English consonant clusters
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The
phonological history of English Like many other languages, English has wide variation in pronunciation, both historically and from dialect to dialect. In general, however, the regional dialects of English share a largely similar (but not identical) phonological system. A ...
includes various changes in the
phonology Phonology (formerly also phonemics or phonematics: "phonemics ''n.'' 'obsolescent''1. Any procedure for identifying the phonemes of a language from a corpus of data. 2. (formerly also phonematics) A former synonym for phonology, often pre ...
of
consonant clusters In linguistics, a consonant cluster, consonant sequence or consonant compound is a group of consonants which have no intervening vowel. In English, for example, the groups and are consonant clusters in the word ''splits''. In the education fie ...
.


H-cluster reductions

The H-cluster reductions are various consonant reductions that have occurred in the history of English, involving consonant clusters beginning with that have lost the (or become reduced to ) in some or all dialects.


Reductions of /hw/

The cluster (spelled ⟨wh⟩ since
Middle English Middle English (abbreviated to ME) is a form of the English language that was spoken after the Norman Conquest of 1066, until the late 15th century. The English language underwent distinct variations and developments following the Old English pe ...
) has been subject to two kinds of reduction: * Reduction to before
rounded vowel In phonetics, vowel roundedness is the amount of rounding in the lips during the articulation of a vowel. It is labialization of a vowel. When a ''rounded'' vowel is pronounced, the lips form a circular opening, and ''unrounded'' vowels are pron ...
s (due to being perceived as a with the
labialization Labialization is a secondary articulatory feature of sounds in some languages. Labialized sounds involve the lips while the remainder of the oral cavity produces another sound. The term is normally restricted to consonants. When vowels invol ...
characteristic of that environment). This occurred with the word ''how'' in the
Old English Old English ( or , or ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. It developed from the languages brought to Great Britain by Anglo-S ...
period, and with ''who'', ''whom'' and ''whose'' in
Middle English Middle English (abbreviated to ME) is a form of the English language that was spoken after the Norman Conquest of 1066, until the late 15th century. The English language underwent distinct variations and developments following the Old English pe ...
(the latter words having had an unrounded vowel in Old English). * Reduction to , a development that has affected the speech of the great majority of English speakers, causing them to pronounce ⟨wh-⟩ the same as ⟨w-⟩ (sometimes called the ''wine–whine merger'' or '' glide cluster reduction''). The distinction is maintained, however, in
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, most of
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, and some
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.


Reduction of /hl/, /hr/ and /hn/

The Old English consonant clusters , and were reduced to , , and in Middle English. For example, Old English , and become ''loaf'', ''ring'' and ''nut'' in Modern English.


Reduction of /hj/

In some dialects of English the cluster is reduced to , leading to pronunciations like for ''huge'' and for ''human'', and making ''hew'', ''hue'', and ''Hugh''
homophones A homophone () is a word that is pronounced the same as another word but differs in meaning or in spelling. The two words may be spelled the same, for example ''rose'' (flower) and ''rose'' (past tense of "rise"), or spelled differently, a ...
of ''ewe'', ''yew'', and ''you''. This is sometimes considered a type of glide cluster reduction, but it is much less widespread than wh-reduction, and is generally
stigmatized Stigma, originally referring to the visible marking of people considered inferior, has evolved to mean a negative perception or sense of disapproval that a society places on a group or individual based on certain characteristics such as their ...
where it is found. Aside from accents with general
H-dropping ''H''-dropping or aitch-dropping is the elision, deletion of the voiceless glottal fricative or "''H''-sound", . The phenomenon is common in many dialects of English language, English, and is also found in certain other languages, either as a pu ...
, in the
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this reduction is mostly found in accents of
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and
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; it also occurs in
Cork "Cork" or "CORK" may refer to: Materials * Cork (material), an impermeable buoyant plant product ** Stopper (plug), or "cork", a cylindrical or conical object used to seal a container *** Wine cork an item to seal or reseal wine Places Ireland * ...
accents of
Irish English Hiberno-English or Irish English (IrE), also formerly sometimes called Anglo-Irish, is the set of dialects of English native to the island of Ireland. In both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland, English is the first language in e ...
. In other dialects of English, ''hew'' and ''yew'' remain distinct; however, the cluster of ''hew'', ''human'', etc. is often reduced from to just (a
voiceless palatal fricative The voiceless palatal fricative is a type of consonantal sound used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is , and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is C. It is the non-sibilant equiv ...
).


