Dialectus

Dialectus#

English Pronunciation#
Letter	Modern	Middle	Old
a	/æ/, /eɪ/, /ɑː/, /ə/	/a/, /aː/	/ɑ/, /ɑː/
b	/b/	/b/	/b/
c	/k/, /s/	/k/, /s/	/k/, /tʃ/
d	/d/	/d/	/d/
e	/ɛ/, /iː/, /ə/	/e/, /eː/, /ɛː/, /ə/	/e/, /eː/
f	/f/, /v/	/f/, /v/	/f/, /v/
g	/g/, /dʒ/	/g/, /dʒ/	/g/, /j/, /ɣ/
h	/h/	/h/, /x/, /ç/	/h/, /x/, /ç/
i	/ɪ/, /aɪ/, /i/	/i/, /iː/	/i/, /iː/
l	/l/	/l/	/l/
m	/m/	/m/	/m/
n	/n/, /ŋ/	/n/, /ŋ/	/n/, /ŋ/
o	/ɒ/, /oʊ/, /ɔː/, /ʌ/	/o/, /oː/, /ɔː/	/o/, /oː/
p	/p/	/p/	/p/
r	/ɹ/	/r/	/r/
s	/s/, /z/, /ʃ/	/s/, /z/	/s/, /z/
t	/t/, /tʃ/, /ʃ/	/t/	/t/
u	/ʌ/, /ʊ/, /uː/, /juː/	/u/, /uː/	/u/, /uː/
x	/ks/, /gz/, /z/	/ks/	/ks/
y	/j/, /ɪ/, /aɪ/	/j/, /i/, /iː/	/y/, /yː/

If ever in doubt as to the transliteration of a Philadelphian term into English, the following rules should be applied to arrive at an approximation.

Rule: a → ay-a (when it comes before an m, n, f, s, or th sound)
Explanation: The short “a” sound, as in “cat,” often becomes a two-part tense vowel.
Examples: class → clay-ass, half → hay-af, pass → pay-ass.
Exceptions: This rule also applies to the words mad, bad, and glad, but crucially, not to sad. This is why mad and sad do not rhyme.

Rule: Long o → e-o
Explanation: The vowel in a word like “go” is “fronted,” meaning it’s produced more towards the front of the mouth.
Examples: go → ge-o, no → ne-o.
Exceptions: This does not apply when the vowel is followed by an ‘l’, so goal remains unchanged.

Rule: ow/ou → e-ow
Explanation: Similar to the long “o,” the vowel sound in “down” is also fronted.
Examples: down → de-own, mouth → me-owth.

Rule: aw/off/augh → aw-uh
Explanation: The vowel in “coffee” or “caught” is raised and pronounced as a diphthong (a two-part sound). This preserves the difference between words like cot and caught.
Examples: coffee → caw-uh-fee, soft → saw-uhft, caught → caw-uht.

Rule: The “th” sound (/θ/ and /ð/) at the beginning of a word is pronounced as a “t” or “d”.
Explanation: The tongue stops the air by touching the ridge behind the teeth, instead of letting air pass through.
Examples: this → dis, that → dat, three → tree.

Rule: The “t” sound, especially before an “n” sound in the middle of a word, is replaced by a glottal stop (the sound in “uh-oh”).
Explanation: The sound is made by closing the vocal cords, not with the tongue.
Examples: mountain → moun’in, button → buh’in, sentence -> sen’ence.

Rule: The “l” sound at the end of a word or before a consonant often becomes a vowel-like sound, similar to “o” or “w”.
Explanation: Instead of the tongue-tip touching the roof of the mouth, the back of the tongue is raised.
Examples: school → skew-oh, pool → pew-oh, towel → ta-oh.