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Most dialects of modern English have two close back vowels: the near-close near-back rounded vowel /ʊ/ found in words like foot, and the close back rounded vowel /uː/ (realized as central [ʉː] in many dialects) found in words like goose. The STRUT vowel /ʌ/, which historically was back, is often central [ɐ] as well.
The bad–lad split is a phonological split of the Early Modern English short vowel phoneme /æ/ into a short /æ/ and a long /æː/. This split is found in some varieties of English in England and Australia. In Modern English, a new phoneme, /ɑː/, developed that did not exist in Middle English.
In English, this happens most often with vowels, although not exclusively. See phonemic differentiation for more information. Due to the wide geographic distribution of the English language and the number and variety of speakers, there are phonemic pairs which are distinguished in some accents and varieties, but considered identical in others.
Moving forward in time, the two Middle English vowels /a/ and /aː/ correspond directly to the two vowels /a/ and /ɛː/, respectively, in the Early Modern English of c. 1600 AD (the time of Shakespeare). However, each vowel has split into a number of different pronunciations in Modern English, depending on the phonological context.
More extensive L-vocalization is a notable feature of certain dialects of English, including Cockney, Estuary English, New York English, New Zealand English, Pittsburgh and Philadelphia English, in which an /l/ sound occurring at the end of a word or before a consonant is pronounced as some sort of close back vocoid, e.g., [w], [o] or [ʊ]. The ...
In RP, the vowel /əʊ/ may be pronounced more back, as [ɒʊ~ɔʊ], before syllable-final /l/, as in goal. In standard Australian English the vowel /əʉ/ is similarly backed to [ɔʊ] before /l/. A similar phenomenon occurs in Southern American English. [66] The vowel /ə/ is often pronounced [ɐ] in open syllables. [67]
In Scottish English, mid front /ɛːr/ and /ɛr/ are merged into /er/, paralleling the mid back vowel horse–hoarse merger, which Scottish English lacks. The vowel in fir /ɪr/ is usually distinct, but is liable to merge than /ər/ because their non-rhoticized equivalents /ɪ/ and /ə/ belong to the same phoneme; this parallels the hurry ...
The kit–bit split is a split of standard English /ɪ/ (the KIT vowel) that occurs in South African English. The two distinct sounds are: The two distinct sounds are: A standard [ɪ] , or [i] in broader accents, which is used before or after a velar consonant ( li ck , bi g , si n g ; k iss, k it, g ift ), after /h/ ( hit ), word-initially ...