Silent letters

English pronunciation and spelling are notoriously difficult, for native speakers, and especially for second language learners. This is due to the complex history of the language. English began as a form of Anglo-Saxon, or rather, a group of Old Germanic dialects spoken by the original Germanic invaders of England in the fifth century C.E. It was influenced by Dutch and Norse influences, due to invasion and its proximity to those languages. With the Norman conquest of England in 1066, a large infusion of Old French and Latin roots came into English. Each of these languages had its own spelling and pronunciation schemes, but nonetheless these linguistic influences blended into Middle English, and then Modern English. With the transition into modern English came the Great Vowel Shift, whereby the pronunciation of some English vowels underwent drastic changes. With the Modern English period, English became greatly influenced by Latin, modern French, and Greek. Some spelling patterns, for example, in French and Greek, are not pronunceable in English, so the original Greek or French spelling do not reflect modern English pronunciation. Hence, the spelling patterns of English are rather complex, and many so-called silent letters exist. Below is a breakdown of some common patterns, categorized roughly by the language influences.

1 Anglo-Saxon patterns

1.1 Final -e

In the fifteenth to seventeenth centuries, the English vowel system underwent drastic changes, known as the Great Vowel Shift. The vowel qualities, or pronunciation, of long vowels in stressed syllables underwent significant changes, so that the letters <a, e, i, o, u> are pronounced as they are in modern English, and quite differently from how these vowels are pronounced in other languages that use the Latin alphabet, such as Spanish, French, German, and others. For example, 'make' was originally pronounced like /makə/, but after the vowel shift, it is pronounced like /meik/. Then the final <e> or /ə/ was deleted from pronunciation, that is, it became silent. It has been retained in the spelling, because it indicates that the main vowel of the word in the stressed syllable is long, e.g., 'cute' = /kyu:t/ versus 'cut' /kət/. This holds true for words from Anglo-Saxon, and more common words from Latin, such as the following.

Silent final -e
abate abode accute awoke broke cake cite coke create cute date delete delete lute make placate rebuke recite rite rode stake strike stroke take

1.2 Silent <g>, <h>, and <k>

Several sound changes occurred in Old and Middle English involving the <g> and <k> in spelling. English used to have a velar fricative sound, the sound /x/ as in German ach or Scottish loch, but this disappeared from English. The spelling was often retained as <g> or <gh>, though the sound either became silent, or occasionally became an /f/ sound as in tough. Occasionally, a <g> was changed to <gh> in the spelling due to Dutch influences, and hence, a silent <h> in <gh> (there is also a silent <h> in some words of French origin, as discussed below).

Initial gh- = /g/	Silent -gh-	Silent final -gh
ghastly ghee gherkin ghetto ghost ghoul	alight alright aright aught beknight besought bethought blight bought bright brought caught delight distraught draught dreadnought drought eight fight flight forethought forthright fortnight fought fraught freight fright handwrought height highlight insight knight light lightweight methought midnight might mistaught misthought naught night nought onslaught ought outright overnight oversight overweighs overweight overweight overwrought playwright plight rebought resight right sight skintight sleight slight sought straight thought tight tonight twilight underweight unfought unsightly untaught upright uptight wainwright watertight weeknight weight welterweight wright wrought yesternight	although aweigh borough bough breakthrough dough furlough hiccough high inveigh neigh nigh outweigh plough sigh sleigh sourdough thigh thorough though through weigh yarborough

The <g> and <k> were also pronounced in combinations like <gn> and <kn>, much like they are pronunced in modern German. However, the initial <g> in <gn> and initial <k> in <kn> was dropped by English speakers, leading to the silent <g> and <k> in <gn> and <kn>.