Phonological history of English open back vowels

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The phonology of the open back vowels of the English language has undergone changes both overall and with regional variations, through Old and Middle English to the present. The sounds heard in modern English were significantly influenced by the Great Vowel Shift, as well as more recent developments in some dialects such as the cot–caught merger.

Contents

Overview

Old and Middle English

In the Old English vowel system, the vowels in the open back area were unrounded: /ɑ/,/ɑː/. There were also rounded back vowels of mid-height: /o/,/oː/. The corresponding spellings were ⟨a⟩ and ⟨o⟩, with the length distinctions not normally marked; in modern editions of Old English texts, the long vowels are often written ⟨ā⟩, ⟨ō⟩.

As the Old English (OE) system developed into that of Middle English (ME), the OE short vowel /ɑ/ merged with the fronted /æ/ to become a more central ME /a/. Meanwhile, the OE long vowel /ɑː/ was rounded and raised to ME /ɔː/. OE short /o/ remained relatively unchanged, becoming a short ME vowel regarded as /o/or/ɔ/, while OE long /oː/ became ME /oː/ (a higher vowel than /ɔː/). Alternative developments were also possible; see English historical vowel correspondences for details.

Later, ME open syllable lengthening caused the short vowel /o/ to be normally changed to /ɔː/ in open syllables. Remaining instances of the short vowel /o/ also tended to become lower. Hence in Late Middle English (around 1400) the following open back vowels were present, distinguished by length: [1]

16th-century changes

By 1600, the following changes had occurred:

There were thus two open back monophthongs:

and one open back diphthong:

17th-century changes

By 1700, the following further developments had taken place:

That left the standard form of the language with four open back vowels:

Later changes

From the 18th century on, the following changes have occurred:

This leaves RP with three back vowels:

and General American with two:

Unrounded LOT

In a few varieties of English, the vowel in lot is unrounded, pronounced toward [ɑ]. This is found in the following dialects:

There's also evidence for it in South East England as early as the late 16th century and as late as the 19th century. [2] [3]

Linguists[ which? ] disagree as to whether the unrounding of the lot vowel occurred independently in North America (probably occurring around the end of the 17th century) or was imported from certain types of speech current in Britain at that time.[ citation needed ]

In such accents outside of North America, lot typically is pronounced as [lɑt], [4] therefore being kept distinct from the vowel in palm, pronounced [pɑːm] or [paːm]. However, the major exception to this is North American English, where the vowel is lengthened to merge with the vowel in palm, as described below. This merger is called the LOT–PALM merger or more commonly the father–bother merger. (See further below.)

Father–bother merger

The father–bother merger is a phonemic merger of the lexical sets LOT and PALM. It represents unrounded lot, as detailed above, taken a step further. On top of being unrounded, the length distinction between the vowel in lot and bother and the vowel in palm and father is lost, so that the two groups merge. This causes father and bother to become rhymes.

This occurs in the great majority of North American accents; of the North American dialects that have unrounded lot, the only notable exception to the merger is New York City English, where the opposition with the [ɑ]-type vowel is somewhat tenuous. [5] [6]

Examples of possible homophones resulting from the merger include Khan and con (/kɑn/) as well as Saab and sob (/sɑb/). [7]

While the accents in northeastern New England, such as the Boston accent, also remain unmerged, lot remains rounded and merges instead with cloth and thought. [5] [6]

Homophonous pairs
/ɑ://ɒ/ or /ɔ/ [lower-alpha 1] IPA (using ⟨ɑ⟩ for the merged vowel)Notes
ahaweˈɑwith the cot-caught merger
balmbombˈbɑmwhen the <l> in balm is unsounded
Bali bolly [8] ˈbɑli
baht botˈbɑt
bahtboughtˈbɑtwith the cot-caught merger
Dalí dollyˈdɑli
Hajj Hodge ˈhɑdʒ
Khan conˈkɑn
la [9] lawˈlɑwith the cot-caught merger
lagerloggerˈlɑgər
Mali Mollyˈmɑli
papawˈpɑwith the cot-caught merger
palmpomˈpɑmwhen the <l> in palm is unsounded
Prague prog [10] ˈprɑg
Raab robˈrɑb
Saab sobˈsɑb
Shah Shawˈʃɑwith the cot-caught merger
Siân Sean, Shaun, Shawn ˈʃɑnwith the cot-caught merger
Siânshoneˈʃɑn
Stalin stallingˈstɑlɪnwith the cot-caught merger and G-dropping.

