There were the following changes in consonants in Old English.

PALATALIZATION

Germanic [k] next to a front vowel was palatalized to [č] - [ʧ],:

cirice ("church"),ceaster ("castle")

ceap ("cheap"), cild ("child")

Germanic [sk] was palatalized to [š] ]- [ʃ], in all situations:

fisc ("fish"), sceotan ("to shoot")

scearp ("sharp"), scield ("shield")

wascan ("wash")

Germanic [g] in medial or final position was palatalized to [ ǰ ]- [ʤ]:

brycg ("bridge") [ʤ]

ASSIMSLATION BEFORE T

The sound t when it was preceded by a number of consonants changed the quality of a preceding sound.

Velar+t >ht sēcan- sōcte-sōhte (seek-sought)

LOSS OF CONSONANTS IN CERTAIN POSITIONS

h that was lost in intervocal position, the sounds n and m were lost before h, entailing the lengthening of the preceding vowel.

Bro n hter – brōhter (brought), fi m f- fif (five)

METATHESIS OF R

In several OE words the following change of the position of consonants takes place

cons+r+vowel > cons+vowel+r

ðridda- ðirda (third)

GEMINATION – Lengthening or doubling of consonants in certain positions mostly before [j], [l], [r]

fulian – fyllan(fill), tallian – tellan (tell), salian – sellan (sell)

CONTRACTION

The consonant h proved to have interfered with the development of many sounds. When h was placed between two vowels the following changes occurred.

a _{+ h+} vowel > ēa slahan – slēan (slay),e _{+ h+} vowel > ēo sehen-sēon (see)

i _{+ h+} vowel > ēo tihan- tēon (accuse), o _{+ h+} vowel > ō fohan-fōn (catch)

 

 

 

Lecture 4

PHONOLOGICAL HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH VOCABULARY

Middle English Phonological System

Modern (New) English Phonological System

Plan

Middle English Phonological System.

1.1. Middle English Vowel System;

1.2. Middle English Consonant System.

Modern (New) English Phonological System.

2.1. Modern (New) English Vowel System.

2.1. Modern (New) English Consonant System.

References:

Obligatory:

3. Верба Л.Г. Історія англійської мови. Посібник для студентів та викладачів вищих навчальних закладів. –Вінниця: НОВА КНИГА, 2006.– на англ. мові, С. 164 –168.

4. Расторгуева Т.А. История английского языка: Учебник/ Т.А. Расторгуева. – 2-е изд. стер. – М: ООО «Издательство Астрель»: ООО «Издательство АСТ», 2003. [4 ] с. – на англ. яз, С. 188 –218.

Additional:

3. Бабенко О.В. Курс лекцій з історії англійської мови. Навчальний посібник для студентів зі спеціальності 6.020303 "Філологія (Переклад)", Частина 1: Вид-но НУБіП, 2011.– на англ. мові, С. 82 –91.

Internet resources: http://homes.chass.utoronto.ca/~cpercy/courses/EModEPhonology.htmhttp://www.elloandfriends.uniosnabrueck.de/wikis/1/show/Sociolinguistics/EarlyModernEnglish.

 

OUTLINE

MIDDLE ENGLISH PHONOLOGICAL SYSTEM

Middle English Vowel System

For various reasons nobody knows what the primary and what the secondary reason of the most fundamental changes in Middle English phonology. The following features were typical of that period:

1. Some processes which began in Old English were completed in Middle English. (formation of new sounds [ʧ] [ʃ], [ʤ]),

2. Pendulum-like movements of sounds (Germanic ɑ Old English æ Middle English ɑ).

3. Middle English had a number of French unassimilated sounds.

Picture 4

· Vowels in Middle English were, overall, similar to those of Old English.

· Except for the loss of OE y and æ so that y was unrounded to [I] and [æ] raised toward [ɛ] or lowered toward [ɑ].

· Addition of new phonemic sound (mid central vowel), represented in linguistics by the symbol called schwa: [ə], the schwa sound occurs in unstressed syllables and its appearance is related to the ultimate loss of most inflections.

· The Middle English vowels existed, as in Old English, in long and short varieties.