yod-dropping

The vowel uw is often preceded by a consonant, j, called yod, even where the spelling does not indicate this consonant. So in you juw or youth juwθ the spelling does show the yod (by the letter y), but in ewe juw or unit júwnit it does not.

Thus we may take the vowel letter U, as well as the digraphs EU/EW, UI to be representations of juw. Consider the examples below.

mute mjuwt, huge hjuwdʒ, feudal fjúwdəl, few fjuw, nuisance njúwsəns

On the other hand, the vowel letter O, as well as the digraphs OO, OU, may be taken to be representations of uw, that is, in this case there is no yod before the vowel. The following words exemplify this.

move muwv, hoof huwf, coupon kúwpon

So far, so good: mute contains a yod, moot does not, and the spelling indicates this clearly. Let’s call U, EU/EW, and UI yodful spellings of the vowel uw and O, OO, OU yodless spellings.

However, not all words that are spelled with the yodful spelling of uw actually contain a yod. We find three types of word that have a yodful spelling. Some indeed have a yod:

punitive pjúwnitiv, Budapest bjúwdəpést, funeral fjúnərəl, music mjúzik, Cupid kjúpid, ambiguity ámbigjúwitij

Others are variable, some speakers pronounce yod in them, others don’t, sometimes the same speaker pronounces a yod sometimes and not in other cases:

tuna t(j)úwnə, duty d(j)úwtij, enthusiastic inθ(j)úwzijástik, super s(j)úwpə, presume priz(j)úwm, nude n(j)úwd, lucid l(j)úwsid

Yet other words do not contain a yod:

Massachusetts másətʃúwsits, Jude dʒúwd, Schubert ʃúwbət, rule rúwl, blue blúw

The three groups, (i) with yod, (ii) alternating, (iii) without yod, are in almost all cases distinguished by the place of articulation of the consonant preceding the yod or where the yod is expected to be.

The following is a chart of English consonants. There is some simplification, for example, the two affricates (tʃ and dʒ) are dumped in the line of plosives (PLO), all kinds of labials (bilabials, p b m, labiodentals, f v, the labiovelar w) and palatals (palatoalveolars, tʃ dʒ ʃ ʒ r, and the palatal j) are merged in the same column. But this is okay, we are going to see that yod-dropping does not require any more detail. Abbreviations: OBStruent, SONorant, FRIcative, NASal, APProximant.

We can see that the consonants occurring before a stable yod are not coronal, but labial or “back”, which means the velar k g and the glottal h.

The consonants after which we never find a yod are all palatal (including j itself). Interestingly, we also find l in this group, but only if it is preceded by another consonant, so there is no yod in blue, flu, clue, glue.

Finally, yod is variably present or absent after a nonpalatal coronal, that is, a dental or alveolar consonant.

before unstressed vowels

What has been said above is true of the yods that are before a stressed vowel. Yods are more stable before an unstressed vowel.

Groups (i), with yod, and (iii), without yod, are the same both before a stressed and an unstressed vowel. So there is a yod in both mule mjúwl, where the vowel after the yod is stressed, and in formula fóːmjələ, where it is not. And there is no yod in either jury dʒúːrij, where a stressed vowel follows, or in perjury pə́ːdʒərij, where an unstressed vowel follows.

Group (ii), however, is not homogeneous in this respect: the yod is variable before a stressed vowel, but it is stable before an unstressed one. So voluminous is vəl(j)úwminəs, with some people pronouncing the yod (very few nowadays), some not, volume is vólju(w)m, that is, here the yod is not variable (the w is, but that is not our concern here). Similarly, the yod is variable in assume əs(j)úwm, but it is obligatory in issue ísjuw or íʃuw. The latter pronunciation seems not to contain a yod, we will discuss this shortly.

We summarize the appearance of yod in the following chart:

palatalization

Yod can merge with an alveolar obstruent that precedes it. The alveolar obstruents are t d s z. Merged with yod, they produce tʃ dʒ ʃ ʒ, respectively.

Palatalization is very common before an unstressed vowel, issue ísjuw/íʃuw is an example. In many cases it is only spelling that suggests that palatalization took place, in future fjúwtʃə the unmerged pronunciation *fjúwtjə does not exist. (The asterisk, *, means that the form after it does not exist.) The same holds of sure ʃuː, earlier this word must have contained sj, but that pronunciation does not survive. Here are some other cases:

native néjtiv~nature néjtʃə,
proceed prəsíjd~procedure prəsíjdʒə,
censor sénsə~censure sénʃə,
close klə́wz~closure klə́wʒə

Palatalization does not only occur before a yod that is before U, EU/EW, UI. It may occur before other yods that are either lexical, like these:

got you gótʃuw/gótʃə,
did you dídʒuw/dídʒə,
miss you míʃjuw,
use your júwʒjoː

or before yods that come from an earlier ij, like in these words:

question kwéstʃən, soldier sə́wldʒə, Asia éjʃə, lesion líjʒən

While palatalization is common, in most cases obligatory before an unstressed vowel, it also occurs before a stressed one, especially in British English: Tuesday tʃúwzdej (also tjúwzdej), duty dʒúwtij (also djúwtij), assume əʃúwm (also əsjúwm or əsúwm), presume priʒúwm (also prizjúwm or prizúwm; though it is much less common with sj and zj).