LOT–CLOTH split

The LOT–CLOTH split is the result of a late 17th-century sound change that lengthened /ɒ/ to [ɒː] before voiceless fricatives, and also before /n/ in the words gone and sometimes on. It was ultimately raised and merged with /ɔː/ of words like thought, although in some accents that vowel is actually open [ɒː]. This means that CLOTH is not a separate vowel; rather, it means "either LOT or THOUGHT, depending on the accent". The sound change is most consistent in the last syllable of a word, and much less so elsewhere (see below). Some words that entered the language later, especially when used more in writing than speech, are exempt from the lengthening, e.g. joss and Goth with the short vowel. Similar changes took place in words with ⟨a⟩; see trap–bath split and /æ/-tensing.

The cot–caught merger, discussed below, has removed the distinction in some dialects.

As a result of the lengthening and raising, in the above-mentioned accents cross rhymes with sauce, and soft and cloth also have the vowel /ɔː/. Accents affected by this change include American English accents that lack the cot-caught merger and, originally, RP, although today words of this group almost always have short /ɒ/ in RP. The split still exists in some older RP speakers.

The lengthening and raising generally happened before the fricatives /f/, /θ/ and /s/. In American English, the raising was extended to the environment before velars /ŋ/ and /ɡ/, and sometimes before /k/ as well, giving pronunciations like /lɔŋ/ for long, /dɔɡ/ for dog and /ˈtʃɔklət/ for chocolate.

In the varieties of American English that have the lot–cloth split, the lot vowel is usually symbolized as /ɑ/, often called the "short o" for historical reasons, as the corresponding RP vowel /ɒ/ is still short (and it contrasts with /ɑː/ as in father and start). The thought vowel is usually transcribed as /ɔ/ and it is often called the "open o". Its actual phonetic realization may be open [ ɒ ], whereas the lot vowel may be realized as central [ ä ]. Some words vary as to which vowel they have. For example, words that end in -og like frog, hog, fog, log, bog etc. have /ɑ/ rather than /ɔ/ in some accents.

There are also significant complexities in the pronunciation of written o occurring before one of the triggering phonemes /fθsŋɡ/ in a non-final syllable. However, the use of the open o as opposed to the short o is largely predictable. Just like with /æ/-tensing and the trap–bath split, there seems to be an open-syllable constraint. Namely, the change did not affect words with /ɑ/ in open syllables unless they were closely derived from words with /ɑ/ in closed syllables. Hence /ɔ/ occurs in crossing, crosser, crosses because it occurs in cross; likewise in longing, longer, longest because it occurs in long. However, possible, jostle, impostor, profit, Gothic, bongo, Congo, and boggle all have /ɑ/. However, there are still exceptions in words like Boston and foster. [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] [17] [18] [19] A further list of words is mentioned in the table below:

Vowels with lot–cloth splits
SetTHOUGHT (/ɔ/)LOT (/ɑ/)Variable
/-f/coffer, cough, off, office, often, soften, trough, etc.profitcoffee, offense, offer
/-ft/croft, loft, lofty, soft, etc.waft—
/-g/dogboggle, cog, flogblog, boondoggle, fog, frog, hog, log, soggy, tog, etc.
/-k/chocolateall other words in this setmock
/-n/goneall other words in this setbeyond, on, want, wont
/-ŋ/long, longest, song, strong, thong, wrong, etc.Congo, bongodonkey
/-s/boss, cross, floss, glossy, loss, moss, toss, etc.jostle, possiblesausage
/-st/Boston, Gloucester, cost, foster, frost, lost, etc.roster—
/-ʃ/Washington, wash, washerall other words in this setgosh, quash, squash, swash
/-θ/broth, cloth, froth, moth, etc.Goth, Gothicsloth, swath, troth, wrath

Some words may vary depending on the speaker like (coffee, offer, donkey, soggy, boondoggle, etc. with either /ɑ/ or /ɔ/).[ citation needed ] Meanwhile, other words vary by region. For example, the word on, which in Northern American English dialects without the cot-caught merger is pronounced /ɑn/, rhyming with don, but in Midland and Southern American English without the merger is pronounced /ɔn/, rhyming with dawn. The isogloss for this difference, termed the ON line, lies between New York City and Philadelphia on the East Coast and runs West as far as speakers without the merger can be found. [20]

Cot–caught merger

The cot–caught merger (also known as the low back merger or the LOT–THOUGHT merger) is a phonemic merger occurring in many accents of English, where the vowel sound in words like cot, nod, and stock (the LOT vowel), has merged with that of caught, gnawed, and stalk (the THOUGHT vowel). For example, with the merger, cot and caught become perfect homophones.

