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 ɔ ɔ a
Quality change ɒ ɒ
"Thought" monophthonging ɔː
Pre-fricative lengthening ɒː
A - lengthening
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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