Word Stress in ME and Early NE

In OE stress usually fell on the first syllable of the word, rarely on its second syllable.

In ME the word accent began to play a more important role in word derivation.

These changes were connected with the phonetic assimilation of thousands of loan-words adopted during the ME period.

· The latter pairs of words show that the role of word accentuation has grown: word stress performs a phonological function as it distinguishes a verb from a noun.

· NE ΄ present n - pre΄sent v;

· ΄ discord n - dis΄cord v.

Unstressed vowels

In OE there were five short vowels in unstressed position [e/i], [a] and [o/u].

Late ME had only two vowels in unaccented syllables: [ə] and [i], e.g.

OE talu – ME tale [΄ta:lə] – NE tale,

OE bodiз – ME body [΄bodi] – NE body.

The final [ə] disappeared in Late ME though it continued to be spelt as -e.

When the ending –e survived only in spelling, it was understood as a means of showing the length of the vowel in the preceding syllable and was added to words which did not have this ending before,

e.g. OE stān, rād – ME stone, rode [´stone], [´rode] – NE stone, rode.

Quantitative vowel changes in Early ME

In Late OE and in Early ME vowel length began to depend on phonetic conditions. (before some consonant clusters):

1) Short vowels were lengthened before two consonants – a sonorant and a plosive; e.g. OE wi ld – ME wi ld [wi:ld] – NE wil d.

2) All other groups of two or more consonants produced the reverse effect: they made the preceding long vowels short, and henceforth all vowels in this position became or remained short, e.g. OE cē pt e > ME ke pt e [΄keptə] – NE kept.

3) Short vowels became long in open syllables, e.g. OE nama > ME name [na:mə] – NE name

Qualitative vowel changes in Early ME

Development of monophthongs

The OE close labialized vowels [y] and [y:] disappeared in Early ME, merging with various sounds in different dialectal areas. The vowels [y] and [y:] existed in OE dialects up to the 10^th c., when they were replaced by [e], [e:] in Kentish and confused with [ie] and [ie:] or [i] and [i:] in WS. In Early ME the dialectal differences grew. In some areas OE [y], [y:] developed into [e], [e:], in others they changed to [i], [i:]; in the South-West and in the West Midlands the two vowels were for some time preserved as [y], [y:], but later were moved backward and merged with [u], [u:],

e.g. OE fyllan – ME (Kentish) fellen, (West Midland and South Western) fullen, (East Midland and Northern) fillen – NE fill.

In Early ME the long OE [a:] was narrowed to [o:].

This was an early instance of the growing tendency of all long monophthongs to become closer, so [a:] became [o:] in all the dialects except the Northern group,

e.g. OE stān – ME (Northern) stan(e), (other dialects) stoon, stone – NE stone.

The short OE [æ] was replaced in ME by the back vowel [a], e.g. OE þǽt > ME that [Өat] > NE that.

Development of diphthongs

OE possessed a well developed system of diphthongs: long and short: [ea:], [eo:], [ie:] and [ea], [eo], [ie]. Towards the end of the OE period some of the diphthongs merged with monophthongs:

· all diphthongs were monophthongised before [xt], [x’t] and after [sk’];

· the diphthongs [ie:], [ie] in Late WS fused with [y:], [y] or [i:], [i].

· In Early ME the remaining diphthongs were also contracted to monophthongs:

the long [ea:] was united with the reflex of OE [ǽ:] – ME [ε:];

· the short [ea] ceased to be distinguished from OE [æ] and became [a] in ME;

· the diphthongs [eo:], [eo] – as well as their dialectal variants [io:], [io] – fell together with the monophthongs [e:], [e], [i:], [i].

As a result of these changes the vowel system lost two sets of diphthongs, long and short. In the meantime a new set of diphthongs developed from some sequences of vowels and consonants due to the vocalization of OE [j] and [γ], that is to their change into vowels.

In Early ME the sounds [j] and [γ] between and after vowels changed into [i] and [u] and formed diphthongs together with the preceding vowels, e.g. OE dæз > ME day [dai].

These changes gave rise to two sets of diphthongs: with i- glides and u - glides [ai], [ou]. The same types of diphthongs appeared also from other sources: the glide - u developed from OE [ w ] as in OE snāw, which became ME snow [snou], and before [x] and [l] as in Late ME smaul and taughte.