Digression: When do you not spell final /əl/

as <-le>?

Strictly speaking this section does not belong in a chapter on doubled and single consonant spellings (logically it belongs under /ə/ in section 5.4.7), but its relevance will become apparent at the end of this section; and it arises pretty directly out of the last paragraph in the previous section, where spellings of word-final /əl/ other than <-le> are mentioned.

Three categories where final /əl/ is not spelt <-le> have already been mentioned:

• The words listed at the end of section 4.3.3 where the preceding consonant is spelt double even though the final /əl/ is not spelt <-le>

• Words with the ‘short vowel + single consonant phoneme + /əl/ˈ pattern in which the consonant phoneme is /m, n, r/. These are almost all spelt with <-el> even though the consonant is spelt double:

pommel, pummel, trammel; channel, flannel, fennel, kennel, funnel, runnel, tunnel; barrel, quarrel, sorrel, squirrel. Exception: mammal

• Words where the medial consonant is /v/ (this list expands on those above): anvil, approval and several other nouns ending in /uːvəl/

spelt <-oval>,(ar)rival and many other nouns and adjectives ending in /aɪvəl/ spelt <-ival>, bevel, carnival, carvel, cavil, chervil, civil, coeval and various other words ending in <-eval>, devil, dishevel, drivel, estival, evil, festival, frivol, gavel, gingival, gravel, grovel, hovel, interval, larval, level, marvel, naval, navel, novel, oval, (un)ravel, retrieval, revel, serval, shovel, shrivel, snivel, swivel, travel, upheaval, valval, weevil.

This list of words with medial /v/ illustrates very clearly most of the range of other spellings for final /əl/: <-al, -el, -il, -ol>. (The only ones not illustrated are <-ul, -yl>, which are very rare and do not occur with medial /v/.) But it also raises the question: can any rules be given for when to use

each of these six possible spellings of final /əl/ other than <-le>?

(Here I ignore the words where final /əl/ is spelt <l>, since there are only three words in this set: axolotl, dirndl, shtetl).

Carney (1994: 346) points out that the following three categories mainly have <-al>:

• nouns formed from verbs: appraisal, approval, arousal, avowal, betrothal, dispersal, disposal, espousal, perusal, proposal, recital, refusal, renewal, reversal, withdrawal

• adjectives formed from nouns: basal, bridal, brutal, causal, central, colloidal, digital, fatal, formal, fugal, homicidal, modal, orbital, oriental, primal, spinal, spiral, thermal, tidal, tonal, triumphal, universal

• adjectives based on bound forms: conjugal, dental, final, frugal, fungal, glottal, legal, marital, mental, municipal, mural, natal, nominal, ordinal, papal, principal, regal, renal, skeletal, vital.

He also points out that words ending in /əkəl, ɪkəl/ may be spelt <-acle, -icle, -ical> – for all of these see section 4.4.6.

Beyond this the contexts become so specific and any ‘rules’ so complicated that it seems simpler to give lists:

• words ending in <-al>: admiral, animal, arsenal, cannibal, caracal, coral, crystal, cymbal, dental, dismal, floral, gimbal, hospital, hymnal, (im)partial, initial, jackal, journal, legal, lethal, local, madrigal, mammal, marshal, martial, medal (cf. meddle), memorial, metal (cf. mettle), missal, narwhal, nuptial, offal, opal, parental, pedal (cf.

peddle), petal, plural, rascal, sacral, sandal, scandal, sepal, several, signal, sisal, spatial, substantial, total, vandal, vassal, ventral, vocal

• words ending in <-el>: angel, apparel, babel, betel, bezel, brothel, bushel, calomel, camel, cancel, caramel, carpel, chancel, chapel, charnel, chisel, cockerel, colonel, corbel, counsel, damsel, diesel, doggerel, easel, enamel, evangel, gospel, grapnel, hazel, hostel, kernel, label, laurel, libel, lintel, mackerel, mantel, minstrel, model, mongrel, morsel, nickel, panel, parcel, pastel, petrel, rebel (noun and verb), scalpel, scoundrel, sentinel, shekel, shrapnel, snorkel, sorrel, spandrel, timbrel, tinsel, wastrel, weasel, yodel, yokel

• words ending in <-il>: April, basil, council, fossil, gerbil, lentil, nostril, pencil, pupil, stencil, tonsil

• words ending in <-ol>: carol, gambol, idol, Mongol, petrol, symbol

• words ending in <-ul>: consul, mogul

• words ending in <-yl>: beryl,(ptero)dactyl, sibyl.

Some of the words listed in this section ending in <-il, -yl> may be pronounced with /ɪl/ rather than /əl/, but very few have this pronunciation consistently.

Reflecting on my own accent I think I have /ɪl/ only in anvil, gerbil, nostril and (ptero)dactyl; also in idyll and the few compound words ending in -phyll.

How do you know when to write a consonant letter double? 127 Why is there such a contrast in the spellings of final /əl/ between those with <-le> and those with <a, e, i, o, u, y> followed by <l>? I think the prime reason for this variation is whether the stem word, when suffixed with an ending which begins with a vowel phoneme and adds a syllable, retains a schwa vowel before the /l/ or not: where /ə/ is not retained, the spelling is <-le>, otherwise one of the other possibilities. Consider Table 4.4, which is certainly not definitive and where <l>-doubling (in British spelling) is ignored, but to which I have yet to find any exceptions.

TABLE 4.4: SOME CASES WHERE STEM WORDS ENDING IN /əl/ DO OR DO NOT RETAIN /ə/ BEFORE A SUFFIX BEGINNING WITH A VOWEL PHONEME with /ə/ when suffixed – none spelt

with <-le> before suffixation

without /ə/ when suffixed - all spelt with <-le> before suffixation

cannibalism, hospitalise, journalese, mammalian, medallion, metallic, pedalling, rascally, scandalous, signalling, vandalism;

angelic, cancelling, caramelise, channelling, chiselling, cudgelling, evangelise, flannelling, pummelling, quarrelling, rebellion, squirrelling, tunnelling, yodelling;

councillor, fossilise, pupillage; carolling, gambolling, idolatry, symbolism;

consulate;

beryllium, sibylline

angling, assemblage, babbling, baffling, beagling, bottling, bristling, burglar, chaplain, chortling, coddling, crackling, cuddling, doubly, drizzling, dwindling, embezzler, fiddling, gambling, heckler, jangling, jostling, meddling, muddler, muffler, multiply (verb or adverb), nestling, niggling, peddling, rattling, rippling, rustling, saddler, smuggler, startling, straggler, tattler, trickling, trifling, visibly, whistling, wrestling

A tiny piece of evidence in favour of my theory might be this. Consider the words gambol, gamble; pedal, peddle. As stem words these form two pairs of homophones pronounced /ˈgæmbəl, ˈpedəl/, but when suffixed with /ɪŋ/

they become (in my accent) two minimal pairs:

gambolling /ˈgæmbəlɪŋ/ v. /ˈgæmblɪŋ/ gambling pedalling /ˈpedəlɪŋ/ v. /ˈpedlɪŋ/ peddling

and the schwa is elided (see section 6.10) only in the words which have final /əl/ spelt <-le> - or, to put this more phonologically, the <-le> spelling

occurs only where the schwa is elided.

4.4.4 When do you not write doublable consonant