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Consonant doubling in English is not completely irrational
CONSONANT-DOUBLING RULES IN ENGLISH
Knowing whether or not to double a consonant in a particular word is one of the more widespread of the numerous spelling problems posed by English. Although there is a simple rule that a consonant should not normally be doubled after a long vowel, there is no similar clarity concerning what to do after short vowels, which sometimes have a following double consonant and sometimes do not.
In this post, I hope to show that a number of useful rules, or at least guidelines, do actually exist concerning consonant doubling after short vowels. First I will show which vowels are long and which are short, and then I will present a list of the rules along with copious examples of relevant words, including as many as I can find that are commonly-misspelt.
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LONG AND SHORT VOWELS
The length of an English vowel is generally indicated more by its sound than its spelling, though spelling does give clues. Phoneticians note that the sound of “long” vowels can differ from that of “short” ones in different ways – in the time they take to say, for example, or the force of their enunciation, or in the part of the speech organs that they are made with. It is even noted that the same vowel can be long or short depending on which criterion it is recognised by.
However, the traditional classification, upon which English spellings tend to be based, is primarily as follows:
SHORT VOWELS
/æ/ as in had
/e/ as in head
/ɪ/ as in bid
/o/ as in dot
/ʌ/as in cut
/ʊ/ as in put or took
/ә/ as in the
LONG VOWELS
/eɪ/ as in save
/ɑ:/ as in harm
/i:/ as in see
/aɪ/ as in like
/әʊ/ as in hope
/ɔ:/ as in form
/ɔɪ:/ as in void
/u:/ as in proof
/з:/ as in serve or occur
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GUIDELINES ON CONSONANT DOUBLING AFTER A SHORT VOWEL
1. At the End of One-Syllable Words
There are a small number of particular consonant letters that usually need to be doubled when they end a one-syllable word straight after a short vowel. The main ones are:
FINAL “f”
miff, riff, sniff, stiff, tiff, off, quaff, bluff, huff, puff, stuff (also staff even though the vowel in some English varieties is long /ɑ:/)
EXCEPT: if, of (the “f” in of is actually pronounced /v/).
FINAL “l”
mall, bell, dell, hell, sell, shell, tell, bill, drill, fill, hill, mill, pill, still, till, doll, poll, roll, cull, dull, hull, mull, full, pull (also ball, call, fall, gall, hall, pall, squall, tall and wall even though the vowel is long /ɔ:/; and install, recall despite a long vowel and two syllables).
EXCEPT: col, pal.
FINAL “s”
ass, mass, less, mess, press, stress, hiss, kiss, miss, boss, cross, loss, moss, toss, fuss (also brass, glass, grass and pass even though the vowel in some English varieties is long /ɑ:/)
EXCEPT: this, bus, pus and “s” pronounced /z/ (as, is, has, his, does).
Exceptional doubling at the end of multi-syllable words is necessary in compass, digress, distress and mattress, as well as words with the -less and -ess suffixes. Examples of the former are faultless, harmless, reckless (for an extensive list, see 106. Word-like Suffixes). The latter is the female-denoting use in words like hostess. It is often dropped today for gender-equality reasons. It is sometimes pronounced with /e/ (as in hostess) but mostly with/ә/ (e.g. in actress, mistress, seamstress, waitress).
FINAL “z”
jazz, fizz, buzz
EXCEPT: whiz, fez
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Single-syllable words ending in a different double consonant from the above include ebb, add, odd, egg and inn.
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2. Before Most Grammatical Endings
This guideline is especially likely to be described in English coursebooks. It applies to consonants immediately before the grammatical suffixes -ing, -ed, -er and -est. For doubling to be necessary, the consonant must be unaccompanied by others and located after a short vowel (except /ә/). Examples of words that meet this requirement are dam (damming), beg (begging), begin (beginning), stop (stopping) and rub (rubbing).
Words whose final consonant cannot be doubled before a grammatical ending are of various types. In some, the preceding vowel is long, e.g. hope (hoping), beat (beating) and like (liking). In others, there are two or more consonant letters after the vowel, as in hang, link, dock, cough and rust. A few exceptional spellings meet both of the main requirements but still rule out doubling. One is the letter “x” (fixing). Another is short vowels spelt like a long one, as in come, have, live, promise and head. The long-vowel spelling in the first four is the silent “e” at the end; that in the last is “ea” instead of just “e” (see 29. Illogical Vowel Spellings).
