phonology" title="Korean phonology">Korean</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Kurdish_phonology" title="Kurdish phonology">Kurdish</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Kyrgyz_phonology" title="Kyrgyz phonology">Kyrgyz</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Latgalian_phonology" title="Latgalian phonology">Latgalian</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Latin_phonology_and_orthography" title="Latin phonology and orthography">Latin</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Latvian_phonology" title="Latvian phonology">Latvian</a></li> <li>Limburgish <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Maastrichtian_dialect_phonology" title="Maastrichtian dialect phonology">Maastrichtian</a></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Lithuanian_phonology" title="Lithuanian phonology">Lithuanian</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Luxembourgish_phonology" title="Luxembourgish phonology">Luxembourgish</a></li></ul> </div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%">M–S</th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-odd" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Macedonian_phonology" title="Macedonian phonology">Macedonian</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Malay_phonology" title="Malay phonology">Malay</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Maldivian_phonology" title="Maldivian phonology">Maldivian</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/M%C4%81ori_phonology" title="Māori phonology">Māori</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Marathi_phonology" title="Marathi phonology">Marathi</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Massachusett_phonology" title="Massachusett phonology">Massachusett</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Medumba_phonology" title="Medumba phonology">Medumba</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Navajo_phonology" title="Navajo phonology">Navajo</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Nepali_phonology" title="Nepali phonology">Nepali</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Norwegian_phonology" title="Norwegian phonology">Norwegian</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Occitan_phonology" title="Occitan phonology">Occitan</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Ojibwe_phonology" title="Ojibwe phonology">Ojibwe</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Old_Saxon_phonology" title="Old Saxon phonology">Old Saxon</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Oromo_phonology" title="Oromo phonology">Oromo</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Ottawa_phonology" title="Ottawa phonology">Ottawa</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Pashto_phonology" title="Pashto phonology">Pashto</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Persian_phonology" title="Persian phonology">Persian</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Polish_phonology" title="Polish phonology">Polish</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Portuguese_phonology" title="Portuguese phonology">Portuguese</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Proto-Indo-European_phonology" title="Proto-Indo-European phonology">Proto-Indo-European</a></li> <li>Ripuarian <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Colognian_phonology" title="Colognian phonology">Colognian</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Kerkrade_dialect_phonology" title="Kerkrade dialect phonology">Kerkrade dialect</a></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Romanian_phonology" title="Romanian phonology">Romanian</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Russian_phonology" title="Russian phonology">Russian</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Sardinian_phonology" title="Sardinian phonology">Sardinian</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Phonological_history_of_Scots" title="Phonological history of Scots">Scots</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Scottish_Gaelic_phonology_and_orthography" title="Scottish Gaelic phonology and orthography">Scottish Gaelic</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Serbo-Croatian_phonology" title="Serbo-Croatian phonology">Serbo-Croatian</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Slovak_phonology" title="Slovak phonology">Slovak</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Slovene_phonology" title="Slovene phonology">Slovene</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Somali_phonology" title="Somali phonology">Somali</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Sotho_phonology" title="Sotho phonology">Sotho</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Spanish_phonology" title="Spanish phonology">Spanish</a> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Spanish_dialects_and_varieties" title="Spanish dialects and varieties">Dialects and varieties</a></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Swedish_phonology" title="Swedish phonology">Swedish</a></li></ul> </div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%">T–Z</th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-even" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Tagalog_phonology" title="Tagalog phonology">Tagalog</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Tamil_phonology" title="Tamil phonology">Tamil</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Taos_phonology" title="Taos phonology">Taos</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Turkish_phonology" title="Turkish phonology">Turkish</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Ubykh_phonology" title="Ubykh phonology">Ubykh</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Ukrainian_phonology" title="Ukrainian phonology">Ukrainian</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Uyghur_phonology" title="Uyghur phonology">Uyghur</a></li> 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