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vector-pinnable-header-unpin-button" data-event-name="pinnable-header.vector-toc.unpin">hide</button> </div> <ul class="vector-toc-contents" id="mw-panel-toc-list"> <li id="toc-mw-content-text" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-1"> <a href="#" class="vector-toc-link"> <div class="vector-toc-text">(Top)</div> </a> </li> <li id="toc-Developments_involving_long_vowels" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-1 vector-toc-list-item-expanded"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Developments_involving_long_vowels"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> 1 Developments involving long vowels </div> </a> <button aria-controls="toc-Developments_involving_long_vowels-sublist" class="cdx-button cdx-button--weight-quiet cdx-button--icon-only vector-toc-toggle"> Toggle Developments involving long vowels subsection </button> <ul id="toc-Developments_involving_long_vowels-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> <li id="toc-Until_Great_Vowel_Shift" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-2"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Until_Great_Vowel_Shift"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> 1.1 Until Great Vowel Shift </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Until_Great_Vowel_Shift-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Meet–meat_merger" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-2"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Meet–meat_merger"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> 1.2 Meet–meat merger </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Meet–meat_merger-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Changes_before_/r/_and_/ə/" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-2"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Changes_before_/r/_and_/ə/"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> 1.3 Changes before /r/ and /ə/ </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Changes_before_/r/_and_/ə/-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Other_changes" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-2"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Other_changes"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> 1.4 Other changes </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Other_changes-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Developments_involving_short_vowels" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-1 vector-toc-list-item-expanded"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Developments_involving_short_vowels"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> 2 Developments involving short vowels </div> </a> <button aria-controls="toc-Developments_involving_short_vowels-sublist" class="cdx-button cdx-button--weight-quiet cdx-button--icon-only vector-toc-toggle"> Toggle Developments involving short vowels subsection </button> <ul id="toc-Developments_involving_short_vowels-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> <li id="toc-Lowering" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-2"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Lowering"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> 2.1 Lowering </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Lowering-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Pin–pen_merger" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-2"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Pin–pen_merger"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> 2.2 Pin–pen merger </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Pin–pen_merger-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Kit–bit_split" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-2"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Kit–bit_split"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> 2.3 Kit–bit split </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Kit–bit_split-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Thank–think_merger" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-2"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Thank–think_merger"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> 2.4 Thank–think merger </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Thank–think_merger-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Developments_involving_weak_vowels" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-1 vector-toc-list-item-expanded"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Developments_involving_weak_vowels"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> 3 Developments involving weak vowels </div> </a> <button aria-controls="toc-Developments_involving_weak_vowels-sublist" class="cdx-button cdx-button--weight-quiet cdx-button--icon-only vector-toc-toggle"> Toggle Developments involving weak vowels subsection </button> <ul id="toc-Developments_involving_weak_vowels-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> <li id="toc-Weak_vowel_merger" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-2"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Weak_vowel_merger"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> 3.1 Weak vowel merger </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Weak_vowel_merger-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Centralized_KIT" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-2"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Centralized_KIT"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> 3.2 Centralized KIT </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Centralized_KIT-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Happy_tensing" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-2"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Happy_tensing"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> 3.3 Happy tensing </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Happy_tensing-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Merger_of_/y/_with_/i/_and_/yː/_with_/iː/" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-1 vector-toc-list-item-expanded"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Merger_of_/y/_with_/i/_and_/yː/_with_/iː/"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> 4 Merger of /y/ with /i/ and /yː/ with /iː/ </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Merger_of_/y/_with_/i/_and_/yː/_with_/iː/-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Additional_mergers_in_Asian_and_African_English" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-1 vector-toc-list-item-expanded"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Additional_mergers_in_Asian_and_African_English"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> 5 Additional mergers in Asian and African English </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Additional_mergers_in_Asian_and_African_English-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-See_also" 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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 href="/wiki/Middle_English_phonology" title="Middle English phonology">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 class="mw-selflink selflink">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> The <a href="/wiki/Close_vowel" title="Close vowel">close</a> and <a href="/wiki/Mid_vowel" title="Mid vowel">mid</a>-height <a href="/wiki/Front_vowel" title="Front vowel">front</a> <a href="/wiki/Vowel" title="Vowel">vowels</a> of <a href="/wiki/English_language" title="English language">English</a> (vowels of i and e type) have undergone a variety of changes over time and often vary <a href="/wiki/English_dialects" class="mw-redirect" title="English dialects">by dialect</a>. <meta property="mw:PageProp/toc" /> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Developments_involving_long_vowels">Developments involving long vowels</h2>[<a href="/w/index.php?title=Phonological_history_of_English_close_front_vowels&action=edit&section=1" title="Edit section: Developments involving long vowels">edit</a>]</div> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Until_Great_Vowel_Shift">Until Great Vowel Shift</h3>[<a href="/w/index.php?title=Phonological_history_of_English_close_front_vowels&action=edit&section=2" title="Edit section: Until Great Vowel Shift">edit</a>]</div> <a href="/wiki/Middle_English_phonology" title="Middle English phonology">Middle English</a> had a long close front vowel /iː/, and two long mid front vowels: the <a href="/wiki/Close-mid_front_unrounded_vowel" title="Close-mid front unrounded vowel">close-mid</a> /eː/ and the <a href="/wiki/Open-mid_front_unrounded_vowel" title="Open-mid front unrounded vowel">open-mid</a> /ɛː/. The three vowels generally correspond to the modern spellings ⟨i⟩, ⟨ee⟩ and ⟨ea⟩ respectively, but <a href="/wiki/English_historical_vowel_correspondences" class="mw-redirect" title="English historical vowel correspondences">other spellings</a> are also possible. The spellings that became established in <a href="/wiki/Early_Modern_English#Orthography" title="Early Modern English">Early Modern English</a> are mostly still used today, but the qualities of the sounds have changed significantly. The /iː/ and /eː/ generally corresponded to similar <a href="/wiki/Old_English_phonology#Vowels" title="Old English phonology">Old English vowels</a>, and /ɛː/ came from Old English /æː/ or /æːɑ̯/. For other possible histories, see <a href="/wiki/English_historical_vowel_correspondences" class="mw-redirect" title="English historical vowel correspondences">English historical vowel correspondences</a>. In particular, the long vowels sometimes arose from short vowels by Middle English <a href="/wiki/Open_syllable_lengthening" title="Open syllable lengthening">open syllable lengthening</a> or other processes. For example, team comes from an originally-long Old English vowel, and eat comes from an originally-short vowel that underwent lengthening. The distinction between both groups of words is still preserved in a few dialects, as is noted in the following section. Middle English /ɛː/ was shortened in certain words. Both long and short forms of such words often existed alongside each other during Middle English. In Modern English, the short form has generally become standard, but the spelling ⟨ea⟩ reflects the formerly-longer pronunciation.