![]() ![]() Linguists call this the Great Vowel Shift, and it’s too complicated to go into in much detail here. But in the late Middle English and early Modern English period (roughly 1350 to 1550), the pronunciation of vowels underwent a vast upheaval. Much of our modern spelling had its foundation in the Middle English period (roughly 1100 to 1500). There are several reasons that English spellings and pronunciations differ so markedly. ![]() But while pronunciation changed, spelling did not. Similarly, the “k” in words like “knife,” “knee,” and “knave” was not originally silent. Same goes for the “w” in “sword” and the “b” in “climb.” They were once pronounced. But the “l” in “should” and “would” was once pronounced (as it was in “walk,” “chalk,” “talk,” and other words). You also mention “should,” a word in which the letter “l” looks entirely superfluous. The odd-looking consonants in the middle of “night” (as well as “right” and “bright”) were once pronounced with a guttural sound somewhere between the modern “g” and “k.” But though the pronunciation moved on, the spelling remained frozen in time. It’s a cousin not only to the German nacht but probably to the Greek nyktos and the Old Irish innocht, among many others. The word “night,” to use another example, went through dozens of spellings over 600 years, from nact and nigt and niht, and so on, eventually to “night” around 1300. The Middle English letter combination “gh” is now pronounced either as “f” (as in “cough/trough/laugh/enough”) or not at all (“slaughter/daughter/ought/through,” etc.). “Daughter” has had several pronunciations over the centuries, including DOCH-ter (with the first syllable like the Scottish “loch”), DAFF-ter (rhyming with “laughter’”) and DAW-ter. Many wonder, for example, why “laughter” and “daughter” don’t rhyme. The appearance of “gh” in words like these is annoying to people who’d like to reform English spelling. You mention “caught,” “ought” and others. And in the case of English words, their spellings often have very idiosyncratic histories hidden within. But because most spellings became fixed centuries ago, they no longer reflect exact pronunciations.Īs a result, spelling is about more than pronunciation it also reflects a word’s meaning and etymology and history. Our spelling system began as an attempt to reproduce speech. Q: Why do words like “caught,” “ought,” “thought,” “bought,” “naught,” “laugh,” and “should” have endings with no bearing on the way the words sound?Ī: I think you’ve asked a much larger and more complicated question than you realize! ![]()
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