[ʌ]→[ɛ]Certainty: 4/5Commonality: 4/5

Open-mid back unrounded vowel to Open-mid front unrounded vowel

The shift from [ʌ] to the open-mid front vowel [ɛ] is a key feature of several modern English chain shifts. As front vowels like [ɛ] and [æ] lower or back, the STRUT vowel [ʌ] is pulled forward into the vacated space.

Phonetic Effects

Fronting, Raising, Chain Shift

Language Examples

California English Germanic

fun [fʌn]→[fɛn]— STRUT fronting toward [ɛ] is noted by Eckert but lacks robust quantitative attestation in the CVS literature.

Australian/New Zealand English Germanic

hut [hʌt]→[hɛt] / [hɐt]— STRUT vowel fronts in these dialects; NZ realization tends toward [ɵ] or [ɜ] rather than [ɛ] precisely.

Related Transformations

Reverse

More Raising Shifts

[ã] → [õ] — Raising [a] → [ã] — Assimilatory Nasalization [a] → [∅] — Elision [a] → [ʔ] — Glottalization [a] → [ə] — Vowel Reduction

Sources & References

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