Talk:Phonological history of English vowels

Pure-poor split
As this was removed from the page English-language vowel changes before historic /r/, should it also be removed from this page? Thank you.LakeKayak (talk) 21:06, 29 December 2016 (UTC)


 * Yes, it should be. I'm removing it. Fish567 (talk) 23:49, 13 February 2017 (UTC)

Resulting sounds?
Please, indicate the resulting sounds; e.g., after merger line into loin, line sounds like loin /oi/ (not the other way round) --Backinstadiums (talk) 17:23, 26 June 2019 (UTC)
 * The resulting sounds vary by dialect. Your example isn't the best because in some dialects "loin" does sound like "line" (i.e. the resulting sound would be interpreted as by speakers of other dialects). Kbb2 (ex. Mr KEBAB) (talk) 20:26, 26 June 2019 (UTC)
 * Buth their phonetic values can be approximated to those of the IPA chart, and specify as much as possible --Backinstadiums (talk) 20:41, 26 June 2019 (UTC)
 * If you click the name of any given merger you'll be redirected to an article where these details are given an (usually) in-depth coverage. For instance, the cot–caught merger and how it interplays with the father–bother merger (which is necessary information for anyone outside the North America) is impossible to be described in enough detail in one or two sentences. If we omitted such complicated cases and just provided IPA for the uncomplicated ones, that'd create a rather strange discrepancy. The way I see it, the list is fine as it is. Kbb2 (ex. Mr KEBAB) (talk) 20:57, 26 June 2019 (UTC)

darn - durn merger
These two vowels have also merged in some U.S. dialects --Backinstadiums (talk) 09:16, 6 July 2019 (UTC)

According to Wiktionary, durn is euphemistic for the former --Backinstadiums (talk) 16:57, 9 July 2019 (UTC)


 * Not just US, a merger or (probably more commonly) near-merger of and  is also possible in Canada. Kbb2 (ex. Mr KEBAB) (talk) 00:47, 10 July 2019 (UTC)

pretty - purty
The wowels in pretty and purty have merged --Backinstadiums (talk) 16:19, 9 July 2019 (UTC)
 * It's just an example of metathesis. Kbb2 (ex. Mr KEBAB) (talk) 16:49, 9 July 2019 (UTC)

sich - such merger
sich is an eye dialect spelling of such. --Backinstadiums (talk) 17:33, 21 May 2020 (UTC)

possible "false cognate" in the trisyllabic laxing part?
The article considers the pair of words "school" and "scholarly" an example of trisyllabic laxing. However, "scholarly" comes from Greek (via Latin) roots while "school" comes from Germanic roots, and as far as I researched the two are not cognates (they ultimately come from a different PIE root). 218.214.92.142 (talk)

"Rode-road merger"
Is this "rode-road" merger a real thing? I'm not sure of the quality of the source, neither the linked article nor the Welsh English page mention this merger, and it would seem that "road" and "rode" actually both come from OE "rād", leading to the implication that, at least for these two words specifically, if they are pronounced differently in some dialect, it would be a split possibly due to a spelling pronunciation. From what I understand from other places, no distinction is mentioned between these sounds in general Early Modern English and Late Middle English; and in the general LME and ENE spelling systems in which "oa" arose, it did not represent a distinguished sound from "oCV", implying that if such a distinction ever existed it would not likely be indicated whatsoever by spelling. Exylic (talk) 23:22, 17 April 2024 (UTC)


 * Yeah, I've looked at the source provided and all it really says is that "rode" and "road" can sound different in Welsh English. It never mentions any merger ever occurring. I'm going to alter it to match what the source says. 2600:1700:E660:9D60:4075:C513:BC43:B929 (talk) 18:50, 30 April 2024 (UTC)