Phonological history of English consonant clusters

The phonological history of the English language includes various changes in the phonology of consonant clusters.

H-cluster reductions

The H-cluster reductions are various consonant reductions that have occurred in the history of English, involving consonant clusters beginning with /h/ that have lost the /h/ (or become reduced to /h/) in some or all dialects.

Reductions of /hw/

The cluster /hw/ (spelled ⟨wh⟩ since Middle English) has been subject to two kinds of reduction:

  • Reduction to /h/ before rounded vowels (due to /hw/ being perceived as an /h/ with the labialization characteristic of that environment). This occurred with the word how in the Old English period, and with who, whom and whose in Middle English (the latter words having had an unrounded vowel in Old English).
  • Reduction to /w/, a development that has affected the speech of the great majority of English speakers, causing them to pronounce ⟨wh-⟩ the same as ⟨w-⟩ (sometimes called the wine–whine merger or glide cluster reduction). The distinction is maintained, however, in Scotland, most of Ireland, and some Southern American English.
  • Reduction

    Reduction, reduced, or reduce may refer to:

    Science

    Chemistry

  • Reduction, part of a reduction-oxidation (redox) reaction in which atoms have their oxidation state changed.
  • Organic redox reaction, a redox reaction that takes place with organic compounds
  • Reduced gas, a gas with a low oxidation number
  • Reducing agent, element or compound in a redox reaction that donates an electron to another species
  • Reducing atmosphere, an oxygen-poor gaseous environment that inhibits oxidation
  • Reductase, an enzyme that catalyzes a reduction reaction
  • Reduction (complexity)

    In computability theory and computational complexity theory, a reduction is an algorithm for transforming one problem into another problem. A reduction from one problem to another may be used to show that the second problem is at least as difficult as the first.

    Intuitively, problem A is reducible to problem B if an algorithm for solving problem B efficiently (if it existed) could also be used as a subroutine to solve problem A efficiently. When this is true, solving A cannot be harder than solving B. "Harder" means having a higher estimate of the required computational resources in a given context (e.g., higher time complexity, etc.).

    We write A ≤m B, usually with a subscript on the ≤ to indicate the type of reduction being used (m : mapping reduction, p : polynomial reduction).

    The mathematical structure generated on a set of problems by the reductions of a particular type generally forms a preorder, whose equivalence classes may be used to define degrees of unsolvability and complexity classes.

    Redox

    Redox is a contraction of the name for chemical reduction-oxidation reaction. A reduction reaction always occurs with an oxidation reaction. Redox reactions include all chemical reactions in which atoms have their oxidation state changed; in general, redox reactions involve the transfer of electrons between chemical species. The chemical species from which the electron is stripped is said to have been oxidized, while the chemical species to which the electron is added is said to have been reduced. Oxygen is not necessarily included in such reactions as other chemical species can serve the same function.

    The term "redox" comes from two concepts involved with electron transfer: reduction and oxidation. It can be explained in simple terms:

  • Oxidation is the loss of electrons or an increase in oxidation state by a molecule, atom, or ion.
  • Reduction is the gain of electrons or a decrease in oxidation state by a molecule, atom, or ion.
  • Although oxidation reactions are commonly associated with the formation of oxides from oxygen molecules, these are only specific examples of a more general concept of reactions involving electron transfer.

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