<a href="#cite_note-1">[1]</a> The words that were affected include several ending in d, such as bread, head, spread, and various others, including breath, weather, and threat. For example, bread was /brɛːd/ in earlier Middle English but came to be shortened and to be rhymed with bed. During the <a href="/wiki/Great_Vowel_Shift" title="Great Vowel Shift">Great Vowel Shift</a>, the normal outcome of /iː/ was a <a href="/wiki/Diphthong" title="Diphthong">diphthong</a>, which developed into Modern English /aɪ/, as in mine and find. Meanwhile, /eː/ became /iː/, as in feed, and /ɛː/ of words like meat became /eː/, which later merged with /iː/ in nearly all dialects, as is described in the following section. <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Meet–meat_merger">Meet–meat merger </h3>[<a href="/w/index.php?title=Phonological_history_of_English_close_front_vowels&action=edit&section=3" title="Edit section: Meet–meat merger">edit</a>]</div> The meet–meat merger or the <style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r920966791">.mw-parser-output span.smallcaps{font-variant:small-caps}.mw-parser-output span.smallcaps-smaller{font-size:85%}</style>FLEECE merger is the <a href="/wiki/Merger_(phonology)" class="mw-redirect" title="Merger (phonology)">merger</a> of the <a href="/wiki/Early_Modern_English" title="Early Modern English">Early Modern English</a> vowel /eː/ (as in meat) into the vowel /iː/ (as in meet).<a href="#cite_note-Alexander-2">[2]</a><a href="#cite_note-Wakelin-3">[3]</a> The merger was complete in standard accents of English by about 1700.<a href="#cite_note-4">[4]</a> As noted in the previous section, the Early Modern/New English (ENE) vowel /eː/ developed from <a href="/wiki/Middle_English_phonology" title="Middle English phonology">Middle English</a> /ɛː/ via the <a href="/wiki/Great_Vowel_Shift" title="Great Vowel Shift">Great Vowel Shift</a>, and ENE /iː/ was usually the result of Middle English /eː/ (the effect in both cases was a <a href="/wiki/Close_vowel" title="Close vowel">raising</a> of the vowel). The merger saw ENE /eː/ raised further to become identical to /iː/ and so Middle English /ɛː/ and /eː/ have become /iː/ in standard Modern English, and meat and meet are now <a href="/wiki/Homophone" title="Homophone">homophones</a>. The merger did not affect the words in which /ɛː/ had undergone shortening (see section above), and a handful of other words (such as break, steak, great) also escaped the merger in the standard accents and so acquired the same vowel as brake, stake, grate. Hence, the words meat, threat (which was shortened), and great now have three different vowels although all three words once rhymed. The merger results in the <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r920966791">FLEECE <a href="/wiki/Lexical_set" title="Lexical set">lexical set</a>, as defined by <a href="/wiki/John_C._Wells" title="John C. Wells">John Wells</a>. Words in the set that had ENE /iː/ (Middle English /eː/) are mostly spelled ⟨ee⟩ (meet, green, etc.), with a single ⟨e⟩ in monosyllables (be, me) or followed by a single consonant and a vowel letter (these, Peter), sometimes ⟨ie⟩ or ⟨ei⟩ (believe, ceiling), or irregularly (key, people). Most of those that had ENE /eː/ (Middle English /ɛː/) are spelled ⟨ea⟩ (meat, team, eat, etc.), but some borrowed words have a single ⟨e⟩ (legal, decent, complete), ⟨ei⟩, or otherwise (receive, seize, phoenix, quay). There are also some loanwords in which /iː/ is spelled ⟨i⟩ (police, machine, ski), most of which entered the language later.<a href="#cite_note-FOOTNOTEWells1982140–141-5">[5]</a> There are still some dialects in the <a href="/wiki/British_Isles" title="British Isles">British Isles</a> that do not have the merger. Some speakers in <a href="/wiki/Northern_England" title="Northern England">Northern England</a> have /iː/ or /əɪ/ in the first group of words (those that had ENE /iː/, like meet) but /ɪə/ in the second group (those that had ENE /eː/, like meat). In <a href="/wiki/Staffordshire" title="Staffordshire">Staffordshire</a>, the distinction might rather be between /ɛi/ in the first group and /iː/ in the second group. In some (particularly rural) varieties of <a href="/wiki/Irish_English" class="mw-redirect" title="Irish English">Irish English</a>, the first group has /i/, and the second preserves /eː/. A similar contrast has been reported in parts of <a href="/wiki/Southern_England" title="Southern England">Southern</a> and <a href="/w/index.php?title=Western_England&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Western England (page does not exist)">Western England</a>, but it is now rarely encountered there.<a href="#cite_note-FOOTNOTEWells1982196,_357,_418,_441-6">[6]</a> In some <a href="/wiki/Yorkshire" title="Yorkshire">Yorkshire</a> dialects, an additional distinction may be preserved within the meat set. Words that originally had long vowels, such as team and cream (which come from Old English tēam and Old French creme), may have /ɪə/, and those that had an original short vowel, which underwent open syllable lengthening in Middle English (see previous section), like eat and meat (from Old English etan and mete), have a sound resembling /ɛɪ/, similar to the sound that is heard in some dialects in words like eight and weight that <a href="/wiki/Wait-weight_merger" class="mw-redirect" title="Wait-weight merger">lost a velar fricative</a>).<a href="#cite_note-Wakelin-3">[3]</a> In Alexander's book (2001)<a href="#cite_note-Alexander-2">[2]</a> about the traditional <a href="/wiki/Sheffield" title="Sheffield">Sheffield</a> dialect, the spelling "eigh" is used for the vowel of eat and meat, but "eea" is used for the vowel of team and cream. However, a 1999 survey in Sheffield found the /ɛɪ/ pronunciation to be almost extinct there.<a href="#cite_note-7">[7]</a> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Changes_before_/r/_and_/ə/">Changes before /r/ and /ə/ </h3>[<a href="/w/index.php?title=Phonological_history_of_English_close_front_vowels&action=edit&section=4" title="Edit section: Changes before /r/ and /ə/">edit</a>]</div> In certain accents, when the <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r920966791">FLEECE vowel was followed by /r/, it acquired a <a href="/wiki/Lax_vowel" class="mw-redirect" title="Lax vowel">laxer</a> pronunciation. In <a href="/wiki/General_American" class="mw-redirect" title="General American">General American</a>, words like near and beer now have the sequence /ir/, and nearer rhymes with mirror (the <a href="/wiki/Mirror%E2%80%93nearer_merger" class="mw-redirect" title="Mirror–nearer merger">mirror–nearer merger</a>). In <a href="/wiki/Received_Pronunciation" title="Received Pronunciation">Received Pronunciation</a>, a diphthong /ɪə/ has developed (and by <a href="/wiki/Non-rhotic" class="mw-redirect" title="Non-rhotic">non-rhoticity</a>, the /r/ is generally lost unless there is another vowel after it) and so beer and near are /bɪə/ and /nɪə/, and nearer (with /ɪə/) remains distinct from mirror (with /ɪ/). Several pronunciations are found in other accents, but outside North America, the nearer–mirror opposition is always preserved. For example, some conservative accents in Northern England have the sequence /iːə/ in words like near, with the schwa disappearing before a pronounced /r/, as in serious.<a href="#cite_note-FOOTNOTEWells1982153,_361-8">[8]</a> Another development is that bisyllabic /iːə/ may become <a href="/wiki/Smoothing_(phonetics)" class="mw-redirect" title="Smoothing (phonetics)">smoothed</a> to the diphthong [ɪə] (with the change being phonemic in non-rhotic dialects, so /ɪə/) in certain words, which leads to pronunciations like [ˈvɪəkəl], [ˈθɪətə] and [aɪˈdɪə] for vehicle, theatre/theater and idea, respectively. That is not restricted to any variety of English. It happens in both <a href="/wiki/British_English" title="British English">British English</a> and (less noticeably or often) <a href="/wiki/American_English" title="American English">American English</a> as well as other varieties although it is far more common for Britons. The words that have [ɪə] may vary depending on dialect. Dialects that have the smoothing usually also have the diphthong [ɪə] in words like beer, deer, and fear, and the smoothing causes idea, Korea, etc. to rhyme with those words.<a href="#cite_note-FOOTNOTEWells1982153-9">[9]</a> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Other_changes">Other changes</h3>[<a href="/w/index.php?title=Phonological_history_of_English_close_front_vowels&action=edit&section=5" title="Edit section: Other changes">edit</a>]</div> In <a href="/wiki/Geordie" title="Geordie">Geordie</a>, the <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r920966791">FLEECE vowel undergoes an allophonic split, with the monophthong [<a href="/wiki/Close_front_unrounded_vowel" title="Close front unrounded vowel">iː</a>] being used in morphologically-closed syllables (as in freeze [fɹiːz]) and the diphthong [ei] being used in morphologically-open syllables not only word-finally (as in free [fɹei]) but also word-internally at the end of a <a href="/wiki/Morpheme" title="Morpheme">morpheme</a> (as in frees [fɹeiz]).<a href="#cite_note-10">[10]</a><a href="#cite_note-FOOTNOTEWells1982375-11">[11]</a> Most dialects of English turn /iː/ into a diphthong, and the monophthongal [<a href="/wiki/Close_front_unrounded_vowel" title="Close front unrounded vowel">iː</a>] is in <a href="/wiki/Free_variation" title="Free variation">free variation</a> with the diphthongal [ɪi ~ əi] (with the former diphthong being the same as Geordie [ei], the only difference lying in the transcription[<a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed" title="Wikipedia:Citation needed">citation needed</a>]), particularly word-internally. However, diphthongs are more common word-finally. Compare the <a href="/wiki/Phonological_history_of_English_close_back_vowels#other_changes" title="Phonological history of English close back vowels">identical development of the close back <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r920966791">GOOSE vowel</a>. <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Developments_involving_short_vowels">Developments involving short vowels</h2>[<a href="/w/index.php?title=Phonological_history_of_English_close_front_vowels&action=edit&section=6" title="Edit section: Developments involving short vowels">edit</a>]</div> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Lowering">Lowering</h3>[<a href="/w/index.php?title=Phonological_history_of_English_close_front_vowels&action=edit&section=7" title="Edit section: Lowering">edit</a>]</div> <a href="/wiki/Middle_English_phonology" title="Middle English phonology">Middle English</a> short /i/ has developed into a <a href="/wiki/Lax_vowel" class="mw-redirect" title="Lax vowel">lax</a> <a href="/wiki/Near-close_near-front_unrounded_vowel" title="Near-close near-front unrounded vowel">near-close near-front unrounded vowel</a>, /ɪ/, in Modern English, as found in words like <a href="/wiki/KIT_lexical_set" class="mw-redirect" title="KIT lexical set">kit</a>. (Similarly, <a href="/wiki/Phonological_history_of_English_close_back_vowels#historical_development" title="Phonological history of English close back vowels">short /u/ has become /ʊ/</a>.) According to Roger Lass, the laxing occurred in the 17th century, but other linguists have suggested that it took place potentially much earlier.