Phonological History of English High Front Vowels/bit-bet Merger

Famous quotes containing the words history, english, high, front and/or vowels:

    “Yet poetry, though the last and finest result, is a natural fruit. As naturally as the oak bears an acorn, and the vine a gourd, man bears a poem, either spoken or done. It is the chief and most memorable success, for history is but a prose narrative of poetic deeds.”
    —Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)

    “Take heed of enemies reconciled, and of meat twice boiled.”
    —Collected in John Ray, English Proverbs. English proverb (1670)

    “Ay, look: high heaven and earth ail from the prime foundation;
    All thoughts to rive the heart are here, and all are vain:
    Horror and scorn and hate and fear and indignation—
    Oh, why did I awake? When shall I sleep again?”
    —A.E. (Alfred Edward)

    “It is surely easier to confess a murder over a cup of coffee than in front of a jury.”
    —Friedrich Dürrenmatt (1921–1990)

    “As no one can tell what was the Roman pronunciation, each nation makes the Latin conform, for the most part, to the rules of its own language; so that with us of the vowels only A has a peculiar sound.”
    —Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)