| History and description of |
| English pronunciation |
|---|
| Historical stages |
| General development |
| Development of vowels |
| Development of consonants |
| Variable features |
| Related topics |
In English, many vowel shifts affect only vowels followed by /r/ in rhotic dialects, or vowels that were historically followed by /r/ that has been elided in non-rhotic dialects. Most of them involve the merging of vowel distinctions, so fewer vowel phonemes occur before /r/ than in other positions of a word.