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Phonological history of English consonant clusters
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Phonological history of English consonant clusters
The phonological history of English includes various changes in the phonology of consonant clusters.
The H-cluster reductions are various consonant reductions that have occurred in the history of English, involving consonant clusters beginning with /h/ that have lost the /h/ (or become reduced to /h/) in some or all dialects.
The cluster /hw/ (spelled ⟨wh⟩ since Middle English) has been subject to two kinds of reduction:
The Old English consonant clusters /hl/, /hr/ and /hn/ were reduced to /l/, /r/, and /n/ in Middle English. For example, Old English hlāf, hring and hnutu become loaf, ring and nut in Modern English.
In some dialects of English the cluster /hj/ is reduced to /j/, leading to pronunciations like /juːdʒ/ for huge and /ˈjuːmən/ for human, and making hew, hue, and Hugh homophones 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 where it is found. Aside from accents with general H-dropping, in the United States this reduction is mostly found in accents of Philadelphia and New York City; it also occurs in Cork accents of Irish English. In other dialects of English, hew and yew remain distinct; however, the cluster /hj/ of hew, human, etc. is often reduced from [çj] to just [ç] (a voiceless palatal fricative).
Y-cluster reductions are reductions of clusters ending with the palatal approximant /j/, which is the sound of ⟨y⟩ in yes, and is sometimes referred to as "yod", from the Hebrew letter yod(h), which has the sound [j]. Many such clusters arose in dialects in which the falling diphthong /ɪu/ (the product of the merger of several Middle English vowel sequences) became the rising diphthong /juː/. (For more information, see Phonological history of English high back vowels.) They were thus often found before the vowel /uː/, as in cube /kjuːb/ – which was in some cases modified to /ʊə/ or /ʊ/ before (historical) /r/, as in cure, or weakened to /ʊ/ or /ə/ as in argument. They also occurred in words ending in -ion and -ious, such as nation and precious.
This change from /ɪu/ to /juː/, which had occurred in London by the end of the 17th century, did not take place in all dialects. A few dialects, notably in Wales, as well as in some parts of northern England, New England, and the American South, still retain a (falling) /ɪu/ diphthong where standard English has /juː/ – these dialects therefore lack the clusters with /j/ and have not been subject to the reductions described here.
The diphthongs /juː/ or /ɪʊ̯/ are most commonly indicated by the spellings ⟨eu⟩, ⟨ew⟩, ⟨uCV⟩ (where C is any consonant and V is any vowel), ⟨ue⟩ and ⟨ui⟩, as in feud, few, mute, cue and suit, while the historical monophthong /uː/ is commonly indicated by the spellings ⟨oo⟩ and ⟨ou⟩, as in moon and soup.
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Phonological history of English consonant clusters
The phonological history of English includes various changes in the phonology of consonant clusters.
The H-cluster reductions are various consonant reductions that have occurred in the history of English, involving consonant clusters beginning with /h/ that have lost the /h/ (or become reduced to /h/) in some or all dialects.
The cluster /hw/ (spelled ⟨wh⟩ since Middle English) has been subject to two kinds of reduction:
The Old English consonant clusters /hl/, /hr/ and /hn/ were reduced to /l/, /r/, and /n/ in Middle English. For example, Old English hlāf, hring and hnutu become loaf, ring and nut in Modern English.
In some dialects of English the cluster /hj/ is reduced to /j/, leading to pronunciations like /juːdʒ/ for huge and /ˈjuːmən/ for human, and making hew, hue, and Hugh homophones 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 where it is found. Aside from accents with general H-dropping, in the United States this reduction is mostly found in accents of Philadelphia and New York City; it also occurs in Cork accents of Irish English. In other dialects of English, hew and yew remain distinct; however, the cluster /hj/ of hew, human, etc. is often reduced from [çj] to just [ç] (a voiceless palatal fricative).
Y-cluster reductions are reductions of clusters ending with the palatal approximant /j/, which is the sound of ⟨y⟩ in yes, and is sometimes referred to as "yod", from the Hebrew letter yod(h), which has the sound [j]. Many such clusters arose in dialects in which the falling diphthong /ɪu/ (the product of the merger of several Middle English vowel sequences) became the rising diphthong /juː/. (For more information, see Phonological history of English high back vowels.) They were thus often found before the vowel /uː/, as in cube /kjuːb/ – which was in some cases modified to /ʊə/ or /ʊ/ before (historical) /r/, as in cure, or weakened to /ʊ/ or /ə/ as in argument. They also occurred in words ending in -ion and -ious, such as nation and precious.
This change from /ɪu/ to /juː/, which had occurred in London by the end of the 17th century, did not take place in all dialects. A few dialects, notably in Wales, as well as in some parts of northern England, New England, and the American South, still retain a (falling) /ɪu/ diphthong where standard English has /juː/ – these dialects therefore lack the clusters with /j/ and have not been subject to the reductions described here.
The diphthongs /juː/ or /ɪʊ̯/ are most commonly indicated by the spellings ⟨eu⟩, ⟨ew⟩, ⟨uCV⟩ (where C is any consonant and V is any vowel), ⟨ue⟩ and ⟨ui⟩, as in feud, few, mute, cue and suit, while the historical monophthong /uː/ is commonly indicated by the spellings ⟨oo⟩ and ⟨ou⟩, as in moon and soup.