<a href="#cite_note-12">[12]</a> The short <a href="/wiki/Mid_vowel" title="Mid vowel">mid vowels</a> have also undergone lowering and so the continuation of Middle English /e/ (as in words like <a href="/wiki/DRESS_lexical_set" class="mw-redirect" title="DRESS lexical set">dress</a>) now has a quality closer to [<a href="/wiki/Open-mid_front_unrounded_vowel" title="Open-mid front unrounded vowel">ɛ</a>] in most accents. Again, however, it is not clear whether the vowel already had a lower value in Middle English.<a href="#cite_note-13">[13]</a> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Pin–pen_merger">Pin–pen merger</h3>[<a href="/w/index.php?title=Phonological_history_of_English_close_front_vowels&action=edit&section=8" title="Edit section: Pin–pen merger">edit</a>]</div> <figure typeof="mw:File/Thumb"><a href="/wiki/File:Pin-pen.svg" class="mw-file-description"><img src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/12/Pin-pen.svg/300px-Pin-pen.svg.png" decoding="async" width="300" height="186" class="mw-file-element" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/12/Pin-pen.svg/450px-Pin-pen.svg.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/12/Pin-pen.svg/600px-Pin-pen.svg.png 2x" data-file-width="959" data-file-height="593" /></a><figcaption>The merger of pin and pen in Southern American English. In the purple areas, the merger is complete for most speakers. Note the exclusion of the New Orleans area, Southern Florida, and of the <a href="/wiki/South_Carolina_Lowcountry" title="South Carolina Lowcountry">Lowcountry</a> of South Carolina and Georgia. The purple area in California consists of the <a href="/wiki/Bakersfield,_California" title="Bakersfield, California">Bakersfield</a> and <a href="/wiki/Kern_County,_California" title="Kern County, California">Kern County</a> area, where migrants from the <a href="/wiki/South_Central_United_States" class="mw-redirect" title="South Central United States">south-central states</a> settled during the <a href="/wiki/Dust_Bowl" title="Dust Bowl">Dust Bowl</a>. There is also debate whether or not <a href="/wiki/Austin,_Texas" title="Austin, Texas">Austin, Texas</a>, is an exclusion. Based on <a href="#CITEREFLabovAshBoberg2006">Labov, Ash & Boberg (2006</a>:68).</figcaption></figure> The pin–pen merger is a conditional <a href="/wiki/Phonemic_differentiation#Phonemic_mergers" class="mw-redirect" title="Phonemic differentiation">merger</a> of /ɪ/ and /ɛ/ before the <a href="/wiki/Nasal_consonant" title="Nasal consonant">nasal consonants</a> [m], [n], and [ŋ].<a href="#cite_note-14">[14]</a><a href="#cite_note-15">[15]</a><a href="#cite_note-Brown90-16">[16]</a><a href="#cite_note-17">[17]</a><a href="#cite_note-ANAE-18">[18]</a> The merged vowel is usually closer to [ɪ] than to [ɛ]. Examples of homophones resulting from the merger include pin–pen, kin–ken and him–hem. The merger is widespread in <a href="/wiki/Southern_American_English" title="Southern American English">Southern American English</a> and is also found in many speakers in the Midland region immediately north of the South and in areas settled by migrants from <a href="/wiki/Oklahoma" title="Oklahoma">Oklahoma</a> and <a href="/wiki/Texas" title="Texas">Texas</a> who settled in the <a href="/wiki/Western_United_States" title="Western United States">Western United States</a> during the <a href="/wiki/Dust_Bowl" title="Dust Bowl">Dust Bowl</a>. It is also a characteristic of <a href="/wiki/African-American_Vernacular_English" title="African-American Vernacular English">African-American Vernacular English</a>. The pin–pen merger is one of the most widely recognized features of Southern speech. A study<a href="#cite_note-Brown90-16">[16]</a> of the written responses of <a href="/wiki/American_Civil_War" title="American Civil War">American Civil War</a> veterans from <a href="/wiki/Tennessee" title="Tennessee">Tennessee</a>, together with data from the <a href="/wiki/Linguistic_Atlas_of_the_Gulf_States" title="Linguistic Atlas of the Gulf States">Linguistic Atlas of the Gulf States</a> and the Linguistic Atlas of the Middle South Atlantic States, shows that the prevalence of the merger was very low up to 1860 but then rose steeply to 90% in the mid-20th century. There is now very little variation throughout the South in general except that <a href="/wiki/Savannah,_Georgia" title="Savannah, Georgia">Savannah</a>, <a href="/wiki/Austin,_Texas" title="Austin, Texas">Austin</a>, <a href="/wiki/Miami" title="Miami">Miami</a>, and <a href="/wiki/New_Orleans" title="New Orleans">New Orleans</a> are excluded from the merger.<a href="#cite_note-ANAE-18">[18]</a> The area of consistent merger includes southern <a href="/wiki/Virginia" title="Virginia">Virginia</a> and most of the South Midland and extends westward to include much of <a href="/wiki/Texas" title="Texas">Texas</a>. The northern limit of the merged area shows a number of irregular curves. Central and southern <a href="/wiki/Indiana" title="Indiana">Indiana</a> is dominated by the merger, but there is very little evidence of it in <a href="/wiki/Ohio" title="Ohio">Ohio</a>, and northern <a href="/wiki/Kentucky" title="Kentucky">Kentucky</a> shows a solid area of distinction around <a href="/wiki/Louisville,_Kentucky" title="Louisville, Kentucky">Louisville</a>. Outside the South, most speakers of <a href="/wiki/North_American_English" title="North American English">North American English</a> maintain a clear distinction in perception and production. However, in the West, there is sporadic representation of merged speakers in <a href="/wiki/Washington_(state)" title="Washington (state)">Washington</a>, <a href="/wiki/Idaho" title="Idaho">Idaho</a>, <a href="/wiki/Kansas" title="Kansas">Kansas</a>, <a href="/wiki/Nebraska" title="Nebraska">Nebraska</a>, and <a href="/wiki/Colorado" title="Colorado">Colorado</a>. However, the most striking concentration of merged speakers in the west is around <a href="/wiki/Bakersfield,_California" title="Bakersfield, California">Bakersfield, California</a>, a pattern that may reflect the trajectory of migrant workers from the <a href="/wiki/Ozarks" title="Ozarks">Ozarks</a> westward. The raising of /ɛ/ to /ɪ/ was formerly widespread in <a href="/wiki/Irish_English" class="mw-redirect" title="Irish English">Irish English</a> and was not limited to positions before nasals. Apparently, it came to be restricted to those positions in the late 19th and the early 20th centuries. The pin–pen merger is now commonly found only in Southern and <a href="/wiki/South-West_Irish_English" title="South-West Irish English">South-West Irish English</a>.<a href="#cite_note-FOOTNOTEWells1982423-19">[19]</a><a href="#cite_note-20">[20]</a> A complete merger of /ɪ/ and /ɛ/, not restricted to positions before nasals (and so termed kit–dress merger), is found in many speakers of <a href="/wiki/Newfoundland_English" title="Newfoundland English">Newfoundland English</a>. The pronunciation in words like bit and bet is [ɪ], but before /r/, in words like beer and bear, it is [ɛ].<a href="#cite_note-FOOTNOTEWells1982500-21">[21]</a> The merger is common in Irish-settled parts of Newfoundland and is thought to be a relic of the former Irish pronunciation.<a href="#cite_note-22">[22]</a> <table class="wikitable sortable mw-collapsible mw-collapsed"> <caption class="nowrap">Examples of homophonous pairs </caption> <tbody><tr> <th>/ɛ/ </th> <th>/ɪ/ </th> <th>IPA </th> <th>Notes </th></tr> <tr> <td><a href="/wiki/Ben" title="Ben">Ben</a></td> <td>bin</td> <td>ˈbɪn</td> <td><a href="#cite_note-examples-23">[23]</a> </td></tr> <tr> <td>bend</td> <td>binned</td> <td>ˈbɪnd</td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <td>cents</td> <td>since</td> <td>ˈsɪn(t)s</td> <td><a href="#cite_note-examples-23">[23]</a> </td></tr> <tr> <td>clench</td> <td>clinch</td> <td>ˈklɪntʃ</td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <td>den</td> <td>din</td> <td>ˈdɪn</td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <td>emigrate</td> <td>immigrate</td> <td>ˈɪmɪɡreɪt</td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <td>eminent</td> <td>imminent</td> <td>ˈɪmɪnənt</td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <td>fen</td> <td>fin</td> <td>ˈfɪn</td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <td>gem</td> <td>gym, Jim</td> <td>ˈdʒɪm</td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <td>hem</td> <td>him, hymn</td> <td>ˈhɪm</td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <td>Jen</td> <td>gin</td> <td>ˈdʒɪn</td> <td><a href="#cite_note-examples-23">[23]</a> </td></tr> <tr> <td>Ken</td> <td>kin</td> <td>ˈkɪn</td> <td><a href="#cite_note-examples-23">[23]</a><a href="#cite_note-ils.unc-24">[24]</a> </td></tr> <tr> <td>lent</td> <td>lint</td> <td>ˈlɪnt</td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <td>meant</td> <td>mint</td> <td>ˈmɪnt</td> <td><a href="#cite_note-examples-23">[23]</a> </td></tr> <tr> <td>N</td> <td>in</td> <td>ˈɪn</td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <td>pen</td> <td>pin</td> <td>ˈpɪn</td> <td><a href="#cite_note-examples-23">[23]</a> </td></tr> <tr> <td>send</td> <td>sinned</td> <td>ˈsɪnd</td> <td><a href="#cite_note-ils.unc-24">[24]</a> </td></tr> <tr> <td>sender</td> <td>cinder</td> <td>ˈsɪndə(r)</td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <td>sense</td> <td>since</td> <td>ˈsɪns</td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <td>ten</td> <td>tin</td> <td>ˈtɪn</td> <td><a href="#cite_note-examples-23">[23]</a><a href="#cite_note-ils.unc-24">[24]</a> </td></tr> <tr> <td>tender</td> <td>tinder</td> <td>ˈtɪndə(r)</td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <td>tent</td> <td>tint</td> <td>ˈtɪnt</td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <td>tremor</td> <td>trimmer</td> <td>ˈtrɪmə(r)</td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <td>wench</td> <td>winch</td> <td>ˈwɪntʃ</td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <td><a href="/wiki/Wendy" title="Wendy">Wendy</a></td> <td>windy</td> <td>ˈwɪndi</td> <td><a href="#cite_note-ils.unc-24">[24]</a> </td></tr> </tbody></table> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Kit–bit_split">Kit–bit split</h3>[<a href="/w/index.php?title=Phonological_history_of_English_close_front_vowels&action=edit&section=9" title="Edit section: Kit–bit split">edit</a>]</div> The kit–bit split is a <a href="/wiki/Phonemic_split" class="mw-redirect" title="Phonemic split">split</a> of standard English /ɪ/ (the <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r920966791">KIT vowel) that occurs in <a href="/wiki/South_African_English" title="South African English">South African English</a>. The two distinct sounds are: <ul><li>A standard [ɪ], or [i] in broader accents, which is used before or after a <a href="/wiki/Velar_consonant" title="Velar consonant">velar consonant</a> (lick, bi<link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r920966791">g, sin<link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r920966791">g; kiss, kit, <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r920966791">gift), after /h/ (hit), word-initially (inn), generally before /ʃ/ (fish), and by some speakers before /tʃ, dʒ/ (ditch, bridge). It is found only in stressed syllables (in the first syllable of chicken but not the second).