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This page is a guide to the Standard Lexical Sets presented by Wells in Accents of English I. Each of the following lexical sets is based on the Standard American (GenAm) and British (RP) accents that we have been studying in this unit. Standard lexical sets serve multiple purposes. First, they provide a "standard" starting point against which we can compare regional dialects within the U.S. and Britian. Second, they allow us to compare the ways in which the vowels of each lexical set compare between GenAm and RP. Third, lexical set key words (KIT or DRESS, for example) provide linguists with an efficient way to talk with each other about vowel sets that share common derivations. The key word for each lexical set also provides us with visual and auditory cues that help us to remember those vowel sets.

You do not need to memorize the lexical sets. However, you should familiarize yourself with them before moving on to the next unit. The historical processes referred to in the "Derived From" category of the chart below ( FOOT-STRUT Split, 17th Century Pre-Fricative Lengthening, and Yod Dropping, to name a few) will be further explained in the following units dealing with historical changes. Thus, this chart of Standard Lexical Sets will be a helpful reference tool throughout the remainder of the course.

Lexical Set
GenAm
RP
Exceptions
Traditional
Name
Derived From:
Sample
Words
KIT
Some GenAm words with belong with the NEAR lexical set.
"short I"
 Middle English short / i /. It is usually spelled 'i', but is sometimes spelled 'y'.
ship, rib, dim, milk, slither, myth, pretty, build, women, busy
DRESS
Some GenAm words with belong with the SQUARE lexical set.
short E"
 Middle English short / e /. It is usually spelled 'e'. Also derives from Middle English long via a shortening process; this is reflected in the spelling 'ea'. step, ebb, hem, shelf, effort, threat, bread, ready, any, friend
TRAP
Some GenAm words with belong with the BATH lexical set.
"short a"
 Middle English short / a /. It is usually spelled 'a'. tap, cab, ham, scalp, plaid
LOT
A few RP words with belong with the CLOTH lexical set.
"short O"
 Middle English . Less common sources include Middle English /a/ in the environment preceding /w/,as in "quality". It is usually spelled 'o' and less commonlty spelled 'a'. stop, rob, Tom, solve, profit, honest, swan, waffle, knowledge
STRUT
NA
"short U"
 Middle English short /u/. A less common source is a shortened . This vowel is one of the two possible outcomes of the FOOT-STRUT Split and is usually spelled 'u' or 'o'. Less common spellings are 'ou' or 'oo'. cup, rub, hum, pulse, butter, done, monk, touch, blood
FOOT
Some GenAm words with belong with the CURE lexical set.
No traditional name exists, but it is sometimes referred to as 'short oo'.
 the same Middle English sources as STRUT (short /u/ and shortened . This vowel represents the other possible outcome of the FOOT-STRUT Split. Like STRUT, it is usually spelled 'u' or 'oo', and sometimes spelled 'o' or 'ou'. put, full, cuckoo, good, woman, could
BATH

(broad A = phonetically equal to TRAP)

(flat A = phonetically equal to PALM)
NA
NA
 broad-BATH pronunciation derives from the 18th century TRAP-BATH Split, which involved a phonemic split in the derived from Middle English /a/ or /au/. This resulted in BATH words being pronounced with a long vowel, specifically in RP, . A more recent development has caused some BATH words to be pronounced with a long vowel in N. America. This BATH raising results in the change from to staff, path, dance, prance, calf, half, chaff, plastic
CLOTH

(flat O = phonetically equal to THOUGHT)

(broad O = phonetically equal to LOT)
NA
NA
 The broad-CLOTH pronunciation reflects the 17th century Pre-Fricative Lengthening. The flat-CLOTH pronunciation retains the historically short LOT vowel, Middle English . off, soft, often, Australia, gone, moth, long accost, wash, origin, borrow, florid, horrid, moral, sorrow, laurel, quarrel
NURSE

(r-colored)

NA
NA
 Three common Middle English sources: short / i / (spelled 'ir' and 'yr'), (spelled'er' and 'ear'), and / u / (spelled 'ur' and 'or') , all only when followed by a final or preconsonantal / r /. From these Middle English origins, the NURSE vowel reached its current pronunciation through the NURSE Merger, R Coalescence, and, for RP, R Dropping. hurt, church, curb, turn, burnt, shirt, firm, twerp, verb, term, certain, earth, heard, rehearsal, work, worst, journal, attorney
FLEECE
NA
"long E"
 the Great Vowel Shift from Middle English /e:/ or . The distinction between these Middle English variations was lost in the FLEECE Merger. Typical spellings are: 'ee', 'ea', and 'i'. creep, seed, seem, see, needle, these,brief, ceiling, be, key, meat, bead, team, sea, feast, equal, complete, receive, Caesar, phoenix, police, casino
FACE
NA
"long A"
 the Great Vowel shift from Middle English (spelled 'a' or 'aCe') or, in consequence of the FACE Merger, from ('ai', 'ay', 'ei', 'ey', 'aig(h)', and 'eig(h)'). Another possible spelling is 'ea'. tape, babe, name, change, taper, bass, bouquet, wait, day, rein, they, weigh, reign, great, steak
PALM

(phonetically equal to LOT)

(phonetically equal to START and BATH)