Lexical changes in cot–caught merger dialects
Lexical set Example wordsChange GenAm phonemes Minimal pairs IPAChangeCot–caught merger dialects
PALMah, father, spaFather–bother
merger		/ɑ/cot, collar, stock,
wok, chock, Don		/kɑt/, /ˈkɑlər/, /stɑk/,
/wɑk/, /tʃɑk/, /dɑn/		 Cot–caught
merger 		/kɑt/, /ˈkɑlər/, /stɑk/,
/wɑk/, /tʃɑk/, /dɑn/
LOTbother, lot, wasp
CLOTHboss, cloth, dog, offCloth-thought
merger		/ɔ/caught, caller, stalk,
walk, chalk, dawn		/kɔt/, /ˈkɔlər/, /stɔk/,
/wɔk/, /tʃɔk/, /dɔn/
THOUGHTall, thought, flaunt

Other changes

GOAT–THOUGHT merger

The GOAT–THOUGHT merger is a merger of the English vowels of GOAT/oʊ/ and THOUGHT/ɔː/ that has been reported in Geordie since the late 20th century, with a quality around [oː]. The merger is more common among younger female speakers. [21]

The merger also exists among older speakers in Bradford English with a quality around [ɔː], but younger speakers are more likely to resist the merger by fronting the GOAT vowel. [21]

THOUGHT split

In some London accents of English, the vowel in words such as thought,force, and north, which merged earlier on in these varieties of English, undergoes a conditional split based on syllable structure: closed syllables have a higher vowel quality such as [oː] (possibly even [oʊ] in broad Cockney varieties), and open syllables have a lower vowel quality [ɔ̝ː] or a centering diphthong [ɔə].

Originally-open syllables with an inflectional suffix (such as bored) retain the lower vowel quality, creating minimal pairs such as bored[bɔəd] vs. board[boːd]. [22]

In broad Geordie, some THOUGHT words (roughly, those spelled with a, as in walk and talk) have [ aː ] (which phonetically is the long counterpart of TRAP/a/) instead of the standard [ ɔː ]. Those are the traditional dialect forms which are being replaced with the standard [ ɔː ]. [ aː ] is therefore not necessarily a distinct phoneme in the vowel system of Geordie, also because it occurs as an allophone of /a/ before voiced consonants. [23]

Distribution of /ɑː/

The distribution of the vowel transcribed with ⟨ɑː⟩ in broad IPA varies greatly among dialects. It corresponds to /æ/, /ɒ/, /ɔː/ and (when not prevocalic within the same word) /ɑːr/ and even /ɔːr/ in other dialects:

For the sake of simplicity, instances of an unrounded LOT vowel (phonetically [ ɑ ]) that do not merge with PALM/START are excluded from the table below. For this reason, the traditional Norfolk dialect is included but the contemporary one, nor the Cardiff dialect, are not.