Y-cluster reductions

Y-cluster reductions are reductions of clusters ending with the
palatal approximant The voiced palatal approximant is a type of consonant used in many spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is ; the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is j, and in the Americanist phonetic notation i ...
, which is the sound of in ''yes'', and is sometimes referred to as "yod", from the
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letter yod(h), which has the sound . Many such clusters arose in dialects in which the
falling diphthong A diphthong ( ), also known as a gliding vowel or a vowel glide, is a combination of two adjacent vowel sounds within the same syllable. Technically, a diphthong is a vowel with two different targets: that is, the tongue (and/or other parts of ...
(the product of the merger of several Middle English vowel sequences) became the
rising diphthong A diphthong ( ), also known as a gliding vowel or a vowel glide, is a combination of two adjacent vowel sounds within the same syllable. Technically, a diphthong is a vowel with two different targets: that is, the tongue (and/or other parts of ...
. (For more information, see
Phonological history of English high back vowels Most dialects of modern English have two close back vowels: the near-close near-back rounded vowel found in words like ''foot'', and the close back rounded vowel (realized as central in many dialects) found in words like ''goose''. The ...
.) They were thus often found before the vowel , as in ''cube'' – which was in some cases modified to or before (historical) , as in ''cure'', or weakened to or as in ''argument''. They also occurred in words ending in ''-ion'' and ''-ious'', such as ''nation'' and ''precious''. This change from to , which had occurred in London by the end of the 17th century, did not take place in all dialects. A few dialects, notably in
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, as well as in some parts of northern England,
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, and the
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, still retain a ( falling) diphthong where standard English has – these dialects therefore lack the clusters with and have not been subject to the reductions described here. The diphthongs or are most commonly indicated by the spellings , , (where ''C'' is any consonant and ''V'' is any vowel), and , as in ''feud'', ''few'', ''mute'', ''cue'' and ''suit'', while the historical monophthong is commonly indicated by the spellings and , as in ''moon'' and ''soup''.


Yod-dropping

Yod-dropping is the
elision In linguistics, an elision or deletion is the omission of one or more sounds (such as a vowel, a consonant, or a whole syllable) in a word or phrase. However, these terms are also used to refer more narrowly to cases where two words are run to ...
of the from certain syllable-initial clusters of the type described above. Particular cases of yod-dropping may affect all or some of the dialects that have the relevant clusters. The change of to in these positions (as described above) produced some clusters which would have been difficult or impossible to pronounce, which led to what John Wells calls "early yod dropping" in which the was elided in the following environments: *After , for example ''chute'' , ''chew'' , ''juice'' *After , for example ''yew'' (compare in some conservative dialects) *After , for example ''rude'' *After stop+ clusters, for example ''blue'' The previously mentioned accents that did not have the → change were not subject to this process. Thus, for example, in much
Welsh English Welsh English comprises the dialects of English spoken by Welsh people. The dialects are significantly influenced by Welsh language, Welsh grammar and often include words derived from Welsh. In addition to the distinctive words and grammar, ...
pairs like ''chews''/''choose'', ''yew''/''you'' and ''threw''/''through'' remain distinct: the first member of each pair has the diphthong , while the second member has : *''chews'' , ''choose'' * ''yew'' , ''you'' * ''threw'' , ''through'' Conversely, an initial does not appear in Welsh English before in words such as ''yeast'' and ''yield''. Many varieties of English have extended yod-dropping to the following environments if the is in the same syllable as the preceding consonant: *After , for example ''suit'' *After , for example ''lute'' *After , for example ''Zeus'' *After , for example ''enthuse'' Yod-dropping in the above environments used to be considered nonstandard in England but now also occurs by educated RP-speakers. (The after is not normally dropped in RP in medial positions, however: compare ''pursuit'' .) In
General American General American English, known in linguistics simply as General American (abbreviated GA or GenAm), is the umbrella accent of American English used by a majority of Americans, encompassing a continuum rather than a single unified accent. ...
, yod-dropping is found not only in the above environments but also after , and (for example, ''tune'' , ''dew'' , and ''new'' ). The lack of yod-dropping in those contexts has occasionally been held to be a
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distinguishing Canadians from Americans. However, in a survey conducted in the
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area of Southern Ontario in 1994, over 80% of respondents under the age of 40 pronounced ''student'' and ''news'' without yod. General American thus undergoes yod-dropping after all
alveolar consonant Alveolar consonants (; UK also ) are articulated with the tongue against or close to the superior alveolar ridge, which is called that because it contains the alveoli (the sockets) of the upper teeth. Alveolar consonants may be articulated wi ...
s. A few accents of
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, such as working-class
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, however, preserve the distinction in pairs like '' do''/''
dew Dew is water in the form of droplets that appears on thin, exposed objects in the morning or evening due to condensation. As the exposed surface cools by thermal radiation, radiating its heat, atmospheric moisture condenses at a rate grea ...
'' because, like in the Welsh English dialects discussed above, they retain a diphthong in words in which RP has : , , etc. However, in words like ''annual'', ''menu'', ''volume'', ''Matthew'', ''continue'', etc., with a syllable break before the , there is no yod-dropping. The same applies accordingly to British and other accents; the yod is often dropped after initial , for example, but it is not dropped in words like ''volume'' or ''value''. (British speakers omit the in ''figure'', but most Americans retain it.) Additionally, there is no in British pronunciations of ''coupon'' and ''Pulitzer'', and respectively, but many American speakers keep the yod, realizing them as and , although ''Pulitzer'' with the ''pew'' sound is widely incorrect. In
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and to some extent
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, ''debut'' is mainly pronounced without the yod as . Yod-dropping after , , and was also a traditional feature of
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speech, which continues to be the case after , but now, after and ,
yod-coalescence The phonological history of English includes various changes in the phonology of consonant clusters. H-cluster reductions The H-cluster reductions are various consonant reductions that have occurred in the history of English, involving conso ...
is now more common. Some
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accents such as
Norfolk dialect East Anglian English is a dialect of English spoken in East Anglia, primarily in or before the mid-20th century. East Anglian English has had a very considerable input into modern Estuary English. However, it has received little attention from t ...
extend yod-dropping not only to the position after , or but also to the position after nonalveolar consonants as well: pairs like ''beauty''/''booty'', ''mute''/''moot'', ''cute''/''coot'' can then be homophonous. A well-known series of British television advertisements beginning in the 1980s featured Bernard Matthews, who was from Norfolk and described his turkeys as "bootiful" (for ''beautiful''). Such accents pronounce a in words like "use", "unit", etc. only if there is no consonant before the .