Words with no doubling because they have /ә/ before their final consonant are illustrated by gallop, matter and lessen. Note, though, that in British English a final /l/ after /ә/, as in signal and travel, does usually need doubling.There are also some words where doubling is unexpectedly necessary. Most have long /з:/ or /ɑ:/ before a final /r/, as in occur (occurring), refer (referring), stir (stirring), bar (barring), mar (marring) and star (starring). Incorrect spelling of some of these is common (see 188. Causes of Common Spelling Mistakes, #4).
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3. With some Other Word Additions
Both the start and the end of a word can be expanded with non-grammatical additions, most of which create a different word with its own dictionary listing. A double consonant will be created if both the word and the added part contain the same letter and the two occurrences are next to each other. For example, adding -ness to stubborn creates a double “n” (stubbornness). Other examples are disseminate, ennoble, hopefully and unnecessary.
In some cases, the last letter of a prefix (an addition at the start) is changed to match the first letter of the main word. For example, in- (= “not”) + logical creates illogical (see 146. Some Important Prefix Types).
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4. In Words of Latin or Greek Origin
The double consonants in accommodation can be explained by reference to Latin, the ancient language from which the word is derived. There, -mod- carries the core meaning, while ac- and -com- refine it. Placing ac- before -com- creates the double “cc”; placing -com-before -mod creates the double “mm”. Ac- is actually a modification of ad, a Latin preposition, made because “d” is difficult to say before “c”. For a fuller explanation and numerous further examples, see 45. Latin Clues to English Spelling.
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5. In Words Recently Borrowed from Other Languages
Apart from Latin, English has borrowed words containing a doubled consonant from numerous other languages which commonly use doubled consonants. With the majority, remembering the spelling is better than trying to find a rule. Examples are abbey (French), alligator (Spanish), coffee (Arabic via Dutch), delicatessen (German), embarrass (French), guerrilla (Spanish), hippo (Greek), juggernaut (Hindi/Urdu), spaghetti (Italian), staccato (Italian), symmetry (Greek) and zeppelin (German).
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6. In the Middle of some Other Words
There are some combinations of surrounding letters that require a single consonant sound to be spelt with a doubled rather than lone consonant letter, especially in two-syllable words:
BETWEEN A SHORT VOWEL AND “-y”
canny, carry, craggy, happy, carry, jazzy, petty, pretty, hilly, silly, bitty, folly, holly, poppy, soppy, chubby
EXCEPT pity, city
The /k/ sound is unlikely to be spelt with a double consonant in this situation, the usual preference being for “ck” (cocky, lucky, sticky etc.). The doubled consonant is likely to be kept in words derived from the spellings above, such as carriage and silliness.
BETWEEN A SHORT VOWEL AND “-le”
apple, baffle, battle, cattle, haggle, paddle, rabble, kettle, meddle, peddle, mettle, nettle, settle, brittle, giggle, little, boggle, bottle, toggle, bubble, cuddle, huddle, muddle, rubble, supple
EXCEPT couple, double, trouble, treble, triple, bicycle
Again, the /k/ sound is normally spelt with “ck” (tackle, fickle, trickle), though bicycle is an exception. It is interesting to observe that changing the spelling of “-le” to “-el” or “-al” is likely to cancel the requirement for a double consonant – cf. medal, metal, model, rebel (noun).
BETWEEN A SHORT VOWEL AND “-ow”
Both pronunciations of “-ow” (cp. low, cow) follow this rule:
allow, arrow, callow, bellow, fellow, mellow, billow, minnow, pillow, borrow, follow, wallow, burrow
EXCEPT avow, below, widow
BETWEEN A SHORT VOWEL AND /ә/
matter, pallor, letter, cellar, bitter, pillar, skipper, collar, dollar, butter, mutter, shutter, udder
EXCEPT colour, feta, phenomena, rigour
Note, finally, that the categories listed above are probably not the complete set – words outside them, such as terrify, are quite easily found. It should not be forgotten also that the word lists are illustrative rather than exhaustive.
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