Phonological History of English Low Back Vowels - Table

Table

law
ball
taught
caught		 off
cloth
loss		 lot
stop
rob
cot
bother		 father
palm
calm
Middle English aʊ ɔ ɔ a
Quality change ɒ ɒ
"Thought" monophthonging ɔː
Pre-fricative lengthening ɒː
A - lengthening aː
Quality change ɑː
"Lot" unrounding ɑ
Loss of distinctive length ɔ ɒ (ɑ) ɑ
Cloth–thought merger (ɔ) ɔ
General American Output ɔ ɔ ɑ ɑ
Cot–caught merger ɑ ɑ ɑ ɑ
Stages leading to some of the low back vowels of General American, summarized from Wells (1982). The cot–caught merger has been added

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Famous quotes containing the word table:

    “They were not on the table with their elbows.
    They were not sleeping in the shelves of bunks.
    I saw no men there and no bones of men there.”
    —Robert Frost (1874–1963)

    “Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies; thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.”
    —Bible: Hebrew Psalms, 23:5.

    “Many a time I have seen my mother leap up from the dinner table to engage the swarming flies with an improvised punkah, and heard her rejoice and give humble thanks simultaneously that Baltimore was not the sinkhole that Washington was.”
    —H.L. (Henry Lewis)