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I seem to be confused about the rules for near rhymes. Specifically are 'slate' and 'pursuit' near rhymes? They seem to me to be so (the vowel sound is different) yet all the references I've checked don't crosslink the two.

Walser
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  • The rules are really descriptions of rhyming words used in poetry. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhyme – Xanne Jun 19 '20 at 08:52
  • They're not close enough to ordinarily be considered to be near rhymes. – auspicious99 Jun 19 '20 at 08:56
  • Why would you consider "slate" and "pursuit" to be near rhymes? – Isabel Archer Jun 21 '20 at 12:30
  • @Isabel Archer. As I understand it, for near rhymes it's the the vowel or the consonant sound that is different. So notice that 'pursuit' and 'untrue' are near rhymes because the vowel is the same. Here the consonant is the same but the vowel is different.

    Similarly I would consider 'slate' and 'spat' to be near ryhmes but rhymezone doesn't list them as such. Question then is: Is rhymezone a reliable source.

     – Walser Jun 22 '20 at 05:26

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Even though the consonant sounds are the same, the vowel sounds are quite different. The vowel sound in "slate" is a rising diphthong, while the vowel sound in pursuit is a falling diphthong. A smaller difference in sound would be needed to class them as near rhymes.

Peter
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  • Is there a source for the rhyme rules for rising and falling diphthongs? I would also have considered 'slate' and 'spat' to be near rhyme. But I suppose they aren't. – Walser Jun 22 '20 at 05:31
  • @Walser, there is some interesting content in Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhyme . Another consideration is variant pronunciations, where a rhyme might work in some English dialects but not others. – Peter Jun 23 '20 at 10:32