Lecture 7 middle english phonology

1. KYIV NATIONAL LINGUISTIC UNIVERSITY

Subota S.V.
LECTURE 7
MIDDLE ENGLISH PHONOLOGY.

2. Plan

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
ME vowel system. General
characteristics.
Quantitative changes in ME.
Qualitative changes in ME.
Development of diphthongs.
Levelling of final unstressed vowels.
ME consonant system.

3. Literature

► Расторгуева
Т.А. История английского языка. –
М.: Астрель, 2005. – С. 190-200.
► Ильиш Б.А. История английского языка. – Л.:
Просвещение, 1972. – С. 142-174.
► Иванова И.П., Чахоян Л.П. История
английского языка. – М.: Высшая школа, 1976.
– С.67-78.
► Студенець Г.І. Історія англійської мови в
таблицях. - К.: КДЛУ, 1998. – Tables 65-74

4. OE and ME VOWEL SYSTEMS

OE
FRONT BACK
High
Mid
Low
High
High Mid
i
y
e
æ
i: y:
e:
FRONT
u
o
aã
u:
o:
Low Mid
Low
æ:
a:
OE ea, eo, io, ie ea:, eo:, io:, ie:
ME
BACK
i
u
e
ə
a
i:
o
u:
o:
ɔ:
e:
ɛ:
a:
ME ei, ai, ou, au, oi

5. Quantitative changes of vowels in Late OE and Early ME

At the end of OE / at the beginning of ME stressed
vowels underwent a number of quantitative
changes, short vowels were phonemically opposed
to long ones
In late OE / early ME vowel length began
to depend on phonetic conditions
Lengthening Short vowels became long before
two homorganic consonant (a sonorant + plosive)
L+D OE ald, cild, wild – ME āld, cīld, wīld
N+D OE wind, findan, blind – ME wīnd, fīndan, blīnd
M+B OE climban – ME clīmben

6.

Shortening before other clusters
All other groups of 2 or more consonants
produced the reverse effect: they made
the preceding vowels short
OE sōft, cēpte, blēdde – ME soft, cepte,
bledde
OE fīftig, wīsdom, wīfmann – ME fifty, wisdom
The 3rd consonant [r] prevented
the lengthening in cildru, bewildrian
!!! Long vowels resisted shortening before
st east, mǽst but in some words they didn’t

7.

Lengthening Vowels became long + more
open in open syllables mainly affected open
vowels [e, a, o] seldom [i, u]
OE open, wike, nama – ME open, weke, name
Long vowels remained long in open syllables, short
vowels – short in open syllables
OE cū, winter – ME cow, winter
In spite of some restrictions lengthening affected
many words.
Lengthening didn’t occur in polysyllabic words
(lāferce →laferce →larke) and before some
suffixes (OE bodig – ME body, OE sūðerne – ME
southern, OE haligdæg – ME holiday)

8. Quantitative changes of vowels in Early ME

As compared with
quantitative vowel changes,
qualitative vowel changes in
Early ME were less important.
They affected
several monophthongs
and displayed
considerable dialectal diversity,
the changes were independent
of phonetic environment.

9.

OE
ME
[y]
[i] Northern,
ME fillen
East Midland
[u] West Midland, ME fullen
Southern
[e] Kentish
ME fellen
OE fyllan
OE
ME
busy, bury
[y:]
[i:] N, EM
ME mis, mice
OE mýs
[u:] WM,S
ME mus
[e:] Kentish
ME mes

10.

OE
ME
[ã]
ME man,
land
OE
[a] Northern,
West Midland,
Southern, Kentish
[o]
East Midland,
ME
[a:]
[a:] N,
ME ban,
ham
ME bon,
(bone),
home
OE
månn,
lånd
OE bān,
hām,
stān
[ɔ:] EM, WM, S, K.
ME mon,
lond

11.

OE
ME
[æ]
OE ðæt,
wæs
ME that,
was
OE
[a] Northern,
East Midland,
Southern
[e] West Midland,
Kentish
ME
[æ:]
OE
slǽpan
[e:] West Midland,
Kentish, Northern,
East Midland
ME
sleepen,
slẹpen
ME slępen
[ɛ:] Southern
ME thet,
wes

12.