Yod-coalescence

Yod-coalescence is a process that
fuses Munitions, Fuse or FUSE may refer to: Devices * Fuse (electrical), a device used in electrical systems to protect against excessive current ** Fuse (automotive), a class of fuses for vehicles * Fuse (hydraulic), a device used in hydraulic systems ...
the clusters into the
sibilant Sibilants (from 'hissing') are fricative and affricate consonants of higher amplitude and pitch, made by directing a stream of air with the tongue towards the teeth. Examples of sibilants are the consonants at the beginning of the English w ...
s respectively (for the meanings of those symbols, see
English phonology English phonology is the system of speech sounds used in spoken English. Like many other languages, English has wide variation in pronunciation, both historically and from dialect to dialect. In general, however, the regional dialects of Eng ...
). The first two are examples of
affrication An affricate is a consonant that begins as a stop and releases as a fricative, generally with the same place of articulation (most often coronal). It is often difficult to decide if a stop and fricative form a single phoneme or a consonant pai ...
. Unlike yod-dropping, yod-coalescence frequently occurs with clusters that would be considered to span a syllable boundary and so commonly occurs before unstressed syllables. For example, in ''educate'', the cluster would not usually be subject to yod-dropping in General American, as the is assigned to the previous syllable, but it commonly coalesces to . Here are a few examples of yod-coalescence universal in all English dialects: * in most words ending ''-ture'', such as ''nature'' * in ''soldier'' * in words ending with ''-ssure'' such as ''pressure'' (also in words ending with consonant+''sure'', consonant+''sion'', ''-tion'') * in words ending vowel+''sure'' such as ''measure'' (also vowel+''sion,'' r+''sion'') In some other words, the coalesced pronunciation is common in English dialects around the world, but an older non-coalesced form still exists among some speakers of standard British English: * ''educate'' (also in standard RP: ) * ''azure'' (also in RP ) * ''issue'' (also in RP ), the intermediate form being also common Coalescence can even occur across word boundaries, as in the colloquial " gotcha" (for ''got you'' ) and "whatcha" (for ''what're you'' ). In certain English accents, yod-coalescence also occurs in stressed syllables, as in ''tune'' and ''dune''. That occurs in
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,
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,
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,
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, some speakers of
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,
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,
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, and to a certain extent in
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, RP, many speakers in
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, and even some varieties of English in Asia, like
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(many speakers because of the influence by the phonology of their mother languages). That results in pronunciations such as the following: * ''dew/due'' (RP: ) * ''tune'' (RP: ) In certain varieties such as Australian, Ugandan, and some RP, stressed can also coalesce: * ''resume'' (RP: ) * ''assume'' (RP: ) That can lead to additional homophony; for instance, ''dew'' and ''due'' come to be pronounced the same as ''Jew''. Yod-coalescence has traditionally been resisted in
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. It has certainly become established in words of the first group listed above (''nature'', ''soldier'', ''pressure'' etc.), but it is not yet universal in those of the second group (''educate'' etc.), and it does not generally occur in those of the third group (''dew'', ''tune'' etc.). See also * List of yod-dropping and coalescence homophones on
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.