</li> <li>A <a href="/wiki/Centralization_(phonetics)" class="mw-redirect" title="Centralization (phonetics)">centralized</a> vowel [ɪ̈], or [ə] in broader accents, which is used in other positions (limb, dinner, limited, bit).</li></ul> Different <a href="/wiki/Phonemic" class="mw-redirect" title="Phonemic">phonemic</a> analyses of those vowels are possible. In one view, [ɪ] and [ɪ̈] are in <a href="/wiki/Complementary_distribution" title="Complementary distribution">complementary distribution</a> and should therefore still be regarded as <a href="/wiki/Allophone" title="Allophone">allophones</a> of one phoneme. Wells, however, suggests that the non-rhyming of words like kit and bit, which is particularly marked in the broader accents, makes it more satisfactory to consider [ɪ̈] to constitute a different phoneme from [ɪ ~ i], and [ɪ̈] and [ə] can be regarded as comprising a single phoneme except for speakers who maintain the contrast in weak syllables. There is also the issue of the weak vowel merger in most non-conservative speakers, which means that rabbit /ˈræbət/ (conservative /ˈræbɪt/) rhymes with abbott /ˈæbət/.<a href="#cite_note-FOOTNOTEWells1982612–3-25">[25]</a> The weak vowel is consistently written ⟨ə⟩ in South African English dialectology, regardless of its precise quality. <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Thank–think_merger">Thank–think merger</h3>[<a href="/w/index.php?title=Phonological_history_of_English_close_front_vowels&action=edit&section=10" title="Edit section: Thank–think merger">edit</a>]</div> The thank–think merger is the lowering of /ɪ/ to /æ/ before the velar nasal /ŋ/ that can be found in the speech of speakers of <a href="/wiki/African_American_Vernacular_English" class="mw-redirect" title="African American Vernacular English">African American Vernacular English</a>, <a href="/wiki/Appalachian_English" title="Appalachian English">Appalachian English</a>, and (rarely) <a href="/wiki/Southern_American_English" title="Southern American English">Southern American English</a>. For speakers with the lowering, think and thank, sing and sang, etc. can sound alike.<a href="#cite_note-26">[26]</a> It is reflected in the colloquial variant spelling <a href="https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/thang" class="extiw" title="wikt:thang">thang</a> of thing. <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Developments_involving_weak_vowels">Developments involving weak vowels</h2>[<a href="/w/index.php?title=Phonological_history_of_English_close_front_vowels&action=edit&section=11" title="Edit section: Developments involving weak vowels">edit</a>]</div> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Weak_vowel_merger">Weak vowel merger</h3>[<a href="/w/index.php?title=Phonological_history_of_English_close_front_vowels&action=edit&section=12" title="Edit section: Weak vowel merger">edit</a>]</div> The weak vowel merger is the loss of contrast between /ə/ (<a href="/wiki/Schwa" class="mw-redirect" title="Schwa">schwa</a>) and unstressed /ɪ/, which occurs in certain dialects of English: notably many Southern Hemisphere, North American, Irish, and 21st-century (but not older) standard Southern British accents. In speakers with this merger, the words <a href="/wiki/Abbot" title="Abbot">abbot</a> and <a href="/wiki/Rabbit" title="Rabbit">rabbit</a> rhyme, and <a href="/wiki/Lennon" class="mw-redirect" title="Lennon">Lennon</a> and <a href="/wiki/Lenin" class="mw-redirect" title="Lenin">Lenin</a> are pronounced identically, as are addition and edition. However, it is possible among these merged speakers (such as <a href="/wiki/General_American" class="mw-redirect" title="General American">General American</a>) that a distinction is still maintained in certain contexts, such as in the pronunciation of Rosa's versus roses, because of the morpheme break in Rosa's. (Speakers without the merger generally have [ɪ] in the final syllables of rabbit, Lenin, roses and the first syllable of edition that is distinct from the schwa [ə] heard in the corresponding syllables of abbot, Lennon, Rosa's and addition.) If an accent with the merger is also <a href="/wiki/Non-rhotic" class="mw-redirect" title="Non-rhotic">non-rhotic</a>, then for example chatted and chattered will be homophones. The merger also affects the <a href="/wiki/Weak_and_strong_forms_in_English" class="mw-redirect" title="Weak and strong forms in English">weak forms</a> of some words and causes unstressed it, for instance, to be pronounced with a schwa, so that dig it would rhyme with bigot.<a href="#cite_note-FOOTNOTEWells1982167-27">[27]</a> The merger is very common in <a href="/wiki/Southern_Hemisphere" title="Southern Hemisphere">Southern Hemisphere</a> accents. Most speakers of <a href="/wiki/Australian_English" title="Australian English">Australian English</a> (as well as recent Southern England English)<a href="#cite_note-FOOTNOTELindsey2019109–145-28">[28]</a> replace weak /ɪ/ with schwa, but in <a href="/wiki/-ing" title="-ing">-ing</a>, the pronunciation is frequently [ɪ]. If there is a following /k/, as in paddock or nomadic, some speakers maintain the contrast, but some who have the merger use [ɪ] as the merged vowel. In <a href="/wiki/New_Zealand_English" title="New Zealand English">New Zealand English</a>, the merger is complete, and indeed, /ɪ/ is very centralized even in stressed syllables and so it is usually regarded as the same phoneme as /ə/ although in -ing, it is closer to [i]. In <a href="/wiki/South_African_English" title="South African English">South African English</a>, most speakers have the merger, but in more conservative accents, the contrast may be retained (as [ɪ̈] vs. [ə]. Also, a <a href="#Kit_split">kit split</a> exists: see above.<a href="#cite_note-FOOTNOTEWells1982601,_606,_612-29">[29]</a> The merger is also commonly found in <a href="/wiki/American_English" title="American English">American</a> and <a href="/wiki/Canadian_English" title="Canadian English">Canadian English</a>, but the realisation of the merged vowel varies according to syllable type, with [ə] appearing in word-final or open-syllable word-initial positions (such as drama or cilantro), but [ɪ~ɨ] often appears in other positions (abbot and exhaust). In traditional <a href="/wiki/Southern_American_English" title="Southern American English">Southern American English</a>, the merger is generally not present, and /ɪ/ is also heard in some words that have schwa in <a href="/wiki/Received_Pronunciation" title="Received Pronunciation">RP</a>, such as salad. The lack of the merger is also a traditional feature of <a href="/wiki/New_England_English" title="New England English">New England English</a>. In <a href="/wiki/Caribbean_English" title="Caribbean English">Caribbean English</a>, schwa is often not used at all, and unreduced vowels are preferred, but if there is a schwa, /ɪ/ remains distinct from it.<a href="#cite_note-FOOTNOTEWells1982520,_550,_571,_612-30">[30]</a> In traditional RP, the contrast between /ə/ and weak /ɪ/ is maintained, but that may be declining among modern standard speakers of southern England, who increasingly prefer a merger, specifically with the realisation [ə].<a href="#cite_note-FOOTNOTELindsey2019109–145-28">[28]</a> In RP, the phone [<a href="/wiki/Near-close_central_unrounded_vowel" class="mw-redirect" title="Near-close central unrounded vowel">ɨ̞</a>], apart from being a frequent allophone of /ʊ/ (as in foot [fɨ̞ʔt]) in younger speakers, appears only as an allophone of /ɪ/, which is often centralized when it occurs as a weak vowel, and never as an allophone of /ə/. Therefore, [ˈlɛnɨ̞n] can stand for only "Lenin", not "Lennon", which has a lower vowel: [ˈlɛnən]. However, speakers may not always clearly perceive that difference, as /ə/ is sometimes raised to [<a href="/wiki/Close-mid_central_unrounded_vowel" title="Close-mid central unrounded vowel">ɘ</a>] in contact with alveolar consonants (such as the alveolar nasals in "Lennon" [ˈlɛnɘn]). Furthermore, [<a href="/wiki/Near-close_central_unrounded_vowel" class="mw-redirect" title="Near-close central unrounded vowel">ɨ̞</a>] never participates in syllabic consonant formation and so G-dropping in words such as fishing never yields a syllabic nasal *[ˈfɪʃn̩] or a sounded mid schwa *[ˈfɪʃən], with the most casual RP forms being [ˈfɪʃɪn, -ɨ̞n]. Both [ˈfɪʃən] and especially [ˈfɪʃn̩] were considered to be strongly non-standard in England as late as 1982. They are characteristic of <a href="/wiki/Cockney" title="Cockney">Cockney</a>, which otherwise does not feature the weak vowel merger, but /ɪ/ can be centralized to [<a href="/wiki/Near-close_central_unrounded_vowel" class="mw-redirect" title="Near-close central unrounded vowel">ɨ̞</a>] as in RP and so [ˈfɪʃɪn] and [ˈfɪʃɨ̞n] are distinct possibilities in Cockney. In other accents of the <a href="/wiki/British_Isles" title="British Isles">British Isles</a>, the contrast between /ə/ and weak /ɪ/ may be variable. In <a href="/wiki/Irish_English" class="mw-redirect" title="Irish English">Irish English</a>, the merger is almost universal.