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Do not fill this in! ==Phonology== {{Contains special characters|IPA}} ===Consonants=== {| class="wikitable" |+Early Modern English consonants ! ![[Labiodental consonant|Labial]] ![[Dental consonant|Dental]] ![[Alveolar consonant|Alveolar]] ![[Postalveolar consonant|Postalveolar]] ![[Palatal consonant|Palatal]] ![[Velar consonant|Velar]] ![[Glottal consonant|Glottal]] |- ![[Nasal consonant|Nasal]] |{{IPA|m}} | |{{IPA|n}} | | |'''{{IPA|ŋ}}''' | |- ![[Stop consonant|Stop]] |{{IPA|p}} • {{IPA|b}} | |{{IPA|t}} • {{IPA|d}} |{{IPA|tʃ}} • {{IPA|dʒ}} | |{{IPA|k}} • {{IPA|g}} | |- ![[Fricative consonant|Fricative]] |{{IPA|f}} • {{IPA|v}} |{{IPA|θ}} • {{IPA|ð}} |{{IPA|s}} • {{IPA|z}} |{{IPA|ʃ}} • '''{{IPA|ʒ}}''' |('''{{IPA|ç}}''') |''{{IPA|x}}'' |{{IPA|h}} |- ![[Approximant]] | | |{{IPA|r}} | |{{IPA|j}} |ʍ • {{IPA|w}} | |- ![[Lateral approximant|Lateral]] | | |{{IPA|l}} | | | | |} Most consonant sounds of Early Modern English have survived into present-day English; however, there are still a few notable differences in pronunciation: *Today's "silent" consonants found in the [[Phonological history of English consonant clusters|consonant clusters]] of such words as ''knot, gnat, sword'' were still fully pronounced up until the mid-to-late 16th century and thus possibly by Shakespeare, though they were [[Phonological history of English consonant clusters|fully reduced]] by the early 17th century.<ref name="OP"/> *The digraph {{angbr IPA|[[Gh (digraph)|gh]]}}, in words like ''night'', ''thought'' and ''daughter'', originally pronounced {{IPAblink|x}} in much older English, was probably reduced to nothing (as it is today) or at least heavily reduced in sound to something like {{IPA|[ht]}}, {{IPAblink|ç}}, {{IPAblink|h}}, or {{IPAblink|f}}. It seems likely that much variation existed for many of these words. Upon its disappearance, it lengthened the previous vowel.{{cn|date=March 2024}} *The now-silent ''l'' of ''would'' and ''should'' may have persisted in being pronounced as late as 1700 in Britain and perhaps several decades longer in the [[British American colonies]].<ref>The American Language 2nd ed. p. 71</ref> The ''l'' in ''could'', however, first appearing in the early 16th century, was presumably never pronounced. *The modern phoneme {{IPA|/ʒ/}} was not documented as occurring until the second half of the 17th century. Likely, that phoneme in a word like ''vision'' was pronounced as {{IPA|/zj/}} and in ''measure'' as {{IPA|/z/}}. *Most words with the spelling {{angbr|wh}}, such as ''what'', ''where'' and ''whale'', were still pronounced {{IPAblink|ʍ|audio=y}}, rather than {{IPAblink|w|audio=y}}. That means, for example, that ''wine'' and ''whine'' were [[Wine–whine merger|still pronounced differently]], unlike in most varieties of English today.<ref name="Hark"/> *Early Modern English was [[rhoticity in English|rhotic]]. In other words, the ''r'' was always pronounced,<ref name="Hark">{{cite web|last=Crystal|first=David|title=David Crystal – Home |url=http://www.davidcrystal.com/?fileid=-4254|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171020080412/http://www.davidcrystal.com/?fileid=-4254|archive-date=20 October 2017|quote="Hark, hark, what shout is that?" Around the Globe 31. [based on article written for the Troilus programme, Shakespeare's Globe, August 2005: 'Saying it like it was'}}</ref> but the precise nature of the typical rhotic consonant remains unclear. {{citation needed|date=December 2014}} It was, however, certainly one of the following: **The "R" of most varieties of English today: {{IPAblink|ɹ̠|audio=y}} or