Other initial cluster reductions


Reduction of /wr/ and /wl/

Old and Middle English had an initial cluster (note that /r/ does not denote here), hence the spelling of words like ''write'' and ''wrong''. This was reduced to just , apparently during the 17th century. An intermediate stage may have been an with lip rounding. As a result of this reduction, pairs of words like ''rap'' and ''wrap'', ''rite'' and ''write'', etc. are
homophones A homophone () is a word that is pronounced the same as another word but differs in meaning or in spelling. The two words may be spelled the same, for example ''rose'' (flower) and ''rose'' (past tense of "rise"), or spelled differently, a ...
in practically all varieties of Modern English. They remain distinct in the Doric dialect of Scots, where the ''wr-'' cluster is pronounced .
Alexander John Ellis Alexander John Ellis (14 June 1814 – 28 October 1890) was an English mathematician, philologist and early phonetician who also influenced the field of musicology. He changed his name from his father's name, Sharpe, to his mother's maiden nam ...
reported distinctions between ''wr'' and ''r'' in
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and in several varieties of Scots in the nineteenth century. Old English also had a cluster , which reduced to during Middle English. For example, the word ''lisp'' derives from Old English ''wlisp(ian)''.


Reduction of

Middle English initial is reduced in modern English to , making pairs like ''knot/not'' and ''knight/night'' homophones. The cluster was spelled ''cn-'' in Old English; this changed to ''kn-'' in Middle English, and this spelling survives in Modern English, despite the loss of the sound. Cognates in other
Germanic languages The Germanic languages are a branch of the Indo-European languages, Indo-European language family spoken natively by a population of about 515 million people mainly in Europe, North America, Oceania, and Southern Africa. The most widely spoke ...
usually still sound the initial . For example, the Old English ancestor of ''knee'' was , pronounced , and the cognate word in Modern German is , pronounced . Most dialects of English reduced the initial cluster to relatively recently; the change seems to have taken place in educated English during the 17th century. Several German-language grammars of English from the late 17th and early 18th centuries transcribed English ''kn-'' as ''tn-'', ''dn-'', implying that a stage of assimilation (or perhaps
debuccalization Debuccalization or deoralization is a sound change or alternation in which an oral consonant loses its original place of articulation and moves it to the glottis (, , or ). The pronunciation of a consonant as is sometimes called aspiration ...
to ) preceded that of complete reduction. The cluster is preserved in some Scots dialects, and
Alexander John Ellis Alexander John Ellis (14 June 1814 – 28 October 1890) was an English mathematician, philologist and early phonetician who also influenced the field of musicology. He changed his name from his father's name, Sharpe, to his mother's maiden nam ...
recorded it in parts of the Northern English counties of
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and
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in the late nineteenth century.


Reduction of /ɡn/

The Middle English initial cluster is reduced to in Modern English. Like the reduction of , this seems to have taken place during the seventeenth century. The change affected words like ''gnat'', ''gnostic'', ''gnome'', etc., the spelling with ''gn-'' being retained despite the loss of the sound. The cluster is preserved in some Scots dialects. The song '' The Gnu'' jokes about this silent ''g'' and other silent letters in English. In fact the ''g'' in ''gnu'' may always have been silent in English, since this loanword did not enter the language until the late 18th century. The trumpeter
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wrote a composition titled '' Gnu High'', a pun on "new high".


S-cluster reductions

In some types of
Caribbean English Caribbean English (CE, CarE) is a set of dialects of the English language which are spoken in the Caribbean and most countries on the Caribbean coasts of Central America and South America. Caribbean English is influenced by, but is distinct to ...
, the initial clusters , , and are reduced by the loss of . The following stop is then subject to regular aspiration (or devoicing of the following approximant) in its new word-initial environment. Some examples of such pronunciations are: According to Wells, these reductions occur only in the broadest creole.


Final cluster reductions


NG-coalescence

NG-coalescence is a historical sound change by which the final cluster , pronounced (the being realized as a
velar nasal The voiced velar nasal, also known as eng, engma, or agma (from Greek 'fragment'), is a type of consonantal sound used in some spoken languages. It is the sound of ''ng'' in English ''sing'' as well as ''n'' before velar consonants as in ''E ...
by assimilation with the velar ), came to be pronounced as just – that is, the final was dropped, but the velar quality of the nasal remained. The change took place in educated London speech around the end of the 16th century, and explains why there is no sound at the end of words like ''fang'', ''sing'', ''wrong'' and ''tongue'' in the standard varieties of Modern English. The change in fact applies not only at the end of a word, but generally at the end of a
morpheme A morpheme is any of the smallest meaningful constituents within a linguistic expression and particularly within a word. Many words are themselves standalone morphemes, while other words contain multiple morphemes; in linguistic terminology, this ...
. If a word ending in ''-ng'' is followed by a
suffix In linguistics, a suffix is an affix which is placed after the stem of a word. Common examples are case endings, which indicate the grammatical case of nouns and adjectives, and verb endings, which form the conjugation of verbs. Suffixes can ca ...
or is compounded with another word, the pronunciation normally remains. For example, in the words ''fangs'', ''sings'', ''singing'', ''singer'', ''wronged'', ''wrongly'', ''hangman'', there is no sound. An exception is the
comparative The degrees of comparison of adjectives and adverbs are the various forms taken by adjectives and adverbs when used to compare two entities (comparative degree), three or more entities (superlative degree), or when not comparing entities (positi ...
and
superlative The degrees of comparison of adjectives and adverbs are the various forms taken by adjectives and adverbs when used to compare two entities (comparative degree), three or more entities (superlative degree), or when not comparing entities (positi ...
forms of adjectives: in the words ''longer/longest'', ''stronger/strongest'', ''younger/youngest'', the is pronounced in most accents. The pronunciation with is thus possible only before a vowel; before a consonant, the only possibility is a bare . In other cases (when it is not morpheme-final), word-internal ''-ng-'' does not show the effects of coalescence, and the pronunciation is retained, as in ''finger'' and ''angle''. This means that the words ''finger'' and ''singer'' do not rhyme in most modern varieties of English, although they did in Middle English. The process of NG-coalescence might therefore be referred to as the ''singer–finger
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''. Some accents, however, do not show the full effects of NG-coalescence as described above. In these accents, ''sing'' may be found with , and ''singer'' may rhyme with ''finger''. This is particularly associated with
English English The English language spoken and written in England encompasses a diverse range of accents and dialects. The language forms part of the broader British English, along with other varieties in the United Kingdom. Terms used to refer to the E ...
accents in areas such as
Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated ''Lancs'') is a ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Cumbria to the north, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south, and the Irish Sea to ...
, the West Midlands and
Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It borders Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire, and South Yorkshire to the north, Nottinghamshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south-east, Staffordshire to the south a ...
, and is also present in north-east varieties of
Welsh English Welsh English comprises the dialects of English spoken by Welsh people. The dialects are significantly influenced by Welsh language, Welsh grammar and often include words derived from Welsh. In addition to the distinctive words and grammar, ...
. This includes the cities of
Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...
(see
Brummie Brummie is the associated adjective and demonym of Birmingham, a city of West Midlands in England. It may refer to: * Anything from or related to the city of Birmingham, in particular: ** The people of Birmingham (see also List of people from Bir ...
),
Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...
(see
Manchester dialect Manchester dialect or Manchester English, known informally as Mancunian ( ) or Manc, is the English accent and dialect variations native to Manchester and some of the Greater Manchester area of England. Sharing features with both West Midland ...
),
Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...
(see
Scouse Scouse ( ), more formally known as Liverpool English or Merseyside English, is an Accent (dialect), accent and dialect of English language, English associated with the city of Liverpool and the surrounding Merseyside. The Scouse accent is h ...
),
Sheffield Sheffield is a city in South Yorkshire, England, situated south of Leeds and east of Manchester. The city is the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire and some of its so ...
and
Stoke-on-Trent Stoke-on-Trent (often abbreviated to Stoke) is a city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Staffordshire, England. It has an estimated population of 259,965 as of 2022, making it the largest settlement in Staffordshire ...
(see Potteries dialect). This also occurs in a small area of
Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...
. As this occurs around the mining area of Kent, it might be a result of large-scale migration by miners from other more northerly coalfields to Kent in the 1920s. It is also associated with some
American English American English, sometimes called United States English or U.S. English, is the set of variety (linguistics), varieties of the English language native to the United States. English is the Languages of the United States, most widely spoken lang ...
accents in the
New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
area. On the other hand, in some accents of the west of
Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...
and
Ulster Ulster (; or ; or ''Ulster'') is one of the four traditional or historic provinces of Ireland, Irish provinces. It is made up of nine Counties of Ireland, counties: six of these constitute Northern Ireland (a part of the United Kingdom); t ...
, NG-coalescence is extended to morpheme-internal position, so that ''finger'' is pronounced (cf. Dutch ''vinger'' ), thus rhyming with ''singer'' (although the is not dropped before a stressed syllable, as in ''engage''). It is because of NG-coalescence that is now normally regarded one of the phonemes of standard English. In Middle English, the can be regarded as an
allophone In phonology, an allophone (; from the Greek , , 'other' and , , 'voice, sound') is one of multiple possible spoken soundsor '' phones''used to pronounce a single phoneme in a particular language. For example, in English, the voiceless plos ...
of , occurring before
velar consonant Velar consonants are consonants articulated with the back part of the tongue (the dorsum) against the soft palate, the back part of the roof of the mouth (also known as the "velum"). Since the velar region of the roof of the mouth is relativel ...
s, but in Modern English, in view of
minimal pair In phonology, minimal pairs are pairs of words or phrases in a particular language, spoken or signed, that differ in only one phonological element, such as a phoneme, toneme or chroneme, and have distinct meanings. They are used to demonstrate t ...
s such as ''pan–pang'' and ''sin–sing'', that analysis no longer appears to hold. Nevertheless, some linguists (particularly generativists) do regard a word like ''sing'' as being underlyingly , positing a rule that deletes after a nasal before a morpheme boundary, after the nasal has undergone assimilation. A problem with this view is that there are a few words in which is followed neither by a velar nor a morpheme boundary (such as ''gingham'', ''dinghy'', ''orangutan'' and ''
Singapore Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...
'', for those speakers who pronounce them without ), and some in which the is not deleted before a morpheme boundary (such as ''longer'', ''stronger'', ''younger'' noted above). In the case of ''longer'', a
minimal pair In phonology, minimal pairs are pairs of words or phrases in a particular language, spoken or signed, that differ in only one phonological element, such as a phoneme, toneme or chroneme, and have distinct meanings. They are used to demonstrate t ...
occurs for some speakers between (
comparative The degrees of comparison of adjectives and adverbs are the various forms taken by adjectives and adverbs when used to compare two entities (comparative degree), three or more entities (superlative degree), or when not comparing entities (positi ...
form of the adjective ''long'') and ("someone who longs";
agent noun In linguistics, an agent noun (in Latin, ) is a word that is derived from another word denoting an action, and that identifies an entity that does that action. For example, ''driver'' is an agent noun formed from the verb ''drive''. Usually, '' ...
of the verb ''long''). The above-mentioned accents which lack NG-coalescence may more easily be analyzed as lacking a phoneme . The same may apply to those where NG-coalescence is extended to morpheme-internal position, since here a more consistent -deletion rule can be formulated.


