Phonemic vowel length

[Paul Johnston]

Because the vowel in "English" is the same phoneme as that in "pit"
thanks to a 13th c. (or so) rule that raised all /E/ (as in pet)
before "eng".  The pronunciation was not reflected in spelling,
unlike in the word "wing" which went through the same exact change.

Paul Johnston
On Oct 4, 2006, at 8:46 PM, Tom Zurinskas wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Tom Zurinskas <truespel at HOTMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: Phonemic vowel length
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> ---------
>
> Why the spelling "Inglish"?
>
> Tom Z
>
>> From: Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at YAHOO.COM>
>>
>>   Future Inglish Alert:
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org