#  -ough words Second Group 

 



 The second group of *-ough* words begins with a Middle English diphthong:

Sort    Middle English sound

 

  ME spelling

 

  ModE spelling

 

  ModE sound

 

    \[ɔʊx\]

 

  boughte  
ought

 dough  
though

 cough  
trough

 

  bought  
ought

 

  \[ɔ\]

 

    dough  
though

 

  \[o\]

 

    cough  
trough

 

  \[ɔf\] or  
\[ɑf\]

 

 



 In the case of *bought* and *ought*, the original Old English monophthong vowels had become, in Middle English, the diphthong \[ɔʊ\] under the influence of the fricative \[x\], which was subsequently lost. \[x\] is a voiceless velar fricative, heard for example in the Scots dialectal pronunciation of the word *loch*. *Dough* and *though* followed a similar path from Old English, though in these instances the Middle English diphthong later reverted to a monophthong and was lengthened; hence it became available for raising during the Tudor Vowel Shift.

 With examples like *cough* and *trough* the fricative changed to \[f\], and the diphthong became a monophthong without lengthening.