Monophthongisation of OE diphthongs
OE
[æa:]
[æ:]
[eo:]
[e:]
[æa]
[æ]
[eo]
[e]
[ie:],
[ie]
ME
OE
ēast
[ɛ:]
strǽt
dēop, cēosan
[e:]
hē
earm
[a]
bæc
heorte
[e]
bedd
[i:]/ [e:] hīeran, nieht,
[i]/ [e]
ME
east [ɛ:st]
street
Deep, chesen
he
arm
back
herte
bed
heren,
night [niΧ’t]

13.

Formation of new ME diphthongs
A new set of diphthongs developed from sequences of
vowels and consonants due to the vocalization of
OE [j] → [i], [Ɣ] → [u].
In Early ME the sounds [j], [Ɣ] → [i], [u] between and
after vowels and formed diphthongs together with
the preceding vowels.
Early OE Late OE
[eΧ’] → [ej] →
ME
[ei] OE weʒ → ME wey [wei]
[e:Χ’] → [e:j] →
[ei] OE grēʒ → ME grey [grei]
[æΧ’] → [æj] →
[ai] OE mæʒ → ME may [mai]
[iΧ’] → [ij] → [ii] → [i:] OE niʒon → ME nyne [ni:nə]

14.

Formation of new ME diphthongs
Early OE Late OE ME
[a:Ɣ] → [aw] → [au] OE lāʒu, aʒan →
ME lawe [lauə], owen
[o:Ɣ] → [ow] → [ou] OE bōʒu, plōʒas →
ME bowe [bouə]
[a:w] → [ou] OE cnāwan →
ME knowen [knouən]
[a:Χ] → [au+
[au Χ] OE tāhte → ME taughte [tauΧtə]
[o:Χ] → [ou+
[ou Χ] OE dōhtor → ME doughter
OE fuʒol → ME fowl [fu:l]

15. Levelling of unstressed vowels

All unstressed vowels were weakened and
reduced to a neutral vowel [ə]
(OE sunu - ME sone).
Beginning with the 13th c. some dialects
showed certain variations in spelling of
unstressed vowels, which probably reflected
peculiarities of pronunciation: askid, fadur.
The tendency to phonetic reduction began in
OE, in Early ME the pronunciation of
unstressed syllables became indistinct.

16.

In OE 5 vowels were distinguished in
unstressed position (representing 3 opposed
phonemes [e/i], [o/u], [a]), Late ME had only 2
vowels in unstressed position [ə/ i], which were
never directly contrasted – phonemic contrasts in
unstressed vowels had been lost.
The loss of [ə] started in the North, spread to
the Midlands, reached the South areas by the
15th c. When the ending survived in spelling, it
was understood as a means of showing the
length of the vowel in the preceding syllable, it
was added to the words that never had it before
(OE rād, stān, hūs – ME rode, stone, house)

17. ME consonant system

Assibilation OE palatal [k’] developed into
the affricate [t∫]
[k’] → [t∫] OE cild, ælc → ME child, each
[sk’] → [∫] OE scip, scinan → ME ship, shinen
[g’] → [dʒ] OE brycʒ, secʒan, lecʒan →
ME bridge, seggen, leggen – due to the
analogy with the past forms seide, saide
(OE sæʒde), leide, laide (OE læʒde)
In Northern dialects – kirk (church), birk (birch)

18.

Loss of initial “h” before sonorants
([h] dropping)
[hr] → [r] OE hrinʒ → ME ring
[hl] → [l] OE hlūd → ME loud
[hn] → [n] OE hnut → ME nut
Loss of endings in weak final position
OE gamen → ME game
OE sittan → ME sitten → sit
Shortening of long consonants full [ful]

19. In NE voiced and voiceless fricatives are used in all positions

► Foot-initial
ferry-very, fan-van
► Foot-middle
selfish- selvedge
► Foot-final
calf – carve
► Veal,
victory, zodiac
► OE lufu –ME love

20. THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION!