English Orthography - Silent Letters

Silent Letters

Further information: Silent letter

Some letters do not provide any information about contemporary English pronunciation. For example, in Old and Middle English was an allophone of /f/ occurring between vowels. The deletion of historical final schwas (weak vowels) at the end of words such as give and have phonemicized /v/, but the now-silent ⟨e⟩ remained at the end of most /v/-final words. Words spelled with final ⟨v⟩ such as rev and Slav remain comparatively rare.

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Famous quotes containing the words silent and/or letters:

    “There is a time for building
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    And a time for the wind to break the loosened pane
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    And to shake the tattered arras woven with a silent motto.”
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    —Bible: Hebrew, Esther 1:22.

    King Ahasuerus, after his Queen Vashti refused to come at the king’s command.