Loss of Some Consonants
Fricatives
New English
Palatalisation –as a result of reduction of unstressed vowels several consonants merged into one:
ME Sounds | NE Sounds | ME | NE |
[sj] à | [∫] | commissioun [komi’sjon] | commission [kə’mi∫ən] |
[zj] à | [ζ] | pleasure [plə’zjurə] | pleasure [‘pleζə] |
[tj] à | [t∫] | nature[na’tjurə] | nature[‘neit∫ə] |
[dj] à | [dζ] | procedure [,prosə’djurə] | procedure [prə’sidζə] |
There were some exceptions though, e.g. mature, duty, due, suit, statue, tune, etc.
Voicing –occurredin the 16th c. (NE) to fricatives:
· in functional words and auxiliaries that are never stressed;
· when preceded by an unstressed and followed by a stressed vowel.
ME Sounds | NE Sounds | ME | NE |
[s] à | [z] | possess [pə’ses] | possess [pə’zes] |
[q] à | [ð] | this [qis],the [qə], there [qεə] | this [ðis],the [ðə], there [ðεə] |
[f] à | [v] | of[of] | of[ov] |
[ks] à | [gz] | anxiety [,ən’ksaiəti] | anxiety [,ən’gzaiəti] |
[t∫] à | [dζ] | knowledge [‘kno:lət∫ə] | knowledge [‘no:lidζ] |
In NE some consonants were vocalised or gave birth to diphthongs and triphthongs.
· [r]was vocalised at the end of the word in the 16th -17th c. (see Lecture 11);
· [j]disappeared as a result of palatalisation (see palatalisation in Lecture 12); [j] remained only initially (e.g. year, yard, etc.);
· [х, х’] were lost (e.g. ME taughte [‘tauхtə] – NE taught [to:t], ME night [niх’t] – NE night [neit]
· [kn] à [n](e.g. ME know [knou] – NE know [nou]);
· [gn] à [n](e.g. ME gnat [gnat] – NE gnat [næt]);
H/w:1. Ex. 10-14, 17 on p. 219 in “История английского языка” by Т.А. Расторгуева (copies).