Reduction of Vowels in Final Unstressed Syllable in ME

All vowels in the unstressed position underwent a qualitative change and became the vowel of the type of [ ] or [e] unstressed. This phonetic change had a far-reaching effect upon the system of the grammatical endings of the English words which now due to the process of reduction became homonymous.

-forms of strong verbs

OE writan – wrat – writon – written

With the suffixed –an, -on, -en different only in the vowel component became homonymous in Middle English

Written – wrot- written – written

- forms of nouns

 

OE Nominative Plural a-stem fiscas

Genitive singular fisces

Middle English for both the forms is fisces

 

Basic grammatical Features of Germanic Languages.

One of the main processes in the development of the Germanic morphological system was the change in the word structure. The common Indo-European notional word consisted of three elements: the root, expressing the lexical meaning, the Inflexion or ending, showing the grammatical form and the so-called stem-forming suffix, a formal indicator of the stem type. However, in Germanic languages the stem-forming suffix fuses with the ending and is often no longer visible, thus making the word structure a two-element one. Nevertheless, it should be taken into account when explaining the differences in the categorical forms of words originally having different stem-forming suffixes.

It should also be mentioned that Germanic languages belonged to the synthetic type of form-building, which means that they expresses the grammatical meanings by changing the forms of the word itself, not resorting to any auxiliary words.

The Germanic nouns had a well-developed case system with four cases (nominative, genitive, dative, accusative) and two number forms. They also had the category of gender (feminine, masculine and neuter). The means of form-building were the endings added to the root/stem of the noun.

The Germanic adjectives had two types of declension, conventionally called strong and weak. Most adjectives could be declined both in accordance with the strong and weak type. Agreeing with the noun in gender, case and noun, the adjective by its type of declension expresses the idea of definiteness or indefiniteness, the meaning which was later to become expressed by a grammatical class of words unknown in Common Germanic – the article.

The adjective also had degrees of comparison, the forms of which were in most instances formed with the help of suffixes –iz/oz and –ist/ost

The Germanic verbs are divided into two principal groups: strong and weak verbs, depending on the way they formed their past tense forms.

The past tense of strong verbs was formed with the help of Ablaut, qualitative and quantitative. Depending upon the phonetic root structure, the exact manifestation of Ablaut could be somewhat different, and according strong verbs were further subdivided into classes. Weak verbs expressed preterite with the help of the dental suffix –d/-t. They also had stem-forming suffixes, depending on which they fell into separate classes. The Germanic verb had a well developed system of categories, including the category of person (1, 2, 3) number (singular, plural), tense (past, present0, mood (indicative, imperative, optative) and voice (only in Gothic – active and mediopassive).

Changes within the System of Vowels in ME

All vowels in the unstressed position underwent a qualitative change and became the vowel of the type of [ ] or [e] unstressed. This phonetic change had a far-reaching effect upon the system of the grammatical endings of the English words which now due to the process of reduction became homonymous.

-forms of strong verbs

OE writan – wrat – writon – written

With the suffixed –an, -on, -en different only in the vowel component became homonymous in Middle English

Written – wrot- written – written

- forms of nouns

 

OE Nominative Plural a-stem fiscas

Genitive singular fisces

Middle English for both the forms is fisces

QUALITATIVE CHANGES

Changes of monophthongs

Three long monophthongs underwent changes in Middle English:

periods   sounds	Old English	Middle English	New English
a>o ae>e y>i	stan slaepan fyr	ston slepen fir	stone sleep fire

The rest of the monophthogs presenting their original quality, for example:

 

	Old English	Middle English
e [ ] u [ ] u i	tep top ut time	teeth tooth out time

 

Out of the seven principal OE short monophthongs: a, e, o, i, u, ae, y – two changed their quality in Middle English thus [ae] became [a] and [y] became [i], the rest of the monophthongs remaining unchanged, for example:

 

Old English	Middle English
aet wae first tellan hors singan putan	that was first tellen hors singen putten

 

Changes of diphthongs

All OE diphthongs were contracted (became monophthongs) as at the end of the OE period.

periods   sounds	Old English	Middle English
eo > e ea >e eo >e ea >a	deop bread seofon eald	deep bread seven ald

 

But instead of the former diphthongs that had undergone contraction at the end of the OE period there appeared in Middle English new diphthongs. The new diphthongs sprang into being due to the vocalization of the consonant [j] after the front vowels [e]or [ae] or due to the vocalization of the consonant [ ] or the semi-vowel [w] after the back vowels [o] and [a:].

Thus in Middle English there appeared four new diphthongs: [ai], [ei], [au], [ou].

QUANTITATIVE CHANGES

Besides qualitative changes mentioned above vowels under stress underwent certain changes in quantity.

Lengthening of vowels

Thefist lengthening of vowels took place as early as late OE (9 century). All vowels which occurred before the combinations of consonants such as mb, nd, ld became long.

	Old English	Middle English
[i]>[I:]   [u] > [u:]	Climban Findan Cild   hund	Climben Finden Cild   hound

The second lengthening of vowels took place in Middle English (12 – 13 century). The vowls [a], [o] and [e] were affected by the process. This change can be observed when the given vowels are found in an open syllable.

	Old English	Middle English
a> a e> e o> o	talu sprecan hopian	tale speken hopen

Shortening of vowels

All long vowels were shortened in Middle English if they arefound before two consonants (11 century)

 

Old English	Middle English
cepte wisdom	cepte wisdom

 

Through phonetic processes the lengthening ad the shortening of vowels mentioned above left traces in grammar and wordstock. Due to it vowel interchange developed in many cases between:

-different forms of the same word

different words formed from the same root

 

For instant:

Middle English	[i:] [e:] [i:]	[i] [e] [i]	child kepen wis

 

Periods in the History of English

OE (VII (V) - XI) PERIOD

the period of full endings.

Early OE period (450/700 – Anglo-Saxon conquest): the local regional dialects,

Late OE (700/1066 – the Norman conquest)

 

KINGDOMS AND DIALECTS:

the Jutes (Kent and the Isle of Wight) – the main dialects - Kentish. Kingdom - Kent

The Saxons (the south of the Thames) – the main dialects - West Saxon, East Saxon. Kingdoms – Wessex, Essex, Sussex.

The Angles (north of the Thames) – the main dialects - Anglian, Mercian, Northumbrian. Kingdoms – Anglian, Mercian, Northumbrian

 

ME (XII - XV) PERIOD.

The period of leveled endings.

Early ME period (1066/1350): Britain under the Norman rule. The local dialects were used for oral communication, Scandinavian and French borrowings.

 

Late ME period (1350/1475/1485): the age of Chaucer, the war of the Roses 1455/1485. Restoration of English to the position of state and literary language of the consolidated English nationality. Ruining of the feudal society, the absolute monarchy, development of the capitalist relations. The London dialect.

 

 

Modern E (XV) PERIOD.

The period of lost endings

Early Modern E period ( 1476/1660): from the introduction of printing to the age of Shakespear. The London dialects basis of the growing national literary language. An impression of great freedom of grammatical constructions.

 

Normalization period. Age of Correctness (1660/1800): English spread far beyond the boundaries of the British Isles. The establishment of norms numerous dictionaries and grammar books. The period fixing the pronunciation, new verbal gram categories, syntax

 

Late or Modern English including the pre-sent English (1800) a national language – standard English.