<a href="#cite_note-FOOTNOTEWells1982167,_262,_305,_326,_427-31">[31]</a><a href="#cite_note-FOOTNOTECruttenden2014113,_130–131,_138,_216-32">[32]</a> The merger is not complete in <a href="/wiki/Scottish_English" title="Scottish English">Scottish English</a>, whose speakers typically distinguish except from accept, but the latter can be phonemicized with an unstressed <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r920966791">STRUT: /ʌkˈsɛpt/ (as can the word-final schwa in comma /ˈkɔmʌ/) and the former with /ə/: /əkˈsɛpt/. In other environments, <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r920966791">KIT and <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r920966791">COMMA are mostly merged to a quality around [<a href="/wiki/Mid_central_vowel" title="Mid central vowel">ə</a>], often even when stressed (Wells transcribes the merged vowel with ⟨ɪ⟩. There, ⟨ə⟩ is used for the sake of consistency and accuracy) and when before /r/, as in fir /fər/ and letter /ˈlɛtər/ (but not fern /fɛrn/ and fur /fʌr/: see <a href="/wiki/Nurse_mergers" class="mw-redirect" title="Nurse mergers">nurse mergers</a>). The <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r920966791">HAPPY vowel is /e/: /ˈhape/.<a href="#cite_note-FOOTNOTEWells1982405-33">[33]</a> Even in accents that do not have the merger, there may be certain words in which traditional /ɪ/ is replaced by /ə/ by many speakers (both sounds may then be considered to be in <a href="/wiki/Free_variation" title="Free variation">free variation</a>). In RP, /ə/ is now often heard in place of /ɪ/ in endings such as -ace (as in palace); -ate (as in senate); -less, -let, for the ⟨i⟩ in -ily; -ity, -ible; and in initial weak be-, de-, re-, and e-.<a href="#cite_note-FOOTNOTEWells1982296-34">[34]</a> Final /əl/, and also /ən/ and /əm/, are commonly realized as <a href="/wiki/Syllabic_consonant" title="Syllabic consonant">syllabic consonants</a>. In accents without the merger, the use of /ɪ/, rather than /ə/, prevents the formation of syllabic consonants. Hence in RP, for example, the second syllable of Barton is pronounced as a syllabic [n̩], but that of Martin is [ɪn]. Many non-rhotic speakers also pronounce pattern with [n̩], which is accordingly homophonous with Patton. Particularly in American linguistic tradition, the unmerged weak [ɪ]-type vowel is often transcribed with the barred i ⟨ɨ⟩, the <a href="/wiki/International_Phonetic_Alphabet" title="International Phonetic Alphabet">IPA</a> symbol for the <a href="/wiki/Close_central_unrounded_vowel" title="Close central unrounded vowel">close central unrounded vowel</a>.<a href="#cite_note-35">[35]</a> Another symbol sometimes used is ⟨ᵻ⟩, the non-IPA symbol for a <a href="/wiki/Near-close_central_unrounded_vowel" class="mw-redirect" title="Near-close central unrounded vowel">near-close central unrounded vowel</a>. In the third edition of the <a href="/wiki/OED" class="mw-redirect" title="OED">OED</a>, that symbol is used in the transcription of words (of the types listed above) that have free variation between /ɪ/ and /ə/ in RP. <table class="wikitable sortable mw-collapsible mw-collapsed"> <caption class="nowrap">Homophonous pairs </caption> <tbody><tr> <th><a href="/wiki/Help:IPA/English" title="Help:IPA/English">/ə/</a> </th> <th><a href="/wiki/Help:IPA/English" title="Help:IPA/English">/ɪ/</a> </th> <th>IPA </th> <th>Notes </th></tr> <tr> <td>Aaron</td> <td>Erin</td> <td>ˈɛrən</td> <td>With <a href="/wiki/Mary-marry-merry_merger" class="mw-redirect" title="Mary-marry-merry merger">Mary-marry-merry merger</a>. </td></tr> <tr> <td>accede</td> <td>exceed</td> <td>əkˈsiːd</td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <td>accept</td> <td>except</td> <td>əkˈsɛpt</td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <td>addition</td> <td>edition</td> <td>əˈdɪʃən</td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <td><a href="/wiki/Aleutian_(disambiguation)" class="mw-redirect mw-disambig" title="Aleutian (disambiguation)">Aleutian</a></td> <td>elution</td> <td>əˈl(j)uːʃən</td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <td>allide</td> <td>elide</td> <td>əˈlaɪd</td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <td>allied</td> <td>elide</td> <td>əˈlaɪd</td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <td>allision</td> <td>elision</td> <td>əˈlɪʒən</td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <td>allude</td> <td>elude</td> <td>əˈl(j)uːd</td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <td>alluded</td> <td>eluted</td> <td>əˈl(j)uːɾəd</td> <td>With <a href="/wiki/Intervocalic_alveolar_flapping" class="mw-redirect" title="Intervocalic alveolar flapping">intervocalic alveolar flapping</a>. </td></tr> <tr> <td>allusion</td> <td>illusion</td> <td>əˈl(j)uːʒən</td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <td>amend</td> <td>emend</td> <td>əˈmɛnd</td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <td>apatite</td> <td>appetite</td> <td>ˈapətaɪt</td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <td>arrays</td> <td>erase</td> <td>əˈreɪz</td> <td>Some accents pronounce erase as /ɪˈreɪs/. </td></tr> <tr> <td>barrel</td> <td>beryl</td> <td>ˈbɛrəl</td> <td>With <a href="/wiki/Marry-merry_merger" class="mw-redirect" title="Marry-merry merger">marry-merry merger</a>. </td></tr> <tr> <td>battered</td> <td>batted</td> <td>ˈbætəd</td> <td><a href="/wiki/Rhotic_and_non-rhotic_accents" class="mw-redirect" title="Rhotic and non-rhotic accents">Non-rhotic</a> </td></tr> <tr> <td>bazaar</td> <td>bizarre</td> <td>bəˈzɑːr</td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <td>bettered</td> <td>betted</td> <td>ˈbɛtəd</td> <td><a href="/wiki/Rhotic_and_non-rhotic_accents" class="mw-redirect" title="Rhotic and non-rhotic accents">Non-rhotic</a> </td></tr> <tr> <td>bleachers</td> <td>bleaches</td> <td>ˈbliːtʃəz</td> <td><a href="/wiki/Rhotic_and_non-rhotic_accents" class="mw-redirect" title="Rhotic and non-rhotic accents">Non-rhotic</a> </td></tr> <tr> <td>bustard</td> <td>busted</td> <td>ˈbʌstəd</td> <td><a href="/wiki/Rhotic_and_non-rhotic_accents" class="mw-redirect" title="Rhotic and non-rhotic accents">Non-rhotic</a> </td></tr> <tr> <td>butchers</td> <td>butches</td> <td>ˈbʊtʃəz</td> <td><a href="/wiki/Rhotic_and_non-rhotic_accents" class="mw-redirect" title="Rhotic and non-rhotic accents">Non-rhotic</a> </td></tr> <tr> <td>buttered</td> <td>butted</td> <td>ˈbʌtəd</td> <td><a href="/wiki/Rhotic_and_non-rhotic_accents" class="mw-redirect" title="Rhotic and non-rhotic accents">Non-rhotic</a> </td></tr> <tr> <td>carat</td> <td>caret</td> <td>ˈkærət</td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <td>carrot</td> <td>caret</td> <td>ˈkærət</td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <td>censors</td> <td>senses</td> <td>ˈsɛnsəz</td> <td><a href="/wiki/Rhotic_and_non-rhotic_accents" class="mw-redirect" title="Rhotic and non-rhotic accents">Non-rhotic</a> </td></tr> <tr> <td>chartered</td> <td>charted</td> <td>ˈtʃɑːtəd</td> <td><a href="/wiki/Rhotic_and_non-rhotic_accents" class="mw-redirect" title="Rhotic and non-rhotic accents">Non-rhotic</a> </td></tr> <tr> <td>chattered</td> <td>chatted</td> <td>ˈtʃætəd</td> <td><a href="/wiki/Rhotic_and_non-rhotic_accents" class="mw-redirect" title="Rhotic and non-rhotic accents">Non-rhotic</a> </td></tr> <tr> <td>chiton</td> <td>chitin</td> <td>ˈkaɪtən</td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <td>chromous</td> <td>chromis</td> <td>ˈkroʊməs</td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <td>Devon</td> <td>Devin</td> <td>ˈdɛvən</td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <td>ferrous</td> <td>Ferris</td> <td>ˈfɛrəs</td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <td>foundered</td> <td>founded</td> <td>ˈfaʊndəd</td> <td><a href="/wiki/Rhotic_and_non-rhotic_accents" class="mw-redirect" title="Rhotic and non-rhotic accents">Non-rhotic</a> </td></tr> <tr> <td>humo(u)red</td> <td>humid</td> <td>ˈhjuːməd</td> <td><a href="/wiki/Rhotic_and_non-rhotic_accents" class="mw-redirect" title="Rhotic and non-rhotic accents">Non-rhotic</a> </td></tr> <tr> <td>installation</td> <td>instillation</td> <td>ˌɪnstəˈleɪʃən</td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <td>Lennon</td> <td>Lenin</td> <td>ˈlɛnən</td> <td><a href="#cite_note-afterRP-36">[36]</a> </td></tr> <tr> <td>mandrel</td> <td>mandrill</td> <td>ˈmændrəl</td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <td>mastered</td> <td>masted</td> <td>ˈmæstəd, ˈmɑːstəd</td> <td><a href="/wiki/Rhotic_and_non-rhotic_accents" class="mw-redirect" title="Rhotic and non-rhotic accents">Non-rhotic</a> </td></tr> <tr> <td>mattered</td> <td>matted</td> <td>ˈmætəd</td> <td><a href="/wiki/Rhotic_and_non-rhotic_accents" class="mw-redirect" title="Rhotic and non-rhotic accents">Non-rhotic</a> </td></tr> <tr> <td>mergers</td> <td>merges</td> <td>ˈmɜːdʒəz</td> <td><a href="/wiki/Rhotic_and_non-rhotic_accents" class="mw-redirect" title="Rhotic and non-rhotic accents">Non-rhotic</a> </td></tr> <tr> <td>modern</td> <td>modding</td> <td>ˈmɒdən</td> <td><a href="/wiki/Rhotic_and_non-rhotic_accents" class="mw-redirect" title="Rhotic and non-rhotic accents">Non-rhotic</a> with <a href="/wiki/G-dropping" class="mw-redirect" title="G-dropping">G-dropping</a>. </td></tr> <tr> <td>officers</td> <td>offices</td> <td>ˈɒfəsəz</td> <td><a href="/wiki/Rhotic_and_non-rhotic_accents" class="mw-redirect" title="Rhotic and non-rhotic accents">Non-rhotic</a> </td></tr> <tr> <td>omission</td> <td>emission</td> <td>əˈmɪʃən</td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <td>parody</td> <td>parity</td> <td>ˈpærəɾi</td> <td>With <a href="/wiki/Intervocalic_alveolar_flapping" class="mw-redirect" title="Intervocalic alveolar flapping">intervocalic alveolar flapping</a>. </td></tr> <tr> <td>pattered</td> <td>patted</td> <td>ˈpætəd</td> <td><a href="/wiki/Rhotic_and_non-rhotic_accents" class="mw-redirect" title="Rhotic and non-rhotic accents">Non-rhotic</a> </td></tr> <tr> <td>pattern</td> <td>patting</td> <td>ˈpætən</td> <td><a href="/wiki/Rhotic_and_non-rhotic_accents" class="mw-redirect" title="Rhotic and non-rhotic accents">Non-rhotic</a> with <a href="/wiki/G-dropping" class="mw-redirect" title="G-dropping">G-dropping</a>. </td></tr> <tr> <td>pigeon</td> <td>pidgin</td> <td>ˈpɪdʒən</td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <td>proscribe</td> <td>prescribe</td> <td>prəˈskraɪb</td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <td>racers</td> <td>races</td> <td>ˈreɪsəz</td> <td><a href="/wiki/Rhotic_and_non-rhotic_accents" class="mw-redirect" title="Rhotic and non-rhotic accents">Non-rhotic</a> </td></tr> <tr> <td>Rosa's</td> <td>roses</td> <td>ˈroʊzəz</td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <td><a href="/wiki/Saturn" title="Saturn">Saturn</a></td> <td>satin</td> <td>ˈsætən</td> <td><a href="/wiki/Rhotic_and_non-rhotic_accents" class="mw-redirect" title="Rhotic and non-rhotic accents">Non-rhotic</a> </td></tr> <tr> <td>scattered</td> <td>scatted</td> <td>ˈskætəd</td> <td><a href="/wiki/Rhotic_and_non-rhotic_accents" class="mw-redirect" title="Rhotic and non-rhotic accents">Non-rhotic</a> </td></tr> <tr> <td>seraph</td> <td>serif</td> <td>ˈsɛrəf</td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <td>splendo(u)red</td> <td>splendid</td> <td>ˈsplɛndəd</td> <td><a