G-dropping

G-dropping is a popular name for the feature of speech whereby is used in place of the standard in weak syllables. This applies especially to the ''
-ing ''-ing'' is a suffix used to make one of the inflection, inflected forms of English verbs. This verb form is used as a present participle, as a gerund, and sometimes as an independent noun or adjective. The suffix is also found in certain words ...
'' ending of verbs, but also in other words such as ''morning'', ''nothing'', ''ceiling'', ''Buckingham'', etc. G-dropping speakers may pronounce this syllable as or (reducing to a syllabic in some cases), while non-G-dropping speakers have ( with the
weak vowel merger The close and mid-height front vowels of English (vowels of ''i'' and ''e'' type) have undergone a variety of changes over time and often vary by dialect. Developments involving long vowels Until Great Vowel Shift Middle English had a lon ...
) or . Relative to the great majority of modern dialects, which have #NG-coalescence, NG-coalescence, G-dropping does not involve the dropping of any sound, simply the replacement of the
velar nasal The voiced velar nasal, also known as eng, engma, or agma (from Greek 'fragment'), is a type of consonantal sound used in some spoken languages. It is the sound of ''ng'' in English ''sing'' as well as ''n'' before velar consonants as in ''E ...
with the alveolar nasal. The name derives from the apparent orthography, orthographic consequence of replacing the sound written with that normally written . The spelling ''-in' '' is sometimes used to indicate that a speaker uses the G-dropping pronunciation, as in ''makin' '' for ''making''. The pronunciation with rather than is a long-established one. Old English verbs had a present participle in ''-ende'' and a verbal noun (gerund) form in ''-ing(e)''. These merged into a single form, written ''-ing'', but not necessarily spoken as such – the pronunciation may be inherited from the former distinct present participle form. The variant appears to have been fashionable generally during the 18th century, with the alternative being adopted in educated speech around the 1820s, possibly as a spelling pronunciation. Today, G-dropping is a feature of colloquial and non-standard speech of all regions, including stereotypically of
Cockney Cockney is a dialect of the English language, mainly spoken in London and its environs, particularly by Londoners with working-class and lower middle class roots. The term ''Cockney'' is also used as a demonym for a person from the East End, ...
,
Southern American English Southern American English or Southern U.S. English is a regional dialect or collection of dialects of American English spoken throughout the Southern United States, primarily by White Southerners and increasingly concentrated in more rural areas ...
and African American Vernacular English. Its use is highly correlated with the socioeconomic class of the speaker, with speakers of lower classes using with greater frequency. It has also been found to be more common among men than women, and less common in more formal styles of speech. The fact that the pronunciation was formerly associated with certain upper-class speech is reflected in the phrase ''huntin’, shootin’ and fishin’'' (used in referring to country gentry who frequently engaged in such field sports). Further evidence that this pronunciation was once standard comes from old rhymes, as in this couplet from John Gay's 1732 pastoral ''Acis and Galatea (Handel), Acis and Galatea'', set to music by Handel: :Shepherd, what art thou pursuing, :Heedless running to thy ruin? was presumably pronounced "shepherd, what art thou pursuin', heedless runnin' to thy ruin", although this would sound very odd in an opera today. Similarly, in the poetry of Jonathan Swift (1667–1745), ''-ing'' forms consistently rhyme with words ending in , as in this verse of ''A Ballad on the Game of Traffic'', where "lining" rhymes with "fine in": :But Weston has a new-cast gown :On Sundays to be fine in, :And, if she can but win a crown, :'Twill just new dye the lining.


