Talk:Phonological history of English diphthongs

I am a little confused. Currently, in Modern English, au is pronounced as /ɔː/. And according to another page: Phonological History of English, when the diphthong au was monophthongized, it monophthongized to /ɔː/. On the other hand, this page says the vowel was changed to /ɑu/ and then /ɒː/. In the latter theory, how the digraph au got its pronunciation of /ɔː/ is unexplained. So, I simply ask for details. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 74.102.218.18 (talk) 03:26, 3 October 2016 (UTC)

Previously, somebody else also made a comment in a section now archived called African American etc. Tipping my hat off to him, I repeat his comment below:

"Aside from the fact that this 'vernacular' doesn't exist, Anyone who's been to America will tell you the "rod-ride" merger is a southern thing, with no racial affiliation. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.182.130.241 (talk) 05:35, 27 May 2013 (UTC)"  

Furthermore, when I went on the page African American Vernacular English, I saw no mention of the rod-ride merger. However, when I went on Southern American English, the merger was mentioned as Stage 1 of the Southern Vowel Shift. Therefore, I am going to change the section to read that the merger occurs in Southern American English instead of African American Vernacular English. 74.102.216.186 (talk) 01:22, 8 November 2016‎ (UTC)

It seems that somebody else added "African American Vernacular English" back in along with "Southern American English." So, I rechecked the page African American Vernacular English. However, I switched how I checked. The first time, I typed "rod" into Ctrl+F, and no results came up. The second time, I typed "aɪ" into Ctrl+F, and there was a section which addressed the merger. So, therefore, to whoever re-typed in "African American Vernacular English," you win the debate. We can agree on the current text.74.102.216.186 (talk) 03:09, 12 November 2016 (UTC)

The source in this article does not mention this merging occurring in the South. I would saying it does not occur in Southern American English since the LOT vowel is not fronted in the South. 2600:1700:4410:47A0:602B:EDB7:60ED:C40A (talk) 19:19, 16 February 2025 (UTC)

This is a nonsensical name, as both words are often monosyllabic even in the dialects without the merger, see e.g. https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/mayor https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/mayor https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/mayor https://www.dictionary.com/browse/mayor . The correct term is triphthong smoothing, cf. e.g. https://journals.umcs.pl/nh/article/download/5794/4071 http://www.englishpronunciationmadrid.com/vowels/vowels/smoothing/ http://phonetic-blog.blogspot.com/2009/12/triphthongs-anyone.html 195.187.108.4 (talk) 12:00, 24 January 2019 (UTC)

Audio examples would really help — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2607:FEA8:AA1E:F000:990C:FB24:1B5E:ACAC (talk) 20:53, 6 June 2021 (UTC)

Why is there a link in the article to a section on the pane-pain merger when there is no section about that merger? Please add a section about that merger or else correct the link to point to whichever other article contains that information. Thank you. 1.126.106.66 (talk) 08:51, 9 October 2024 (UTC)

Until about a year ago, the pain-pane and toe-tow mergers were separate subsections of the long mid mergers section, until one editor decided to remove the subsections. IMO it was a mistake to do so as it broke numerous links to the subsections and "hid away" the information under a much more obscure (to the layman) title which is inconsistent with the section titles used elsewhere on the page. I have therefore reversed the change. Offa29 (talk) 11:00, 9 October 2024 (UTC)

The description of "modern RP" should be updated, and preferably renamed to SSB. Modern SSB doesn't pronounce SQUARE as a diphthong, and pronounces the FLEECE and GOOSE vowels as closing diphthongs [ɪj] and [ʉw], among other pronunciation changes. DdeWylvyn (talk) 17:54, 20 October 2024 (UTC)

In this article they are talked about as if they are two different mergers, it says in the line-loin merger that "The line–loin merger is a merger between the diphthongs /aɪ/ and /ɔɪ/ that occurs in some accents of Southern English English, Hiberno-English, Newfoundland English, and Caribbean English. Pairs like line and loin, bile and boil, imply and employ are homophones in merging accents". and shows all the homophonous pairs, while the PRICE-CHOICE merger says "The PRICE-CHOICE merger is a merger of the diphthongs /aɪ/ and /ɔɪ/. It occurs for some speakers of West Country English and in the North of England." BemolRoger (talk) 12:57, 13 June 2026 (UTC)

I've merged them now. No indication that these should have been kept separate. ~ oklopfer (💬) 23:11, 20 June 2026 (UTC)

The redirect Mare-mayor merger has been listed at redirects for discussion to determine whether its use and function meets the redirect guidelines. Readers of this page are welcome to comment on this redirect at Wikipedia:Redirects for discussion/Log/2026 June 26 § Mare-mayor merger until a consensus is reached. Un assiolo (talk) 18:22, 26 June 2026 (UTC)