href="/wiki/Rhotic_and_non-rhotic_accents" class="mw-redirect" title="Rhotic and non-rhotic accents">Non-rhotic</a> </td></tr> <tr> <td>surplus</td> <td>surplice</td> <td>ˈsɜːrpləs</td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <td>tattered</td> <td>tatted</td> <td>ˈtætəd</td> <td><a href="/wiki/Rhotic_and_non-rhotic_accents" class="mw-redirect" title="Rhotic and non-rhotic accents">Non-rhotic</a> </td></tr> <tr> <td>tendered</td> <td>tended</td> <td>ˈtɛndəd</td> <td><a href="/wiki/Rhotic_and_non-rhotic_accents" class="mw-redirect" title="Rhotic and non-rhotic accents">Non-rhotic</a> </td></tr> <tr> <td>titan</td> <td>titin</td> <td>ˈtaɪtən</td> <td> </td></tr></tbody></table> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Centralized_KIT">Centralized <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r920966791">KIT</h3>[<a href="/w/index.php?title=Phonological_history_of_English_close_front_vowels&action=edit&section=13" title="Edit section: Centralized KIT">edit</a>]</div> A phonetic shift of <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r920966791">KIT, the vowel /ɪ/, towards <a href="/wiki/Schwa" class="mw-redirect" title="Schwa">schwa</a>, the vowel [ə] (and potentially even a phonemic shift, merging with the word-internal variety of schwa in gallop, which is deliberately not called <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r920966791">COMMA here since word-final and sometimes also word-initial <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r920966791">COMMA can be analysed as <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r920966791">STRUT: see above), occurs in some <a href="/wiki/Inland_Northern_American_English" title="Inland Northern American English">Inland Northern American English</a> (the areas in which the final stage of the Northern Cities Vowel Shift has been completed), <a href="/wiki/New_Zealand_English" title="New Zealand English">New Zealand English</a>, <a href="/wiki/Scottish_English" title="Scottish English">Scottish English</a> and partially also <a href="/wiki/South_African_English" title="South African English">South African English</a> (see <a href="/wiki/Kit%E2%80%93bit_split" class="mw-redirect" title="Kit–bit split">kit–bit split</a>). In non-rhotic varieties with the shift, it also encompasses the unstressed syllable of letters with the stressed variant of /ɪ/ being realized with a schwa-like quality [<a href="/wiki/Mid_central_vowel" title="Mid central vowel">ə</a>]. As a result, the vowels in kit /kət/, lid /ləd/ and miss /məs/ belong to the same phoneme as the unstressed vowel in balance /ˈbæləns/.<a href="#cite_note-FOOTNOTEWells1982404,_606,_612–613-37">[37]</a><a href="#cite_note-FOOTNOTEBauerWarrenBardsleyKennedy200798–99,_101-38">[38]</a> It typically cooccurs with the weak vowel merger, but in <a href="/wiki/Scotland" title="Scotland">Scotland</a>, the weak vowel merger is not complete: see above.<a href="#cite_note-FOOTNOTEWells1982405,_605–606,_612–613-39">[39]</a><a href="#cite_note-FOOTNOTEBauerWarrenBardsleyKennedy200798–99-40">[40]</a> There are no homophonous pairs apart from those caused by the weak vowel merger, but a central <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r920966791">KIT tends to sound like <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r920966791">STRUT to speakers of other dialects and so Australians accuse New Zealanders of saying "fush and chups", instead of "fish and chips", which in an Australian accent sounds close to "feesh and cheeps". That is not accurate, as the <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r920966791">STRUT vowel is always more open than the central <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r920966791">KIT. In other words, there is no <a href="/wiki/Strut%E2%80%93comma_merger" class="mw-redirect" title="Strut–comma merger">strut–comma merger</a>, but a kit–strut merger is possible in some <a href="/wiki/Glasgow" title="Glasgow">Glaswegian</a> speech in Scotland.<a href="#cite_note-FOOTNOTEWells1982403,_607,_615-41">[41]</a><a href="#cite_note-FOOTNOTEBauerWarrenBardsleyKennedy200798,_101-42">[42]</a> That means that varieties of English with the merger effectively contrast two stressable unrounded schwas, which is very similar to the contrast between /ɨ/ and /ə/ in <a href="/wiki/Romanian_language" title="Romanian language">Romanian</a>, as in the minimal pair râu /rɨw/ 'river' vs. rău /rəw/ 'bad'. Most dialects with the phenomenon feature <a href="/wiki/Happy_tensing" class="mw-redirect" title="Happy tensing">happy tensing</a> and so pretty is best analysed as /ˈprətiː/ in those accents. In Scotland, the <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r920966791">HAPPY vowel is commonly a close-mid [<a href="/wiki/Close-mid_front_unrounded_vowel" title="Close-mid front unrounded vowel">e</a>], which is identified phonemically as <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r920966791">FACE: /ˈprəte/. The term kit–comma merger is appropriate in the case of the dialects in which the quality of <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r920966791">STRUT is far removed from [<a href="/wiki/Near-open_central_vowel" title="Near-open central vowel">ɐ</a>] (the word-final allophone of /ə/), such as Inland Northern American English, but can be a misleading name in the case of other accents. <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Happy_tensing">Happy tensing </h3>[<a href="/w/index.php?title=Phonological_history_of_English_close_front_vowels&action=edit&section=14" title="Edit section: Happy tensing">edit</a>]</div> Happy tensing is a process whereby a final unstressed i-type vowel becomes <a href="/wiki/Tenseness" title="Tenseness">tense</a> [i] rather than lax [ɪ], today found in most dialects of English worldwide. That affects the final vowels of words such as happy, city, hurry, taxi, movie, Charlie, coffee, money and Chelsea. It may also apply in inflected forms of such words containing an additional final consonant sound, such as cities, Charlie's and hurried. It can also affect words such as me, he and she when they are used as <a href="/wiki/Clitics" class="mw-redirect" title="Clitics">clitics</a>, as in show me, would he?<a href="#cite_note-FOOTNOTEWells1982165–166,_257-43">[43]</a> Until the 17th century, words like happy could end with the vowel of my (originally [iː], but it was diphthongised in the <a href="/wiki/Great_Vowel_Shift" title="Great Vowel Shift">Great Vowel Shift</a>), which alternated with a short i sound. (Many words spelt -ee, -ea, -ey once had the vowel of day; there is still alternation between that vowel and the happy vowel in words such as Sunday and Monday.)<a href="#cite_note-FOOTNOTEWells1982165-44">[44]</a> It is not entirely clear when the vowel underwent the transition. The fact that tensing is uniformly present in <a href="/wiki/South_African_English" title="South African English">South African English</a>, <a href="/wiki/Australian_English" title="Australian English">Australian English</a> and <a href="/wiki/New_Zealand_English" title="New Zealand English">New Zealand English</a> lends support to the idea that it may have already been present in southern British English already in the early 19th century. However, it is not mentioned by <a href="/wiki/Descriptive_linguistics" class="mw-redirect" title="Descriptive linguistics">descriptive</a> <a href="/wiki/Phonetics" title="Phonetics">phoneticians</a> until the early 20th century and even then at first only in <a href="/wiki/American_English" title="American English">American English</a>. The British phonetician <a href="/wiki/Jack_Windsor_Lewis" title="Jack Windsor Lewis">Jack Windsor Lewis</a><a href="#cite_note-45">[45]</a> believed that the vowel moved from [i] to [ɪ] in Britain in the second quarter of the 19th century before it reverted to [i] in non-conservative British accents towards the last quarter of the 20th century. The laxer [ɪ] pronunciation is also found in <a href="/wiki/Southern_American_English" title="Southern American English">Southern American English</a>, in much of northern England and in Jamaica. In <a href="/wiki/Scottish_English" title="Scottish English">Scottish English</a>, an [e] sound, similar to the Scottish realization of the vowel of day, may be used. It is also still found among some older speakers of Conservative <a href="/wiki/Received_Pronunciation" title="Received Pronunciation">RP</a>. The tense [i] variant, however, is now established in as the norm in Modern RP and General American, and is also the usual form in Canada, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, in southern England and in some northern English regions (such as <a href="/wiki/Scouse" title="Scouse">Merseyside</a>, <a href="/wiki/Kingston_upon_Hull" title="Kingston upon Hull">Hull</a> and <a href="/wiki/Northumbrian_dialect" title="Northumbrian dialect">the entire North East</a>).<a href="#cite_note-FOOTNOTEWells1982165,_294-46">[46]</a><a href="#cite_note-FOOTNOTELindsey201932-38-47">[47]</a> The lax and tense variants of the happy vowel may be identified with the phonemes /ɪ/ and /iː/ respectively. They may also be considered to represent a <a href="/wiki/Neutralization_(linguistics)" class="mw-redirect" title="Neutralization (linguistics)">neutralization</a> between the two phonemes, but for speakers with the tense variant, there is the possibility of contrast in such pairs as taxis and taxes (see <a href="/wiki/English_phonology#Unstressed_syllables" title="English phonology">English phonology – vowels in unstressed syllables</a>). <a href="#CITEREFRoach2009">Roach (2009)</a> and <a href="#CITEREFWells2008">Wells (2008)</a> consider the tensing to be a neutralization between /ɪ/ and /iː/.<a href="#cite_note-FOOTNOTERoach200967-48">[48]</a><a href="#cite_note-FOOTNOTEWells2008539-49">[49]</a> <a href="#CITEREFCruttenden2014">Cruttenden (2014)</a> regards the tense variant in modern RP as still an allophone of /ɪ/ on the basis that it is shorter and more resistant to diphthongization than is /iː/.<a href="#cite_note-FOOTNOTECruttenden201484-50">[50]</a> <a href="#CITEREFLindsey2019">Lindsey (2019)</a> regards the phenomenon to be a mere substitution of /iː/ for /ɪ/.<a href="#cite_note-FOOTNOTELindsey201932-51">[51]</a> Most modern British dictionaries represent the happy vowel with the symbol ⟨i⟩ (distinct from both ⟨ɪ⟩ and ⟨iː⟩). That notation was first introduced in the <a href="/wiki/Longman_Dictionary_of_Contemporary_English" title="Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English">Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English</a> (1978) by its pronunciation editor, Gordon Walsh, and it was later taken up by <a href="#CITEREFRoach1983">Roach (1983)</a>, who extended it to ⟨u⟩ representing the weak vowel found word-medially in situation etc., and by some other dictionaries, including <a href="/wiki/John_C._Wells" title="John C. Wells">John C. Wells</a>'s Longman Pronunciation Dictionary (1990).