Major changes occurred in the English vowel system between about 1400 and about 1750. English spelling began to stabilise before most of those changes took place. As a result, English spelling does not match well with current pronunciation, as many native and non-native learners have discovered to their cost. This post summarises one group of…… Continue reading Great English Vowel Shift
Tag: Diphthong
How many sounds are there in English? (2): vowels
In an earlier post, I looked at how many consonant sounds there are in standard southern British English, generally known as Received Pronunciation RP). In this post, I will look at the vowels. As before, I will be looking at how many phonemes there are. The earlier post describes what a phoneme is. How many…… Continue reading How many sounds are there in English? (2): vowels
Berlin Dialect
Two features of the pronunciation of the Berlin dialect of German are very striking. They are the pronunciation of the consonant written g in standard German (but pronounced as if written as j) and of the diphthong written ei (but pronounced as if written as ee). Consonant written g In the Berlin dialect, the consonant…… Continue reading Berlin Dialect