Middle English

Sibilants and Affricates

The Development of Consonant System in Middle English and New English

Lecture 12

Short Vowels

New English

New Diphthongs

Long Vowels

Short Vowels

· [y]changed to [i]e.g. OE hyll – ME hill (hill);

· [æ]changed to [a]e.g. OE wæs – ME was (was).

As a result:

i e a o u

 

· [ỹ]changed to [ī];

· [ǽ]fell together with [έ];

· [ā]changed to [ō]e.g. OE stān – ME sto[o:]ne (stone).

As a result:

  close open
ī ū ē ō έ ǿ
           

 

OE diphthongs turned into monophthongs:

 

OE Diphth. ME Sounds OE ME
ĭě/īē à i līehtan lighten (lighten)
ĕŏ/ēō à e heorte herte (heart)
ĕă/ēā à æ ēast eest (east)

 

New diphthongs appeared due to vocalisation of [j], [γ]and [w]. These consonants turned into vowels ([i], [u]and [u] respectively) and became the glides of the new diphthongs:

 

i-glides OE ME u-glides OE ME
[ei] weζ[j] wey[i](way) [iu] - -
[ai] mæζ[j] may[i] (may) [au] laζ[γ]u law[u]e [‘lauə] (low)
[oi](in French loan-words)   boy, toy [ou] cnāw[w]an know[u]en [‘knouən] (know)

 

Great Vowel Shift – the change that happened in the 14th – 16th c.and affected all long monophthongs + diphthong [au]. As a result these vowels were:

· diphthongized;

· narrowed (became more closed);

· both diphthongized and narrowed.

 

ME Sounds NE Sounds ME NE
[i:] à [ai] time [‘ti:mə] time [teim]
[e:] à [i:] kepen [‘ke:pən] keep [ki:p]
[a:] à [ei] maken [‘ma:kən] make [meik]
[o:] à à [ou] [u:] stone [‘sto:nə] moon [mo:n] stone [stoun] moon [mu:n]
[u:] à [au] mous [mu:s] mouse [maus]
[au] à [o:] cause [‘kauzə] cause [ko:z]

 

This shift was not followed by spelling changes, i.e. it was not reflected in written form. Thus the Great Vowel Shift explains many modern rules of reading.

 

 

ME Sounds NE Sounds ME NE
[a] à à [æ] [o]after [w]!! that [qat] man [man] was [was] water [‘watə] that [ðæt] man [mæn] was [woz] water [‘wotə]
[u] à [Λ] hut [hut] comen [cumen] hut [hΛt] come [cΛm]

There were exceptions though, e.g. put, pull, etc.

 

Vocalisation of [r]

It occurred in the 16th – 17th c. Sound [r] became vocalised (changed to [ə] (schwa)) when stood after vowels at the end of the word.

Consequences:

· new diphthongs appeared: [εə], [iə], [uə];

· the vowels before [r] were lengthened (e.g. arm [a:m], for [fo:], etc.);

· triphthongs appeared: [aiə], [auə] (e.g. shower [‘∫auə], shire [‘∫aiə]).

H/w:

1. Ex. 4-6 on p. 218 in “История английского языка” by Т.А. Расторгуева (copies).


English consonants proved to be more stable than vowels. Nevertheless, new sets of consonants started to appear.

 

Sibilants – a type of fricatives, narrower and sharper than all other fricatives ([f, v, q, ð, h]) – [s, z, ∫, ζ].

Affricates – sounds consisting of a plosive immediately followed by a fricative – [t∫, dζ].

In OE there were only 2 sibilants – [s, z]. [∫] appeared in ME and [ζ] – in NE.

Affricates [t∫, dζ] appeared both in ME and in NE.

 

New consonants developed from palatal plosives [k’], [g’]and the cluster [sk’]:

 

OE Sounds ME Sounds In Writing OE ME
[k’] à [t∫] tch, ch cild [k’il’d] child [t∫ild]
[g’] à [dζ] g, dg ecge [‘egg’ə] edge [‘edζə]
[sk’] à [∫] sh, ssh, sch fisc[fisk’] fish[fi∫]