Editing English language (section)

=== Regional variation ===
{| class="wikitable mw-collapsible"
|+ class="nowrap" | Varieties of Standard English and their features{{sfn|Trudgill|Hannah|2002|pp=4–6}}
! Phonological<br/>features !! [[American English|United<br/>States]] !! [[Canadian English|Canada]] !! [[Hiberno-English|Republic<br/>of Ireland]] !! [[Ulster English|Northern<br/>Ireland]] !! [[Scottish English|Scotland]] !! [[English language in England|England]] !! [[Welsh English|Wales]] !! [[South African English|South<br/>Africa]] !! [[Australian English|Australia]] !! [[New Zealand English|New<br/>Zealand]]
|-
! [[father-bother merger|''father''–''bother'' merger]]
| yes || yes || style="background:lightgrey;"| || style="background:lightgrey;"| || style="background:lightgrey;"| || style="background:lightgrey;"| || style="background:lightgrey;"| || style="background:lightgrey;"| || style="background:lightgrey;"| || style="background:lightgrey;"|
|-
! {{IPAc-en|ɒ}} is [[unrounded]]
| yes || yes || yes || style="background:lightgrey;"| || style="background:lightgrey;"| || style="background:lightgrey;"| || style="background:lightgrey;"| || style="background:lightgrey;"| || style="background:lightgrey;"| || style="background:lightgrey;"|
|-
! {{IPAc-en|ɜr}} is pronounced {{IPA|[ɚ]}}
| yes || yes || yes || yes || style="background:lightgrey;"| || style="background:lightgrey;"| || style="background:lightgrey;"| || style="background:lightgrey;"| || style="background:lightgrey;"| || style="background:lightgrey;"|
|-
! [[cot-caught merger|''cot''–''caught'' merger]]
| possibly || yes || possibly || yes || yes || style="background:lightgrey;"| || style="background:lightgrey;"| || style="background:lightgrey;"| || style="background:lightgrey;"| || style="background:lightgrey;"|
|-
! [[Full–fool merger|''fool''–''full'' merger]]
| style="background:lightgrey;"| || style="background:lightgrey;"| || style="background:lightgrey;"| || yes || yes || style="background:lightgrey;"| || style="background:lightgrey;"| || style="background:lightgrey;"| || style="background:lightgrey;"| || style="background:lightgrey;"|
|-
! {{IPAc-en|t|,_|d}} [[flapping]]
| yes || yes || possibly || often || rarely || rarely || rarely || rarely || yes || often
|-
! [[trap-bath split|''trap''–''bath'' split]]
| style="background:lightgrey;"| || style="background:lightgrey;"| || possibly || possibly || style="background:lightgrey;"| || often || yes || yes || often || yes
|-
! [[rhoticity in English|non-rhotic]] ({{IPAc-en|r}}-dropping after vowels)
| style="background:lightgrey;"| || style="background:lightgrey;"| || style="background:lightgrey;"| || style="background:lightgrey;"| || style="background:lightgrey;"| || yes || yes || yes || yes || yes
|-
! close vowels for {{IPA|/æ, ɛ/}}
| style="background:lightgrey;"| || style="background:lightgrey;"| || style="background:lightgrey;"| || style="background:lightgrey;"| || style="background:lightgrey;"| || style="background:lightgrey;"| || style="background:lightgrey;"| || yes || yes || yes
|-
! {{IPAc-en|l}} can always be pronounced {{IPA|[ɫ]}}
| yes || yes || style="background:lightgrey;"| || yes || yes || style="background:lightgrey;"| || style="background:lightgrey;"| || style="background:lightgrey;"| || yes || yes
|-
! {{IPA|/ɑːr/}} is [[fronted (phonetics)|fronted]]
| style="background:lightgrey;"| || possibly || possibly || style="background:lightgrey;"| || style="background:lightgrey;"| || style="background:lightgrey;"| || style="background:lightgrey;"| || style="background:lightgrey;"| || yes || yes
|}
{|class="wikitable floatright"
|+ Dialects and low vowels
! [[Lexical set]] !! RP || GA !! Can !! Sound change
|-
! {{sc2|THOUGHT}}
| {{IPA|/ɔː/}} || rowspan="2" | {{IPA|/ɔ/}} or {{IPA|/ɑ/}} || rowspan="4" | {{IPA|/ɑ/}} || [[Cot–caught merger|''cot''–''caught'' merger]]
|-
! {{sc2|CLOTH}}
| rowspan="2" | {{IPA|/ɒ/}} || [[Lot–cloth split|''lot''–''cloth'' split]]
|-
! {{sc2|LOT}}
| rowspan="2" | {{IPA|/ɑ/}} || rowspan="2" | [[Father–bother merger|''father''–''bother'' merger]]
|-
! {{sc2|PALM}}
| rowspan="2" | {{IPA|/ɑː/}}
|-
! {{sc2|BATH}}
| rowspan="2" | {{IPA|/æ/}} || rowspan="2" | {{IPA|/æ/}} || rowspan="2" | [[Trap–bath split|''trap''–''bath'' split]]
|-
! {{sc2|TRAP}}
| {{IPA|/æ/}}
|}
Varieties of English vary the most in pronunciation of vowels. The best known national varieties used as standards for education in non-English-speaking countries are British (BrE) and American (AmE). Countries such as [[Canadian English|Canada]], [[Australian English|Australia]], [[Hiberno English|Ireland]], [[New Zealand English|New Zealand]] and [[South African English|South Africa]] have their own standard varieties which are less often used as standards for education internationally. Some differences between the various dialects are shown in the table "Varieties of Standard English and their features".{{sfn|Trudgill|Hannah|2002|pp=4–6}}

