From: G&P
Message: 66795
Date: 2010-10-24
>Is this English 3-way
development of OE *o: before /d/ possibly due to the preceding consonant? I.e.
after a labial it becomes /u:/ (<mood>, <food>), after /l/ it
becomes /V/ (<blood>, <flood>), and after other consonants before
/d/ it becomes /U/ (<good>, <hood>)?
I don’t know about that, but we were taught that the difference between putt and put was a case of splitting, initially triggered by a previous labial, but then spreading to other contexts, and finally back to the context of a preceding labial.
Peter