<a href="#cite_note-FOOTNOTEAshbyAshbyBaldwinHolmes199436–7-52">[52]</a> In 2012, Wells wrote that the notation "seemed like a good idea at the time, but it clearly confuses a lot of people".<a href="#cite_note-53">[53]</a> <a href="#CITEREFLindsey2019">Lindsey (2019)</a> criticizes the notation for causing "widespread belief in a specific 'happY vowel'" that "never existed".<a href="#cite_note-FOOTNOTELindsey201932-51">[51]</a> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Merger_of_/y/_with_/i/_and_/yː/_with_/iː/">Merger of /y/ with /i/ and /yː/ with /iː/</h2>[<a href="/w/index.php?title=Phonological_history_of_English_close_front_vowels&action=edit&section=15" title="Edit section: Merger of /y/ with /i/ and /yː/ with /iː/">edit</a>]</div> Old English had the short vowel /y/ and the long vowel /yː/, which were spelled orthographically with ⟨y⟩. They contrasted with the short vowel /i/ and the long vowel /iː/, which were spelled orthographically with ⟨i⟩. By Middle English, the two vowels /y/ and /yː/ merged with /i/ and /iː/ and left only the short-long pair /i/-/iː/. Modern spelling therefore uses both ⟨y⟩ and ⟨i⟩ for the modern KIT and PRICE vowels. Modern spelling with ⟨i⟩ or ⟨y⟩ is not an indicator of the Old English distinction between the four sounds, as spelling has been revised after the merger occurred. For example, Modern English bridge derives from Old English bryċġ, while Modern English scythe derives from Old English sīþe. The name of the letter ⟨y⟩ has acquired an initial [w] sound in it to keep it distinct from the name of the letter ⟨i⟩.[<a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed" title="Wikipedia:Citation needed">citation needed</a>] <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Additional_mergers_in_Asian_and_African_English">Additional mergers in Asian and African English</h2>[<a href="/w/index.php?title=Phonological_history_of_English_close_front_vowels&action=edit&section=16" title="Edit section: Additional mergers in Asian and African English">edit</a>]</div> The mitt–meet merger is a phenomenon occurring in <a href="/wiki/Malaysian_English" title="Malaysian English">Malaysian English</a> and <a href="/wiki/Singaporean_English" class="mw-redirect" title="Singaporean English">Singaporean English</a> in which the phonemes /iː/ and /ɪ/ are both pronounced /i/. As a result, pairs like mitt and meet, bit and beat, and bid and bead are homophones.<a href="#cite_note-Hung-54">[54]</a> The met–mat merger is a phenomenon occurring in <a href="/wiki/Malaysian_English" title="Malaysian English">Malaysian English</a>, <a href="/wiki/Singaporean_English" class="mw-redirect" title="Singaporean English">Singaporean English</a> and <a href="/wiki/Hong_Kong_English" title="Hong Kong English">Hong Kong English</a> in which the phonemes /ɛ/ and /æ/ are both pronounced /ɛ/. For some speakers, it occurs only before voiceless consonants, and pairs like met, mat, bet, bat are homophones, but bed, bad or med, mad are kept distinct. For others, it occurs in all positions.<a href="#cite_note-Hung-54">[54]</a> The met–mate merger is a phenomenon occurring for some speakers of <a href="/wiki/Zulu_English" title="Zulu English">Zulu English</a> in which the phonemes /eɪ/ and /ɛ/ are both pronounced /ɛ/. As a result, the words met and mate are homophonous as /mɛt/.<a href="#cite_note-55">[55]</a> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="See_also">See also</h2>[<a href="/w/index.php?title=Phonological_history_of_English_close_front_vowels&action=edit&section=17" title="Edit section: See also">edit</a>]</div> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Phonological_history_of_English" title="Phonological history of English">Phonological history of English</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Phonological_history_of_English_vowels" title="Phonological history of English vowels">Phonological history of English vowels</a></li></ul> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="References">References</h2>[<a href="/w/index.php?title=Phonological_history_of_English_close_front_vowels&action=edit&section=18" 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 mw-references-columns"><ol class="references"> <li id="cite_note-1"><a href="#cite_ref-1">^</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 id="CITEREFBarber1997" class="citation book cs1">Barber, C. 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Speech, Hearing and Language: Work in Progress (8): 33–40.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.genre=article&rft.jtitle=Speech%2C+Hearing+and+Language%3A+Work+in+Progress&rft.atitle=Broad+transcription+in+phonetic+training&rft.issue=8&rft.pages=33-40&rft.date=1994&rft.aulast=Ashby&rft.aufirst=Michael&rft.au=Ashby%2C+Patricia&rft.au=Baldwin%2C+John&rft.au=Holmes%2C+Frederika&rft.au=House%2C+Jill&rft.au=Maidment%2C+John&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.researchgate.net%2Fpublication%2F267925094&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3APhonological+history+of+English+close+front+vowels" class="Z3988"></li> <li><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFBauerWarrenBardsleyKennedy2007" class="citation journal cs1">Bauer, Laurie; Warren, Paul; Bardsley, Dianne; Kennedy, Marianna; Major, George (2007). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/282778721">"New Zealand English"</a>. <a href="/wiki/Journal_of_the_International_Phonetic_Association" title="Journal of the International Phonetic Association">Journal of the International Phonetic Association</a>. 37 (1): 97–102. <a href="/wiki/Doi_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="Doi (identifier)">doi</a>:<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://doi.org/10.1017%2FS0025100306002830">10.1017/S0025100306002830</a>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.genre=article&rft.jtitle=Journal+of+the+International+Phonetic+Association&rft.atitle=New+Zealand+English&rft.volume=37&rft.issue=1&rft.pages=97-102&rft.date=2007&rft_id=info%3Adoi%2F10.1017%2FS0025100306002830&rft.aulast=Bauer&rft.aufirst=Laurie&rft.au=Warren%2C+Paul&rft.au=Bardsley%2C+Dianne&rft.au=Kennedy%2C+Marianna&rft.au=Major%2C+George&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.researchgate.net%2Fpublication%2F282778721&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3APhonological+history+of+English+close+front+vowels" class="Z3988"></li> <li><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFCruttenden2014" class="citation book cs1">Cruttenden, Alan (2014). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://books.google.com/books?id=M2nMAgAAQBAJ">Gimson's Pronunciation of English</a> (8th ed.). Routledge. <a href="/wiki/ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <a href="/wiki/Special:BookSources/9781444183092" title="Special:BookSources/9781444183092"><bdi>9781444183092</bdi></a>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=Gimson%27s+Pronunciation+of+English&rft.edition=8th&rft.pub=Routledge&rft.date=2014&rft.isbn=9781444183092&rft.aulast=Cruttenden&rft.aufirst=Alan&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fbooks.google.com%2Fbooks%3Fid%3DM2nMAgAAQBAJ&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3APhonological+history+of+English+close+front+vowels" class="Z3988"></li> <li><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFde_Gruyter2004" class="citation book cs1">Kortmann, Bernd; Schneider, Edgar W., eds. (2004). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://books.google.com/books?id=mtd3a-56ysUC">A Handbook of Varieties of English: CD-ROM</a>. Walter de Gruyter. <a href="/wiki/ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <a href="/wiki/Special:BookSources/3110175320" title="Special:BookSources/3110175320"><bdi>3110175320</bdi></a>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=A+Handbook+of+Varieties+of+English%3A+CD-ROM&rft.pub=Walter+de+Gruyter&rft.date=2004&rft.isbn=3110175320&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fbooks.google.com%2Fbooks%3Fid%3Dmtd3a-56ysUC&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3APhonological+history+of+English+close+front+vowels" class="Z3988"></li> <li><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFLindsey2019" class="citation book cs1"><a href="/wiki/Geoff_Lindsey" title="Geoff Lindsey">Lindsey, Geoff</a> (2019). English After RP: Standard British Pronunciation Today. Palgrave Macmillan. <a href="/wiki/ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <a href="/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-3-030-04356-8" title="Special:BookSources/978-3-030-04356-8"><bdi>978-3-030-04356-8</bdi></a>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=English+After+RP%3A+Standard+British+Pronunciation+Today&rft.pub=Palgrave+Macmillan&rft.date=2019&rft.isbn=978-3-030-04356-8&rft.aulast=Lindsey&rft.aufirst=Geoff&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3APhonological+history+of+English+close+front+vowels" class="Z3988"></li> <li><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFRoach1983" class="citation book cs1"><a href="/wiki/Peter_Roach_(phonetician)" title="Peter Roach (phonetician)">Roach, Peter</a> (1983). English Phonetics and Phonology: A Practical Course. Cambridge University Press. <a href="/wiki/ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <a href="/wiki/Special:BookSources/0-521-28252-7" title="Special:BookSources/0-521-28252-7"><bdi>0-521-28252-7</bdi></a>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=English+Phonetics+and+Phonology%3A+A+Practical+Course&rft.pub=Cambridge+University+Press&rft.date=1983&rft.isbn=0-521-28252-7&rft.aulast=Roach&rft.aufirst=Peter&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3APhonological+history+of+English+close+front+vowels" class="Z3988"></li> <li><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFRoach2009" class="citation book cs1">Roach, Peter (2009). English Phonetics and Phonology: A Practical Course (4th ed.). Cambridge University Press. <a href="/wiki/ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <a href="/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-521-71740-3" title="Special:BookSources/978-0-521-71740-3"><bdi>978-0-521-71740-3</bdi></a>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=English+Phonetics+and+Phonology%3A+A+Practical+Course&rft.edition=4th&rft.pub=Cambridge+University+Press&rft.date=2009&rft.isbn=978-0-521-71740-3&rft.aulast=Roach&rft.aufirst=Peter&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3APhonological+history+of+English+close+front+vowels" class="Z3988"></li> <li><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><cite id="CITEREFWells1982" class="citation book"><a href="/wiki/John_C._Wells" title="John C. Wells">Wells, John C.