English has undergone many [[Phonological history of English|historical sound changes]], some of them affecting all varieties, and others affecting only a few. Most standard varieties are affected by the [[Great Vowel Shift]], which changed the pronunciation of long vowels, but a few dialects have slightly different results. In North America, a number of chain shifts such as the [[Northern Cities Vowel Shift]] and [[Canadian Shift]] have produced very different vowel landscapes in some regional accents.{{sfnm|Lass|1992|1pp=90,118,610|Lass|2000|2pp=80,656}}

Some dialects have fewer or more consonant phonemes and [[phone (phonetics)|phones]] than the standard varieties. Some conservative varieties like Scottish English have a [[voicelessness|voiceless]] {{IPAblink|ʍ}} sound in ''whine'' that contrasts with the voiced {{IPA|[w]}} in ''wine'', but most other dialects pronounce both words with voiced {{IPA|[w]}}, a dialect feature called [[wine–whine merger|''wine''–''whine'' merger]]. The unvoiced velar fricative sound {{IPA|/x/}} is found in Scottish English, which distinguishes ''loch'' {{IPA|/lɔx/}} from ''lock'' {{IPA|/lɔk/}}. Accents like [[Cockney]] with "''h''-dropping" lack the glottal fricative {{IPA|/h/}}, and dialects with [[th-stopping|''th''-stopping]] and [[th-fronting|''th''-fronting]] like [[African American Vernacular English|African American Vernacular]] and [[Estuary English]] do not have the dental fricatives {{IPA|/θ, ð/}}, but replace them with dental or alveolar stops {{IPA|/t, d/}} or labiodental fricatives {{IPA|/f, v/}}.{{sfn|Roach|2009|p=53}}{{sfn|Giegerich|1992|page=36}} Other changes affecting the phonology of local varieties are processes such as [[Yod-dropping|''yod''-dropping]], [[yod-coalescence|''yod''-coalescence]], and reduction of consonant clusters.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Wells |first1=John |title=Accents of English |date=1982 |isbn=0-521-28540-2}}</ref>

[[General American]] and [[Received Pronunciation]] vary in their pronunciation of historical {{IPA|/r/}} after a vowel at the end of a syllable (in the [[syllable coda]]). GA is a [[rhotic and non-rhotic accents|rhotic dialect]], meaning that it pronounces {{IPA|/r/}} at the end of a syllable, but RP is non-rhotic, meaning that it loses {{IPA|/r/}} in that position. English dialects are classified as rhotic or non-rhotic depending on whether they elide {{IPA|/r/}} like RP or keep it like GA.{{sfn|Lass|2000|p=114}}

There is complex dialectal variation in words with the [[Phonological history of English short A|open front]] and [[Phonological history of English low back vowels|open back vowels]] {{IPA|/æ ɑː ɒ ɔː/}}. These four vowels are only distinguished in RP, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. In GA, these vowels merge to three {{IPA|/æ ɑ ɔ/}},{{sfn|Wells|1982|pages=xviii–xix}} and in Canadian English, they merge to two {{IPA|/æ ɑ/}}.{{sfn|Wells|1982|page=493}} In addition, the words that have each vowel vary by dialect. The table "Dialects and open vowels" shows this variation with [[lexical set]]s in which these sounds occur.