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:

    “where the Statue stood
    Of Newton, with his Prism and silent Face
    The marble index of a Mind for ever
    Voyaging through strange seas of Thought, alone.”
    —William Wordsworth (1770–1850)

    “Sir, more than kisses, letters mingle souls.
    For, thus friends absent speak.”
    —John Donne (c. 1572–1631)