a further forward sound {{IPAblink|ɹ|audio=y}} **The "trilled or rolled R": {{IPAblink|r|audio=y}}, perhaps with one contact {{IPAblink|ɾ|audio=y}}, as in modern [[Scouse]] and Scottish English **The "retroflex R": {{IPAblink|ɻ|audio=y}}. *In Early Modern English, the precise nature of the light and dark [[allophone|variants]] of the ''l'' consonant, respectively {{IPAblink|l|audio=y}} and {{IPAblink|ɫ|audio=y}}, remains unclear. *Word-final {{angbr|ng}}, as in ''sing'', was still pronounced {{IPA|[ŋɡ]}} until the late 16th century, when it began to [[ng-coalescence|coalesce]] into the usual modern pronunciation, {{IPAblink|ŋ}}. The original pronunciation {{IPA|[ŋɡ]}} is preserved in parts of England, in dialects such as [[Brummie]], [[Manchester dialect|Mancunian]] and Scouse. *[[H-dropping]] at the start of words was common, as it still is in informal English throughout most of England.<ref name="Hark"/> In loanwords taken from [[Latin]], Greek, or any [[Romance language]], a written ''h'' was usually mute well into modern English times, e.g. in ''heritage'', ''history'', ''hermit'', ''hostage'', and still today in ''heir'', ''honor'', ''hour'' etc. *With words originating from or passed through ancient Greek, ''th'' was commonly pronounced as ''t'', e.g. ''theme'', ''theater'', ''cathedral'', ''anthem''; this is still retained in some proper names as ''Thomas'' and a few common nouns like ''thyme''.{{cn|date=March 2024}} ===Vowels=== {| class="wikitable" |+Early modern English vowels ! colspan="2" rowspan="2" | ! colspan="2" |[[Monophthong|Monophthongs]] ! colspan="2" |[[Diphthongs]] |- !Short !Long !+{{IPA|/j/}} !+{{IPA|/w/}} |- ! rowspan="2" |[[Close vowel|Close]] ![[Front vowel|Front]] |{{IPA|ɪ}} |{{IPA|iː}} | |{{IPA|ɪw}} |- ![[Back vowel|Back]] |{{IPA|ʊ}} |{{IPA|uː}} | | |- ! rowspan="2" |[[Close-mid vowel|Close-mid]] ![[Front vowel|Front]] | |{{IPA|eː}} | | |- ![[Back vowel|Back]] | |{{IPA|oː}} | | |- ! colspan="2" |[[Mid vowel|Mid]] |{{IPA|ə}} | |{{IPA|əj}} |{{IPA|əw}} |- ! rowspan="2" |[[Open-mid vowel|Open-mid]] ![[Front vowel|Front]] |{{IPA|ɛ}} | |{{IPA|ɛj}} | |- ![[Back vowel|Back]] |{{IPA|ɤ}} |{{IPA|ɔː}} |{{IPA|ɔj}} |{{IPA|ɔw}} |- ! rowspan="2" |[[Near-open vowel|Near-open]] ![[Front vowel|Front]] | | | | |- ![[Back vowel|Back]] |{{IPA|ɒ}} | | | |- ! colspan="2" |[[Open vowel|Open]] |{{IPA|a}} |{{IPA|aː}} | | |} The following information primarily comes from studies of the [[Great Vowel Shift]];<ref>Stemmler, Theo. ''Die Entwicklung der englischen Haupttonvokale: eine Übersicht in Tabellenform'' [Trans: The development of the English primary-stressed-vowels: an overview in table form] (Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1965).</ref><ref>{{cite web|first=William Elford|last=Rogers|publisher=[[Furman University]]|title=Early Modern English vowels|url=http://facweb.furman.edu/~wrogers/phonemes/phone/eme/evowel.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150113011226/http://facweb.furman.edu/~wrogers/phonemes/phone/eme/evowel.htm|archive-date=13 January 2015|url-status=dead|access-date=5 December 2014}}</ref> see the related chart. *The modern English [[phoneme]] {{IPAc-en|audio=En-us-I.ogg|aɪ}}, as in ''glide'', ''rhyme'' and ''eye'', was {{IPA-all|əi|}}, and was reduced word-finally. Early Modern rhymes indicate that {{IPA-all|əi|}} was similar to the vowel that was used at the end of words like ''happy'', ''melody'' and ''busy''. *{{IPAc-en|audio=En-us-ow.ogg|aʊ}}, as in ''now'', ''out'' and ''ploughed'', was {{IPA-all|əu||en-uk-oh.ogg}}. *{{IPAc-en|audio=Open-mid front unrounded vowel.ogg|ɛ}}, as in ''fed'', ''elm'' and ''hen'', was more or less the same as the phoneme represents today, sometimes approaching {{IPAblink|ɪ|audio=y}} (which is still in the word ''pretty'').<ref name="Hark"/> * {{IPAc-en|audio=en-uk-a.ogg|eɪ}}, as in ''name'', ''case'' and ''sake'', was a long [[monophthong]]. It shifted from {{IPAblink|æː|audio=y}} to {{IPAblink|ɛː|audio=y}} and finally to {{IPAblink|eː|audio=y}}. Earlier in Early Modern English, ''mat'' and ''mate'' were near-homophones, with a longer vowel in the second word. Thus, [[Shakespeare]] rhymed words like ''haste'', ''taste'' and ''waste'' with ''last'' and ''shade'' with ''sad''.<ref name="Sonnet"/> The more open pronunciation remains in some [[Northern England English]] and rarely in Irish English. During the 17th century, the phoneme variably [[Phonological change|merged]] with the phoneme {{IPA-all|ɛi||Nl-ei.ogg}} as in ''day'', ''weigh'', and the merger survived into standard forms of Modern English, though a few dialects kept these vowels distinct at least to the 20th century (see [[Pane–pain merger|''pane''–''pain'' merger]]). *{{IPAc-en|audio=Close front unrounded vowel.ogg|iː}} (typically spelled {{angbr|ee}} or {{angbr|ie}}) as in ''see'', ''bee'' and ''meet'', was more or less the same as the phoneme represents today, but it had not yet [[fleece merger|merged]] with the phoneme represented by the spellings {{angbr|ea}} or {{angbr|ei}} (and perhaps {{angbr|ie}}, particularly with ''fiend'', ''field'' and ''friend''), as in ''east'', ''meal'' and ''feat'', which were pronounced with {{IPAblink|eː|audio=y}} or {{IPAblink|ɛ̝ː}}.<ref>Cercignani, Fausto (1981), ''Shakespeare's Works and Elizabethan Pronunciation'', Oxford: Clarendon Press.</ref><ref name="Sonnet"/> However, words like ''breath'', ''dead'' and ''head'' may have already split off towards {{IPAc-en|audio=Open-mid front unrounded vowel.ogg|ɛ}}). *{{IPAc-en|audio=Near-close_near-front_unrounded_vowel.ogg|ɪ}}, as in ''bib'', ''pin'' and ''thick'', was more or less the same as the phoneme represents today. *{{IPAc-en|audio=en-us-o.ogg|oʊ}}, as in ''stone'', ''bode'' and ''yolk'', was {{IPAblink|oː|audio=y}} or {{IPAblink|o̞ː|audio=y}}. The phoneme was probably just beginning the process of merging with the phoneme {{IPA-all|ow|}}, as in ''grow'', ''know'' and ''mow'', without yet achieving today's [[toe–tow merger|complete merger]]. The old pronunciation remains in some dialects, such as in [[Yorkshire dialect|Yorkshire]], [[East Anglia]], and [[Scottish English|Scotland]]. *{{IPAc-en|audio=En-us-awe.ogg|ɒ}}, as in ''rod'', ''top'' and ''pot'', was {{IPAblink|ɒ}} or {{IPAblink|ɔ|audio=y}}, much like the corresponding RP sound. *{{IPAc-en|audio=Open-mid back rounded vowel.ogg|ɔː}}, as in ''taut'', ''taught'' and ''law'' was more open than in contemporary RP, being {{IPAblink|ɔː}} or {{IPAblink|ɑː|audio=y}} (and thus being closer to Welsh and General American {{IPA|/ɔː/}}) *{{IPAc-en|audio=en-uk-oi.ogg|ɔɪ}}, as in ''boy'', ''choice'' and ''toy'', is even less clear than other vowels. In the late 16th century, the similar but distinct phonemes {{IPA|/ɔi/}}, {{IPA|/ʊi/}} and {{IPA|/əi/}} all existed. By the late 17th century, they all merged.