Reduction of /mb/ and /mn/

In later Middle English, the final cluster was reduced to just (the plum-plumb merger). This affects words such as ''lamb'' and ''plumb'', as well as derived forms with suffixes, such as ''lambs'', ''lambing'', ''plumbed'', ''plumber''. By analogy with words like these, certain other words ending in , which had no historical sound, had a silent letter added to their spelling by way of hypercorrection. Such words include ''limb'' and ''crumb''. Where the final cluster occurred, this was reduced to (the him-hymn merger), as in ''column'', ''autumn'', ''damn'', ''solemn''. (Compare French , where the cluster has been reduced to .) Both sounds are nonetheless still pronounced before vowels in certain derivatives, such as ''columnar'', ''autumnal'', ''damnation'', ''solemnity''.


Generalized final cluster reduction

General reduction of final consonant clusters occurs in African American Vernacular English and
Caribbean English Caribbean English (CE, CarE) is a set of dialects of the English language which are spoken in the Caribbean and most countries on the Caribbean coasts of Central America and South America. Caribbean English is influenced by, but is distinct to ...
. It also appears in the Dublin English#Local Dublin English, Local Dublin English. The new final consonant may be slightly lengthened as an effect. Examples are: The English plurals, plurals of ''test'' and ''desk'' may become ''tesses'' and ''desses'' by the same rule that gives plural ''messes'' from singular ''mess''.


Medial cluster reductions

When a consonant cluster ending in a stop is followed by another consonant or cluster in the next syllable, the final stop in the first syllable is often elision, elided. This may happen within words or across word boundaries. Examples of stops that will often be elided in this way include the in ''postman'' and the in ''cold cuts'' or ''band saw''. Historically, similar reductions have taken place before syllabic consonants in certain words, leading to the silent in words like ''castle'' and ''listen''. This change took place around the 17th century. In the word ''often'', the sound later came to be re-inserted by some speakers as a spelling pronunciation. An earlier reduction that took place in early Middle English was the C#Later use, change of to (the sent-cent merger). This led to the modern sound of soft C, soft .


Consonant insertions


Prince–prints merger

For many speakers, an epenthetic is inserted in the final cluster , making it identical or very similar to the cluster . For example, the words ''prince'' and ''prints'' have come to be homophones or nearly so. The epenthesis is a natural consequence of the transition from the nasal consonant, nasal to the fricative ; if the raising of the soft palate (which converts a nasal to an oral sound) is completed before the release of the tongue tip (which enables a fricative sound), an intervening stop naturally results. The merger of and is not necessarily complete, however; the duration of the epenthetic in has been found to be often shorter (and the longer) than in the underlying cluster . Some speakers preserve a clearer distinction, with ''prince'' having , and ''prints'' having or . The epenthesis does not occur between syllables, in words like ''consider''.


Other insertions

The merger of and is also possible, making ''bans'' and ''pens'' sound like ''bands'' and ''pends''. However, this is less common than the merger of and described above, and in rapid speech may involve the
elision In linguistics, an elision or deletion is the omission of one or more sounds (such as a vowel, a consonant, or a whole syllable) in a word or phrase. However, these terms are also used to refer more narrowly to cases where two words are run to ...
of the from rather than epenthesis in .Alan Cruttenden, ''Gimson's Pronunciation of English'', Routledge 2013, p. 99. Epenthesis of a stop between a nasal and a fricative can also occur in other environments, for example: * may become (so ''pinscher'' is often pronounced like ''pincher'') * may become (so ''Samson'' becomes "Sampson", ''hamster'' becomes "hampster") * may become (so ''Kingston'' becomes "kinkston") Epenthesis may also happen in the cluster , which then becomes , so ''else'' rhymes with ''belts''. An epenthetic often intervenes in the cluster in the word ''dreamt'', making it rhyme with ''attempt''. Some originally epenthetic consonants have become part of the established pronunciation of words. This applies, for instance, to the in words like ''thimble'', ''grumble'' and ''scramble''. For the insertion of glottal stops before certain consonants, see #Glottalization, Glottalization below.


