of different pronunciations in Modern English, depending on the phonological context. The short , for example, has split into seven different vowels, all still spelled but pronounced differently: when not in any of the contexts indicated below, as in man, sack, wax, etc. A vowel pronounced in General American (GA) and in Received Pronunciation (RP) when preceded by and not followed by the velar consonants , as in swan, wash, wallow, etc. (General American is the standard pronunciation in the U.S. and Received Pronunciation is the most prestigious pronunciation in Britain. In both cases, these are the pronunciations typically found in news broadcasts and among the middle and upper classes.) (GA) or (RP) when followed by a written , as in hard, car, etc. (This does not include words like care, where the was pronounced as long in Middle English.) But (GA) or (RP) when both preceded by and followed by written , as in war, swarm, etc. when followed by an plus either a consonant or the end of a word, as in small, walk, etc. (In the case of walk, talk, chalk, etc. the has dropped out, but this is not indicated here. Words like rally, shallow and swallow are not covered here because the is followed by a vowel; instead, earlier rules apply. Nor are words like male covered, which had long in Middle English.) when followed by , as in palm, calm, etc. (The has dropped out in pronunciation.) In RP only, the pronunciation is often found when followed by an unvoiced fricative, i.e. , or (but not ), as in glass, after, path, etc. This does not apply to GA and also unpredictably does not affect a number of words of the same form, e.g. crass, math, etc. Diphthongs This table describes the main developments of Middle English diphthongs, starting with the Old English sound sequences that produced them (sequences of vowels and g, h or ƿ'') and ending with their Modern English equivalents. Many special cases have been ignored. Development of Old English vowels See also English language History of the English language English phonology Phonological history of English consonants Phonological history of English consonant clusters Phonological history of English vowels Phonological history of English short A Phonological history of English low back vowels Phonological history of English high back vowels Phonological history of English high front vowels English-language vowel changes before historic /r/