for this study can be seen in the case of letter silencing Fromkin, Blair, and Collins, 2000: 504. That is, the letters which ones in the spelling but are not
always pronounced. The examples are observed in the words such as listen, debt, gnome, know, psychology, mnemonic, bomb,
and pneumonia.
Thus, there were also cases where the spelling and the pronunciation just remained as they were adopted from the origin. In this sense, it can be argued that
there were some words that undertake deletion, and some other which were not. For example, we might suspect that the words such as fumbler and slumber as
silent b, the words istle, listen, and pintle as silent t, or the words Knesset,
Knieval, knives,
and Knopf as silent k but in fact they are not. In this case, the b,
t, and k remain pronounced.
c. Sound Change
Sound change can be indicated as the development of certain sounds or phonemes. In this sense, the change does not happen irregularly. Instead, there is
usually a particular relationship between sound units to the function system so that the sound change happens for certain phonemes. Basically, though there may be
significant qualitative change, the number and the pattern of the terms within the system may remain stable. For example, the ME i
ː for the present change to aɪ still has the phonemic opposition that distinct such words as time, team, tame,
term, tomb, and the like Gimson, 1962: 69.
However, there is also a case when the system may change because of a sound, then, it may receive a new phonemic value. Gimson gives an example on
the sound [ ŋ] in the past that had always existed in English as a realization of n
that was followed by the velars k or g. Nevertheless, when the final g in the
word like sing was no longer uttered, the phoneme ŋ is now contrasted
considerably with the phonemes n and m i.e. nasal stops with contrastive features in terms of place of articulation.
At this point, the phenomenon of deletion is included in the instance of sound change. It can be noted particular double or long consonant within words
i.e. consonant clusters were lost in the late ME like hl, hr, hn and in the EModE period like the cluster wr and the case of stop deletion for the clusters kn and
gn as in the words gnome and knight Gimson, 1962: 81. It causes the modifications in the English system in terms of pronunciation to the present
English that we heard nowadays.
d. General Agreement
The general agreement that is observed for this study is in terms of two states. The first is related to the fixation of the language as the conventions
contributed by the language experts and second has to do with the correspondence of the society to be in contact with English. By the first case, the general
agreement is made by the linguists or scholars. In this extent, the impact of the agreement made by the language experts on English is the standardized
orthography spelling conventions that makes English has reformed and established its form in terms of spellings and pronunciations.
By the time of Early Modern English 1500 to 1650 or the so-called English Renaissance, there was a fast increase of education, an easing in the class
construction of society weakening of class distinction, the acquaintanceship of printing, and the enhancing belief that the improvement of the language could and
should be controlled. This occurrence caused a new virtue of language that the
language development resulted in the modification by the efforts at noticing direction Myers in Markman and Steinberg, 1970: 219-220. This means that
there were so many changes made at that time as a consideration of language as a significant element in showing identity. Throughout this period, the substantial
changes were made in inflections, pronunciation, and the massive input of vocabulary. There was also a notable development called the borderline between
grammar and rhetoric. In this line, it was not that simple to decide how far changes could have the attribute to English language. That is, the problem of
pronunciation, vocabulary, and inflections were in line with the potentiality among people to administer the changes. Likewise, the ongoing emergence of the
poor system in spelling at that time also influenced the unsatisfied pronunciation that inevitably happens nowadays. It changed the pronunciation as it had an
intense and centripetal effect to the language. Consequently, there are so many words that are different from their written form compared to the real form and
their pronunciation. In terms of the emergence of spelling conventions, the printed materials and
dictionaries were the vital media in spreading and notifying the spelling authorization to public. There are some prominent figures in this period. They are
William Caxton printing press, 1476, Thomas Wilson Arte of Rhetorique, 1553, Sir John Cheke 1557, Thomas Smith Dialogue concerning the Correct
and Emended Writing of the English Language , 1568, John Hart An
Orthographie, 1569, William Bullokar Booke at Large, for the Amendment of
Orthographie for English Speech , 1580, Richard Mulcaster Elementarie, 1582,
John Chamberlain, Robert Greene, and Charles Butler The English Grammar, or
The Institution of Letters, Syllables, and Woords in the English Tung, 1634. All
these figures have a very significant notion to the spelling reform as its relation to the distinctive pronunciations that occur nowadays. This also corresponds to the
spelling conventions of English as made by the language experts to make the language become more standardized and authorized.
Meanwhile, the second case is the general agreement made by the society. This case relates to the first case as the spellings and pronunciations become
spreading and varied in society. Specifically, this matter bears the variation of some spelling as well as the pronunciation throughout English speaking area. The
obvious evidence is on the different standard variation of English as in British English, American English General American, Australian English, African
American English, Irish English, and Canadian English. To be exact, this state brings an impact on the variety dependent type of deletion. It is the disperse
vernacular dialect that is performed by particular society. In this sense, different area of English might be influenced by certain form of spelling, pronunciation or
even vocabulary and grammatical patterns that creates different variety of English. In relation to history of English, there was one variety of Old English in the
Anglo Saxon period namely Last West Saxon. In the shift from OE to ME due to lost of prestige, there was the renewal and reinforcement of Latin learning
throughout Europe and the coming of a novel French-speaking aristocracy in England. That is, English became a degraded vernacular, without any national
status Smith, 1996: 66-67. This occurrence signified the marked dialect diversity in the written form as Latin and French took in charge of English. However, the
situation quite changed at the end of the Middle Ages since the role of the
vernacular increased in prestige. Accordingly, English arose to develop new varieties. The first base was on London usage then termed as ‘standard’ by
modern scholars. Then, there began some other variety dialects of English. As spoken Received Pronunciation serves as present-day British English, there came
the other dialects of English right through English speaking countries. In this sense, it can be stated that English variety emerges through the
discrepancy from the previous-forebear language and through the interaction with the other variety of vernacular languages. Thenceforward, this occurrence has an
impact on differences, changes, insertions, or modification of English in different areas of speakers or society. In line with this study, the difference in dialect that is
observed from the Longman Pronunciation Dictionary LPD is the distinctive dialect of stop deletion between British English and American English that has
been discussed in previous section Variety Dependent Deletion.
2. Economical Factor