 In GenAm cases where this vowel is followed by / r /. belongs with the START lexical set. NOTE: Very few really common words clearly belong to this lexical set. Most of the PALM words are recent borrowings from foreign languages.
NA
 Middle English / au / or / a / with lengthening (for native English words). calm, balm, psalm, father, bra, ma, pa, ah, Bach, salaam, Brahms, Taj Mahal, spa, sonata, bravado, incommunicado, llama, marijuana, iguana, Koran, rationale, Nazi, enchilada, Nevada, lava, plaza, almond, drama, panorama
THOUGHT
Other words with RP belong to NORTH or FORCE lexical sets. Other words with GenAm belong to CLOTH or, with following / r /, to NORTH lexical sets.
NA
 Middle English / au / and ,followed by a velar fricative (spelled 'augh', and 'ough') and / au / alone (spelled 'au/ aw/ al'). taught, naughty, ought, taut, applaud, autumn, hawk, jaw, chalk, all, bald, halt, alter, fault
GOAT
/ o /
NA
"long O"
the Great Vowel Shift from Middle English (spelled 'o', 'Ce', and 'oa), or, in consequence of the GOAT Merger, from (spelled 'ow' and 'o' before l).
 soap, road, note, robe, hole, so, noble, brooch, bowl, soul, colt, roll, sew, dough
GOOSE
NA
When preceded by a palatal semivowel
/ j / "yod", the sequence
/ ju(:) / has the traditional name
"long U".
 the Great Vowel shift from Middle English or, after Early Yod Dropping, from / iu / or (spelled 'oo'; where no Yod Dropping occurred these Middle English dipthongs correspond to current
/ ju(:) / (spelled 'ue, 'uCe', 'u', 'eu', and 'ew').		 loop, mood, boom, boost, move, tomb, two, who, group, dupe, mute, cube, rube, plume, flu, ludicrous, music, sleuth, lewd, few, fruit, view, beauty
PRICE
NA
"long I"
 Middle English / i: / via the Great Vowel Shift. Common spellings are 'iCe', 'ie', 'i', and 'y'. ripe, tribe, time, tiger, indict, child, bicycle, island, hi-fi, type, eye, height, aisle, buy, shoir, fight, sign
CHOICE
NA
NA
 Middle English or
/ ui / . All of these words are believed to be loan words, mainly from French. A few words with Middle English / i: / also became CHOICE words. Common spellings are 'oi', and 'oy'.		 boy, toy, joy, noise, voice, void, coin, poison, buoy, employ, groin, hoist, joist
MOUTH
NA
NA
 Middle English / u: / via the Great Vowel Shift. Common spellings are 'ou' and 'ow'. out, pouch, loud, noun, count, flour, crowd, dowry, plow
NEAR
Many instances of RP correspond to the GenAm sequence, espcially in unstressed syllables. A small number of GenAm words, such as 'spirit' belong with the KIT lexical set. No traditional name, but in GenAm, it is seen as an instance of 'short I'. Middle English or , like that of FLEECE, except in the environment of a following / r /. Common spellings are 'eer', 'ere', 'erV', 'ier', 'eir', 'ear'. beer, here, pier, fear, appear, fierce, weird, beard, serious, dreary, idea, Korea, museum, real, ideal
SQUARE
or
A number of GenAm words, such as 'merry', where the vowel corresponds to RP , and a number of words , such as 'borrow', where it corresponds to RP , belong to the DRESS lexical set. No traditional name exists, but in GenAm, it can be seen as an instance of 'short E'. Middle English or , like FACE, in the environment of a following / r /. Other SQUARE words had Middle English in the same environment. Common spellings are 'are', 'arV', 'air', and 'ear'. care, air, fair, bear, wear, heir, their, scarce, vary, rarity, dairy, fairy.
START
Some instances of RP belong to the BATH or PALM lexical sets. No traditional name exists, but in GenAm it can be seen as an instance of 'short O'. Middle English / ar /, via Pre-R Lengthening and, in the case of RP and other non-rhotic accents, R Dropping. Common spellings are 'ar' and 'arC'. far, star, bazaar, sharp, part, harsh, garb, large, farm, Charles, party, heart, sergeant, aardvark, safari, scenario, tiara.
NORTH

(in the variety of GenAm that retains the opposition between and ).
Most words with RP belong with the THOUGHT, FORCE, CURE, or CLOTH lexical sets. Most words with GenAm belong with NORTH, except where is followed by a vowel; in the latter case, most of these words belong with CLOTH. For the variety of GenAm which does not distinguish and (e.g. 'horse'='hoarse'), many words containing the merged belong with FORCE.
NA
 Middle English shortplus / r / vial Pre-R Lengthening. Common spellings are 'or' and 'ar' where the preceding sound is / w /. or, for, war, assort, cavort, tort, short, scorch, horse, absorb, chord, form, adorn, porn, porpoise, fortune, corporal, shorten, tortoise, forfeit, torso, orbit, normal, quart, swarm, ward, warm, wart, aura, Taurus.
FORCE

(in the variety of GenAm that retains the opposition between and ).
In both standard accents, the FORCE words, historically distinct from NORTH words, have now become or are now in the process of becoming merged with them. Only a small number of words with RPbelong with FORCE; other belong with THOUGHT, NORTH, CURE, or CLOTH. In varieties of GenAm which don't retain the distinction, many words belong with NORTH.
NA
 Middle English long , the same vowel as GOAT, via the Great Vowel Shift, in the environment of a following / r /. Common spellings are 'or', 'ore', 'oar', 'oor', and 'our'. adore, deplore, more, store, boar, floor, pour, deprt, porch, afford, borne, porter, coarse, court, oral, flora, glory, laborious, pictorial, uproarious.
CURE
In RP, traditional is now increasingly being replaced by via the CURE-FORCE Merger. No traditional name exists, but in GenAm it can be seen as an instance of 'short oo'. When preceded by yod, it can be interpreted as 'long U'. The same as that of GOOSE in the environment of a following / r /, namely in most cases Middle English , / ju / or . Common spellings are 'oor', 'our', 'ure', 'urV', and 'eur'. boor, poor, tour, endure, lure, pure, gourmet, boorish, tourism, asurance, mural, plural, curious, fury, lurid, purity, Europe.
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