1. Processes
Part 2

2. Processes Part 2
In the last slide show we looked at Residualisms, which leave scattered traces in modern dialects.
We now turn to more prominent processes
(Wells 3.1 Residualisms continued)

3. More Prominent Processes
FOOT-STRUT Split
NURSE Merger
Pre-Fricative Lengthening - BATH Broadening and cloth Raising
Yod Dropping
Long Mid Diphthonging

4. More Prominent Processes
FOOT-STRUT Split
NURSE Merger
Pre-Fricative Lengthening - BATH Broadening and cloth Raising
Yod Dropping
Long Mid Diphthonging

6. Some evidence that the original change was blocked
by preceeding bilabial:
thus cut but not put (but putt, punter)
rush but not butcher (but but, butter, much)

8. blood
good

9. More words in this group: mood boot doom root tooth roof food
good book shook took look foot wood stood
blood flood
This group of words includes many words now spelt with single o:
mother, brother, other
Many of these words have the vowel ó in Icelandic:
móður góður blóð dóm rót fóður góður blóð fótur móðir bróðir
Old English form:
mód gód rót
bóc fót blód flód
móðor, bróðor, óðer

10. blood mother other
good

11. Other strut words spelt with o instead of u were originally spelt with u:
son come love < OE sunu, cuman, lufian
- It may be that the spelling with o was a scribal device to make it easy to read the minims

12. sunu cuman
blood mother other
son come
good
blood mother
other son come

14. More Prominent Processes
FOOT-STRUT Split
NURSE Merger
Pre-Fricative Lengthening - BATH Broadening and cloth Raising
Yod Dropping
Long Mid Diphthonging

17. In British accents, this did not happen if r was followed by a vowel:
hurry spirit very
In American accents a Second NURSE Merger has occurred:
hurry furry
And in Am. accents there have been other mergers of vowels before intervocalic r:
marry merry Mary

18. More Prominent Processes
FOOT-STRUT Split
NURSE Merger
Pre-Fricative Lengthening - BATH Broadening and cloth Raising
Yod Dropping
Long Mid Diphthonging

19. staff bath pass ask off cloth lost frost
1 lengthening only (BATH and CLOTH Lengthening)
staff bath pass ask
off cloth lost frost
2 phonemic splits: (BATH Broadening, CLOTH Raising)
lexically inconsistent

20. Lexically inconsistent.
Leading eventually to:
bath-trap Split
cloth-lot Split

22. Practice: æ a ( ) The TRAP vowel Old English 1000 …………….
( )
The TRAP vowel
Old English …………….
Middle English 1500…………..
Modern Southern English
+ American, S. Hemisphere…
Modern Northern English
+ Scotland, Wales, Ireland ….
[æ]
[a]
[a] is the “Continental” a : der Mann, sandur,
place, piazza, mañana ……
Practice: æ a

23. More Prominent Processes
FOOT-STRUT Split
NURSE Merger
Pre-Fricative Lengthening - BATH Broadening and cloth Raising
Yod Dropping
Long Mid Diphthonging

24. Early Yod Dropping
chute chew juice yew
rude crew shrew grew
blue flute flew glue

25. Generalized Yod Dropping

26. Later Yod Dropping is American:

27. For Yod Dropping and Yod Coalescence, see

28. More Prominent Processes
FOOT-STRUT Split
NURSE Merger
Pre-Fricative Lengthening - BATH Broadening and cloth Raising.
Yod Dropping
Long Mid Diphthonging

29. (GVS again):

33.
LongMidDiph.html

34. pane and pain, daze and days, toe and tow ,nose and knows.
Note that this variable may be combined with the Long Mid Mergers (last slide: Processes 1).
LMM combines:
pane and pain, daze and days,
toe and tow ,nose and knows.
Where LMM has NOT occurred, LMD may apply to only ONE of the pair.
This means that we may have:
- or other combinations (see Processes 1)

39. Divide: In N. Amer. , Austral. , etc
Divide: In N. Amer., Austral., etc.: A ridge or line of high ground forming the division between two river valleys or systems; a watershed; the Great (Continental) Divide, that of the Rocky Mountains; fig. a dividing or boundary line; spec. the boundary between life and death
Wells uses the term to mean the juncture when British and American English began to go their separate ways.

40. p.211

41. Wells Chapter 3 Middle English 1400 Wells 3.1 Residualisms
"The Great Divide"
1600
Wells 3.2 British prestige innovations
Wells 3.3 Some American innvoations
Wells 3.4 Later British innvoations