Alterations of clusters


Assimilation

In English as in other languages, assimilation of adjacent consonants is common, particularly of a nasal consonant, nasal with a following consonant. This can occur within or between words. For example, the in ''encase'' is often pronounced (becoming a velar consonant, velar nasal by way of assimilation with the following velar stop ), and the in ''ten men'' likely becomes , assimilating with the following bilabial nasal . Other cases of assimilation also occur, such as pronunciation of the in ''bad boy'' as . Voicing assimilation determines the sound of the endings ''-s'' (as in English plurals, plurals, English possessive, possessives and English verbs, verb forms) and ''-ed'' (in verb forms): these are voiced (, ) following a voiced consonant (or vowel), but voiceless (, ) after a voiceless consonant, as in ''gets'', ''knocked''.


Glottalization

While there are many accents (such as
Cockney Cockney is a dialect of the English language, mainly spoken in London and its environs, particularly by Londoners with working-class and lower middle class roots. The term ''Cockney'' is also used as a demonym for a person from the East End, ...
) in which syllable-final is frequently glottalization, glottalized (realized as a glottal stop, ) regardless of what follows it, the glottaling of in clusters is a feature even of standard accents, such as RP. There, may be heard for in such words and phrases as ''quite good'', ''quite nice'', ''nights''. More precisely, it occurs in RP when appears in the syllable coda, is preceded by a vowel, liquid consonant, liquid or nasal consonant, nasal, and it is followed by another consonant except (normally) a liquid or semivowel in the same word, as in ''mattress''.. Another possibility is pre-glottalization (or glottal reinforcement), where a glottal stop is inserted before a syllable-final stop, rather than replacing it. That can happen before , and or also before the affricate . It can occur in RP in the same environments as those mentioned above, without the final restriction so a glottal stop may appear before the , as in ''mattress''. It can also occur before a pause as in ''quite!'' spoken alone but not in ''quite easy''. In the case of , pre-glottalization is common even before a vowel, as in ''teacher''. According to Wells, this pre-glottalization originated in the 20th century (at least, it was not recorded until then). Glottalization of spread rapidly during the 20th century.


S-cluster metathesis

Final consonant clusters starting with sometimes undergo Metathesis (linguistics), metathesis, meaning that the order of the consonants is switched. For example, the word ''ask'' may be pronounced like "ax", with the and the switched. This example has a long history: the Old English verb ''áscian'' also appeared as ''acsian'', and both forms continued into Middle English, the latter, metathesizing to "ask". The form ''axe'' appears in Chaucer: "I axe, why the fyfte man Was nought housband to the Samaritan?" (''Wife of Bath's Prologue'', 1386), and was considered acceptable in literary English until about 1600. It persists in some dialects of rural England as well as in Ulster Scots language, Ulster Scots as , and in Jamaican English language, Jamaican English as , from where it has entered Multicultural London English, London English as . S-cluster metathesis has been observed in some forms of African American Vernacular English, although it is not universal, one of the most stigmatized features of AAVE and often commented on by teachers. Examples of possible AAVE pronunciations include:


Merger of /str/ and /skr/

For some speakers of African American Vernacular English, the consonant cluster is pronounced as . For example, the word ''street'' may be pronounced as . The form has been found to occur in Gullah language, Gullah and in the speech of some young African Americans born in the Southern United States. It is reported to be a highly stigmatized feature, with children who use it often being referred to speech pathologists.Dandy, E.B., ''Black Communications: Breaking Down the Barriers'', African American Images, 1991, p. 44.


Yod-rhotacization

Yod-rhotacization is a process that occurs for some Memphis, Tennessee, Memphis AAVE speakers, where is rhotacized to in consonant clusters, causing pronunciations like: Compare #Yod-dropping, yod-dropping and
yod-coalescence The phonological history of English includes various changes in the phonology of consonant clusters. H-cluster reductions The H-cluster reductions are various consonant reductions that have occurred in the history of English, involving conso ...
, described above (and also the Phonological history of English diphthongs#Coil–curl merger, coil–curl merger, which features the reverse process, → ).


See also

* Phonological history of English * Phonological history of English consonants * Phonological history of English fricatives and affricates *
H-dropping ''H''-dropping or aitch-dropping is the elision, deletion of the voiceless glottal fricative or "''H''-sound", . The phenomenon is common in many dialects of English language, English, and is also found in certain other languages, either as a pu ...


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Phonological History Of English Consonant Clusters Splits and mergers in English phonology Scottish English Phonotactics