</a> (1982). Accents of English. Vol. 1: An Introduction (pp. i–xx, 1–278), Vol. 2: The British Isles (pp. i–xx, 279–466), Vol. 3: Beyond the British Isles (pp. i–xx, 467–674). Cambridge University Press. <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><a href="/wiki/Doi_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="Doi (identifier)">doi</a>:<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://doi.org/10.1017%2FCBO9780511611759">10.1017/CBO9780511611759</a>, <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://doi.org/10.1017%2FCBO9780511611766">10.1017/CBO9780511611766</a>. <a href="/wiki/International_Standard_Book_Number" class="mw-redirect" title="International Standard Book Number">ISBN</a> <a href="/wiki/Special:BookSources/0-52129719-2" title="Special:BookSources/0-52129719-2">0-52129719-2</a><span class="Z3988" title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fde.wikipedia.org%3APhonological+history+of+English+close+front+vowels&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=Accents+of+English&rft.aulast=Wells&rft.aufirst=John+C.&rft.date=1982&rft.pub=Cambridge+University+Press&rft.volume=1%3A+An+Introduction&rft.isbn=0-52129719-2"> , <a href="/wiki/Special:BookSources/0-52128540-2" title="Special:BookSources/0-52128540-2">0-52128540-2</a><span class="Z3988" title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fde.wikipedia.org%3APhonological+history+of+English+close+front+vowels&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=Accents+of+English&rft.aulast=Wells&rft.aufirst=John+C.&rft.date=1982&rft.pub=Cambridge+University+Press&rft.volume=2%3A+The+British+Isles&rft.isbn=0-52128540-2&rft_id=info:doi/10.1017%2FCBO9780511611759"> , <a href="/wiki/Special:BookSources/0-52128541-0" title="Special:BookSources/0-52128541-0">0-52128541-0</a><span class="Z3988" title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fde.wikipedia.org%3APhonological+history+of+English+close+front+vowels&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=Accents+of+English&rft.aulast=Wells&rft.aufirst=John+C.&rft.date=1982&rft.pub=Cambridge+University+Press&rft.volume=3%3A+Beyond+the+British+Isles&rft.isbn=0-52128541-0&rft_id=info:doi/10.1017%2FCBO9780511611759"> .</cite></li> <li><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFWells2008" class="citation book cs1"><a href="/wiki/John_C._Wells" title="John C. Wells">Wells, John C.</a> (2008). Longman Pronunciation Dictionary (3rd ed.). Longman. <a href="/wiki/ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <a href="/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-1-4058-8118-0" title="Special:BookSources/978-1-4058-8118-0"><bdi>978-1-4058-8118-0</bdi></a>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=Longman+Pronunciation+Dictionary&rft.edition=3rd&rft.pub=Longman&rft.date=2008&rft.isbn=978-1-4058-8118-0&rft.aulast=Wells&rft.aufirst=John+C.&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3APhonological+history+of+English+close+front+vowels" 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 .navbox .navbox{margin-top:0}.mw-parser-output .navbox+.navbox,.mw-parser-output .navbox+.navbox-styles+.navbox{margin-top:-1px}.mw-parser-output .navbox-inner,.mw-parser-output .navbox-subgroup{width:100%}.mw-parser-output .navbox-group,.mw-parser-output .navbox-title,.mw-parser-output .navbox-abovebelow{padding:0.25em 1em;line-height:1.5em;text-align:center}.mw-parser-output .navbox-group{white-space:nowrap;text-align:right}.mw-parser-output .navbox,.mw-parser-output .navbox-subgroup{background-color:#fdfdfd}.mw-parser-output .navbox-list{line-height:1.5em;border-color:#fdfdfd}.mw-parser-output .navbox-list-with-group{text-align:left;border-left-width:2px;border-left-style:solid}.mw-parser-output tr+tr>.navbox-abovebelow,.mw-parser-output tr+tr>.navbox-group,.mw-parser-output tr+tr>.navbox-image,.mw-parser-output tr+tr>.navbox-list{border-top:2px solid #fdfdfd}.mw-parser-output .navbox-title{background-color:#ccf}.mw-parser-output .navbox-abovebelow,.mw-parser-output .navbox-group,.mw-parser-output .navbox-subgroup .navbox-title{background-color:#ddf}.mw-parser-output .navbox-subgroup .navbox-group,.mw-parser-output .navbox-subgroup .navbox-abovebelow{background-color:#e6e6ff}.mw-parser-output .navbox-even{background-color:#f7f7f7}.mw-parser-output .navbox-odd{background-color:transparent}.mw-parser-output .navbox .hlist td dl,.mw-parser-output .navbox .hlist td ol,.mw-parser-output .navbox .hlist td ul,.mw-parser-output .navbox td.hlist dl,.mw-parser-output .navbox td.hlist ol,.mw-parser-output .navbox td.hlist ul{padding:0.125em 0}.mw-parser-output .navbox .navbar{display:block;font-size:100%}.mw-parser-output .navbox-title .navbar{float:left;text-align:left;margin-right:0.5em}body.skin--responsive .mw-parser-output .navbox-image img{max-width:none!important}@media print{body.ns-0 .mw-parser-output .navbox{display:none!important}}</style></div><div role="navigation" class="navbox" aria-labelledby="History_of_English" style="padding:3px"><table class="nowraplinks mw-collapsible autocollapse navbox-inner" style="border-spacing:0;background:transparent;color:inherit"><tbody><tr><th scope="col" class="navbox-title" colspan="2"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1129693374"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1239400231"><div class="navbar plainlinks hlist navbar-mini"><ul><li class="nv-view"><a href="/wiki/Template:History_of_English" title="Template:History of English"><abbr title="View this template">v</abbr></a></li><li class="nv-talk"><a href="/wiki/Template_talk:History_of_English" title="Template talk:History of English"><abbr title="Discuss this template">t</abbr></a></li><li class="nv-edit"><a href="/wiki/Special:EditPage/Template:History_of_English" title="Special:EditPage/Template:History of English"><abbr title="Edit this template">e</abbr></a></li></ul></div><div id="History_of_English" style="font-size:114%;margin:0 4em"><a href="/wiki/History_of_English" title="History of English">History of English</a></div></th></tr><tr><td colspan="2" class="navbox-list navbox-odd hlist" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Proto-Indo-European_language" title="Proto-Indo-European language">Proto-Indo-European</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Proto-Germanic_language" title="Proto-Germanic language">Proto-Germanic</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/West_Germanic_languages" title="West Germanic languages">Proto-West-Germanic</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Anglo-Frisian_languages" title="Anglo-Frisian languages">Anglo-Frisian languages</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Old_English" title="Old English">Old English</a> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Kentish_Old_English" title="Kentish Old English">Kentish</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Mercian_dialect" title="Mercian dialect">Mercian</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Northumbrian_Old_English" title="Northumbrian Old English">Northumbrian</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/West_Saxon_dialect" title="West Saxon dialect">West Saxon</a></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Anglo-Norman_language" title="Anglo-Norman language">Anglo-Norman language</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Middle_English" title="Middle English">Middle English</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Early_Modern_English" title="Early Modern English">Early Modern English</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Modern_English" title="Modern English">Modern English</a></li></ul> </div></td></tr><tr><td colspan="2" class="navbox-list navbox-odd hlist" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"></div><table class="nowraplinks mw-collapsible expanded navbox-subgroup" style="border-spacing:0"><tbody><tr><th scope="col" class="navbox-title" colspan="2"><div id="Phonological_history" style="font-size:114%;margin:0 4em"><a href="/wiki/Phonological_history_of_English" title="Phonological history of English">Phonological history</a></div></th></tr><tr><td colspan="2" class="navbox-list navbox-odd" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"></div><table class="nowraplinks navbox-subgroup" style="border-spacing:0"><tbody><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%"><a href="/wiki/Phonological_history_of_English_vowels" title="Phonological history of English vowels">Vowels</a></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/Pronunciation_of_English_%E2%9F%A8a%E2%9F%A9" title="Pronunciation of English ⟨a⟩">A</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/English-language_vowel_changes_before_historic_/l/" title="English-language vowel changes before historic /l/">Changes before historic /l/</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/English-language_vowel_changes_before_historic_/r/" title="English-language vowel changes before historic /r/">Changes before historic /r/</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Phonological_history_of_English_close_back_vowels" title="Phonological history of English close back vowels">Close back vowels</a></li> <li><a class="mw-selflink selflink">Close front vowels</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 vowels</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Trisyllabic_laxing" title="Trisyllabic laxing">Trisyllabic laxing</a></li></ul> </div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%"><a href="/wiki/Phonological_history_of_English_consonants" title="Phonological history of English consonants">Consonants</a></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/Phonological_history_of_English_consonant_clusters" title="Phonological history of English consonant clusters">Clusters</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/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> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Th-fronting" title="Th-fronting">fronting</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Th-stopping" title="Th-stopping">stopping</a></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Pronunciation_of_English_%E2%9F%A8wh%E2%9F%A9" title="Pronunciation of English ⟨wh⟩">Wh</a></li></ul> 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