/ɑː/ in native words and non-recent loanwords
Variety Rhotic Mergers and splits Possible spellings
/ɒrV-ɑːrV/ merger card-cord merger cot-caught merger father–bother merger father–farther merger god-guard merger lot-cloth split trap-palm merger trap-bath split ⟨a⟩⟨ar⟩⟨au⟩ [lower-alpha 2] ⟨aw⟩⟨o⟩⟨or⟩
Australian English nononononoyesnononopartial [lower-alpha 3] yesyesnononono
Canadian English yesnonoyesvariable———nonoyesnoyesyesyesno
General American yesnonovariableyes——yesnonoyesnovariablevariableyesno
Hiberno-English yesnonovariableno——variablevariablevariablevariablenonononono
New York City English variablepossiblenonovariablevariablevariableyesnonoyesnononovariableno
New Zealand English mostly nononononomostly yesnononoyesyesmostly yesnononono
Northeastern New England English variablenonoyesnovariableno—nonoyesyesnononono
Northern England English nononononoyesnonononoyesyesnononono
Philadelphia English yespossiblenonoyes——yesnonoyesnononoyesno
Received Pronunciation nononononoyesnononoyesyesyesnononono
Scottish English yesnonomostly yesno——— (mostly)mostly yesmostly nomostly nononononono
South African English mostly nononononomostly yesnovariablenoyesyesmostly yesnononono
Southern American English variablemostly nomostly novariableyesvariablevariableyesnonoyesvariablevariablevariableyesmostly no
Traditional Norfolk dialect novariablenonovariableyesvariableyesnoyesyesyesnonoyesno
Welsh English mostly nononononomostly yesnononovariableyesyesnononono

Fronted /oʊ/

In many dialects of English, the vowel /oʊ/ has undergone fronting. The exact phonetic value varies. Dialects with the fronted /oʊ/ include Received Pronunciation; Southern, Midland, and Mid-Atlantic American English; and Australian English. This fronting does not generally occur before /l/, a relatively retracted consonant.

Table

Stages leading to some of the open back vowels of General American, summarized from Wells (1982), with the cot–caught merger added
law
ball
taught
caught		off
cloth
loss		lot
stop
rob
cot
bother		father
palm
calm
Middle Englishau̯ɔa
Quality changeau̯ɒa
Thought-monophthongingɔːɒa
Pre-fricative lengtheningɔːɒːɒa
A-lengtheningɔːɒːɒaː
Quality changeɔːɒːɒɑː
Lot-unroundingɔːɒːɑɑː
Loss of distinctive lengthɔɒɑɑ
Cloth–thought mergerɔɔɑɑ
General American outputɔɑ
Cot–caught mergerɑ

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ only homophonous with the cot-caught merger
  2. ↑ Excluding words with anomalous pronunciations of ⟨au⟩ like laugh and aunt.
  3. ↑ Complete before voiceless fricatives: /-f/,/-s/,/-θ/ but variable before nasals: /-mpəl/,/-nd/,/-nt/,/-ntʃ/,/-ns/.

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References

  1. ↑ Barber (1997), pp. 108, 111.
  2. ↑ Mazarin, André (2020-01-01). "The developmental progression of English vowel systems, 1500–1800: Evidence from grammarians". Ampersand. 7: 100058. doi: 10.1016/j.amper.2020.100058 . ISSN   2215-0390.
  3. ↑ Trudgill, Peter; Gordon, Elizabeth; Lewis, Gillian; Maclagan, Margaret (2000). "Determinism in new-dialect formation and the genesis of New Zealand English". Journal of Linguistics. 36 (2): 299. ISSN   0022-2267.
  4. ↑ Wells (1982), pp. 245, 339–40, 419.
  5. 1 2 Wells (1982), pp. 136–37, 203–6, 234, 245–47, 339–40, 400, 419, 443, 576.
  6. 1 2 Labov, Ash & Boberg (2006), p. 171.
  7. ↑ Labov, Ash & Boberg (2006), p. 169.
  8. ↑ "Bolly Definition & Meaning". Merriam-Webster . Retrieved 2022-12-09.
  9. ↑ "LA English meaning". Cambridge Dictionary. Retrieved 2022-12-27.
  10. ↑ "Prog Definition & Meaning". Merriam-Webster . Retrieved 2022-12-27.
  11. ↑ "possible". Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary .
  12. ↑ "jostle". Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary .
  13. ↑ "impostor". Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary .
  14. ↑ "profit". Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary .
  15. ↑ "Gothic". Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary .
  16. ↑ "bongo". Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary .
  17. ↑ "Congo". Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary .
  18. ↑ "Boston". Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary .
  19. ↑ "foster". Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary .
  20. ↑ Labov, Ash & Boberg (2006), p. 189.
  21. 1 2 Warburton, Jasmine (September 2020). "The Merging of the goat and thought Vowels in Tyneside English: Evidence from Production and Perception" (PDF). Retrieved 5 April 2024.
  22. ↑ Ostalski (2009), pp. 106–107.
  23. ↑ Wells (1982), pp. 360, 375.

Bibliography

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