<ref>{{cite book|title=Early modern English|first=Charles Laurence|last=Barber|edition=second|publisher=Edinburgh University Press|year=1997|isbn=0-7486-0835-4|pages=108–116|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Iat4Bk_YeR4C|location=Edinburgh|access-date=31 August 2020|archive-date=9 November 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231109181145/https://books.google.com/books?id=Iat4Bk_YeR4C|url-status=live}}</ref> Because those phonemes were in such a state of flux during the whole Early Modern period (with evidence of rhyming occurring among them as well as with the precursor to {{IPA|/aɪ/}}), scholars<ref name="OP">See [http://www.thehistoryofenglish.com/history_early_modern.html The History of English (online)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141209013306/http://www.thehistoryofenglish.com/history_early_modern.html |date=9 December 2014 }} as well as [[David Crystal]]'s [http://originalpronunciation.com/ Original Pronunciation (online).] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141209064651/http://originalpronunciation.com/ |date=9 December 2014 }}</ref> often assume only the most neutral possibility for the pronunciation of {{IPA|/ɔɪ/}} as well as its similar phonemes in Early Modern English: {{IPA|[əɪ]}} (which, if accurate, would constitute an early instance of the [[line–loin merger]] since {{IPA|/aɪ/}} had not yet fully developed in English). *{{IPAc-en|audio=en-us-uh.ogg|ʌ}} (as in ''drum'', ''enough'' and ''love'') and {{IPAc-en|audio=Near-close near-back rounded vowel.ogg|ʊ}} (as in ''could'', ''full'', ''put'') had not yet [[foot–strut split|split]] and so were both pronounced in the vicinity of {{IPAblink|ɤ|audio=y}}. *{{IPAc-en|audio=En-us-ooh.ogg|uː}} occurred not only in words like ''food'', ''moon'' and ''stool'', but also all other words spelled with {{angbr|oo}} like ''blood'', ''cook'' and ''foot''. The nature of the vowel sound in the latter group of words, however, is further complicated by the fact that the vowel for some of those words was shortened: either beginning or already in the process of approximating the Early Modern English {{IPAblink|ʊ|audio=y}} and later {{IPAblink|ɤ|audio=y}}. For instance, at certain stages of the Early Modern period or in certain dialects (or both), ''doom'' and ''come'' rhymed; this is certainly true in Shakespeare's writing. That phonological split among the {{angbr|oo}} words was a catalyst for the later [[foot–strut split]] and is called "early shortening" by [[John C. Wells]].<ref>{{cite book | author=Wells, John C. | author-link=John C. Wells | title=Accents of English | location=[[Cambridge]] | publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] | year=1982 | isbn=0-521-22919-7 | id=(vol. 1). (vol. 2)., (vol. 3)| page=199}}</ref> The {{angbr|oo}} words that were pronounced as something like {{IPAblink|ɤ|audio=y}} seem to have included ''blood'', ''brood'', ''doom'', ''good'' and ''noon''.<ref>Crystal, David. "Sounding Out Shakespeare: Sonnet Rhymes in Original Pronunciation". In Vera Vasic (ed.), Jezik u upotrebi: primenjena lingvistikja u cast Ranku Bugarskom [Language in use: applied linguistics in honour of Ranko Bugarski] (Novi Sad and Belgrade: Philosophy Faculties, 2011), 295-306300. p. 300.</ref> *{{IPA|/ɪw/}} or {{IPA|/iw/}}<ref>E. J. Dobson (English pronunciation, 1500–1700, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1968, passim) and other scholars before him postulated the existence of a vowel /y/ beside /iu̯/ in early Modern English. But see [[Fausto Cercignani]], ''On the alleged existence of a vowel /y:/ in early Modern English'', in “English Language and Linguistics”, 26/2, 2022, pp. 263–277 [https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/english-language-and-linguistics/article/on-the-alleged-existence-of-a-vowel-y-in-early-modern-english/AC739707E998A98AFFD515678D9B1E14] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231109181252/https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/english-language-and-linguistics/article/abs/on-the-alleged-existence-of-a-vowel-y-in-early-modern-english/AC739707E998A98AFFD515678D9B1E14 |date=9 November 2023 }}.</ref> occurred in words spelled with ''ew'' or ''ue'' such as ''due'' and ''dew''. In most dialects of Modern English, it became {{IPA|/juː/}} and {{IPA|/uː/}} by [[yod-dropping]] and so ''do'', ''dew'' and ''due'' are now perfect homophones in most American pronunciations, but a distinction between the two phonemes remains in other versions of English. There is, however, an additional complication in dialects with [[yod-coalescence]] (such as [[Australian English]] and younger RP), in which ''dew'' and ''due'' {{IPA|/dʒuː/}} (homophonous with ''jew'') are distinguished from ''do'' {{IPA|/duː/}} purely by the initial consonant, without any vowel distinction. The difference between the transcription of the EME diphthong offsets with {{angbr IPA|j w}}, as opposed to the usual modern English transcription with {{angbr IPA|ɪ̯ ʊ̯}} is not meaningful in any way. The precise EME realizations are not known, and they vary even in modern English. === Rhoticity/rhotic vowels === The ''r'' sound (the phoneme {{IPAc-en|r}}) was probably always pronounced with following vowel sounds (more in the style of today's [[General American]], [[West Country Accent|West Country English]], [[Hiberno-English|Irish]] accents and Scottish accents, although in the case of the Scottish accent the R is rolled, and less like the pronunciation now usual in most of England.) Furthermore, at the beginning of the Early Modern English period there were three non-open and non-[[schwa]] short vowels before {{IPA|/r/}} in the [[syllable coda]]: {{IPA|/e/}}, {{IPA|/i/}} and {{IPA|/u/}} (roughly equivalent to modern {{IPA|/ɛ/}}, {{IPA|/ɪ/}} and {{IPA|/ʊ/}}; {{IPA|/ʌ/}} had not yet developed). In London English they gradually merged into a phoneme that became modern {{IPAc-en|ɜr}}. By the time of Shakespeare, the spellings {{angbr|er}}, {{angbr|ear}} and perhaps {{angbr|or}} when they had a short vowel, as in ''clerk'', ''earth'', or ''divert'', had an ''a''-like quality, perhaps about {{IPA-all|ɐɹ|}} or {{IPA-all|äɹ|}}.<ref name="Sonnet"/> With the spelling {{angbr|or}}, the sound may have been backed, more toward {{IPA-all|ɒɹ|}} in words like ''worth'' and ''word''.<ref name="Sonnet"/> In some pronunciations, words like ''fair'' and ''fear'', with the spellings {{angbr|air}} and {{angbr|ear}}, rhymed with each other, and words with the spelling {{angbr|are}}, such as ''prepare'' and ''compare'', were sometimes pronounced with a more open vowel sound, like the verbs ''are'' and ''scar''. See {{section link|Great Vowel Shift|Later mergers}} for more information. ===Specific words=== ''Nature'' was pronounced approximately as {{IPA|[ˈnɛːtəɹ]}}<ref name="Hark"/> and may have rhymed with ''letter'' or, early on, even ''latter''. ''One'' may have been pronounced ''own'', with both ''one'' and ''other'' using the era's long {{sc2|GOAT}} vowel, rather than today's {{sc2|STRUT}} vowels.<ref name="Hark"/> ''Tongue'' derived from the sound of ''tong'' and rhymed with ''song''.<ref name="Sonnet">Crystal, David (2011). "[http://www.davidcrystal.com/?fileid=-4836 Sounding out Shakespeare: Sonnet Rhymes in Original Pronunciation] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171020080423/http://www.davidcrystal.com/?fileid=-4836 |date=20 October 2017 }}". In Vera Vasic (ed.) ''Jezik u Upotrebi: primenjena lingvsitikja u cast Ranku Bugarskom''. Novi Sad and Belgrade: Philosophy faculties. P. 298-300.</ref> Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. 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