Middle english and early new english phonetics

Middle english and early new english phonetics

 

1. Changes in the spelling system

2. The Great Vowel Shift

 

Changes in the spelling system  

 

During several centuries after the Norman conquest the business of writing was in the hands of French scribes. They introduced into English some peculiarities of French graphic habits. Traces of French traditions in writing have stayed on in English to the present day.

 

First of all .we must note some changes in the alphabet. Several letters typical of OE gradually came out of use, and some new ones were introduced. The alphabet of the 14th century is basically the same that is in use in our days.  
The letter з, which was used in OE to denote several distinct consonant phonemes , is gradually replaced by the letters g and y. Thus, OE зód now appears as good, and the OE зear as yer. The ligature æ also comes into disuse in ME.

 

The new letters introduced during the ME period are all consonantal. The letter g (as hinted above) is introduced to denote the sound [g] as in good and also the sound [dз] as in singe. The sound [dз] is also denoted (in words of French origin) by the letter j, as in joy, judge, June. The letter v is introduced to denote the consonant [v], which in ME became a separate phoneme. However, this letter soon came to be treated as an allograph of the letter u, which had been in use since the earliest OE times. The allographs u and v became interchangeable. Thus, we can find the following spellings in ME: over, ouer;  love, loue, etc. The letter q, always accompanied by u, is introduced to denote either the consonant [k], as in quay, or the cluster [kw], as in quarter or queen. In the latter case it replaces OE cw. The letter z is introduced to denote the consonant [z], which in ME became a separate phoneme. However, the letter z is not used systematically. It does appear in such words as zel 'zeal', Zephyrus, 'Zephir', but the sound [z] is still spelt s in chesen 'choose', losen 'lose' and in many others.

 

Next we come to changes in spelling habits. In the sphere of vowels French influence made itself felt in the following points:

1. The sound [u:], which was represented by the letter u in Old English, came to be spelt ou, the way it was spelt in French. This French spelling was due to the fact that in Old French the diphthong [ou] had changed into [u:] but the spelling had remained the same. From borrowed French words such as trouble, couch, this spelling was transferred to native English words: out (OE ūt}; loud (OE hlūd), etc. In final position, and occasionally in medial position as well, instead of ou the spelling ow was introduced: how (OE hū}; down (OE dūn), etc.

2. The vowel [u] is often represented by the letter o. This spelling is probably partly due to graphic considerations. The letter о denoting [u] is found mainly in the neighbourhood of such letters as u (v), n, m, that is, letters consisting of vertical strokes. A long series of vertical strokes might be confusing: thus, it might be hard to distinguish between cume, cmue, cimie etc. Replacing u by о would avoid this difficulty. Another factor favouring the introduction of the letter о to denote [u] might be the narrow quality of Anglo-Norman [o], which was close to [u]. Examples: come ['kumə] (OE cuman), som [sum] (OE sum), sone ['sunə] (OE sunu), love ['luvə] (OE lufu).

3. The vowel [e:] is sometimes denoted by the digraph ie. In Old French this digraph had originally denoted the diphthong [ie], which in Anglo-Norman changed into [e] in the 12th century, the spelling remaining the same.  
From French loan words like chief [tse:f], relief [re'le:f] this spelling penetrated into native English words like field [fe:ld] (OE feld), thief [θe:f] (OE þeof)..

4. To denote the vowel [u] in the dialects where it was preserved the letter u was used, as in fur 'fire' (OE fyr).

 

In the sphere of consonants French spelling also had some influence.

1. The spellings þ and ð for the sounds [θ] and [ð] were gradually superseded by the digraph th: this for OE þis, three for OE þreo.

2. For the consonant [v], which had been a mere positional variant of the [f] phoneme in OE and which in ME became a separate phoneme, the letter v was introduced. As v was considered to be merely an allograph of u, both allographs could be used indiscriminately: over, ouer (OE ofer), love, loue (OE lufu).

3. The affricate [ts] was denoted by the digraph ch: from such French loan words as chair, chambre it penetrated into native English words: techen 'teach', child, etc. The corresponding voiced affricate [ dз] was spelt in the French way either j, g, or dg: courage, joy, bridge.

4. The consonant [s] was spelt sh and sometimes sch. ship, schip, shal, schal.

5. The consonant [ x’] was first spelt h, and later gh - liht, light, niht, night, ri ht, right.

6. The letter c when denoting the consonant [k] was replaced by the letter k before e, i, and also before n drinken (OE drincan), king (OE cyninз). This was due to the fact that the letter c before e or i would suggest the pronunciation [s]. It should be noted that the letter was widely used in Old French, for example in the pronoun ki 'who' (Modern French spelling qui).

7. The cluster [kw] was spelt qu instead of Old English cw, as in quellen 'kill' (OE cwellan).

8. The consonant [j], which in Old English was spelt з, now came to be spelt y: yer 'year' (OE зear), ye 'you' (OE зe).

 

Besides these features, due to French influence, ME spelling has some more peculiarities, which have partly been preserved down to the present day.  
It became a habit in ME to replace final -i by -y. The motive was purely graphic, y being more ornamental than i, and eventually this became one of the most characteristic features of English spelling. In MnE there are only a few words ending in -i. rabbi, taxi, and a few plural forms of Latin words, such as bacilli and genii The letter y was also often used instead of i in medium position: ryden (OE ridan), wryten (OE wntan). This habit did not survive. Similarly, the letter u when final was replaced by w, which was more ornamental. Again, words ending in -u in MnE are very few: you, thou, gnu, emu. The use of ou and ow to denote long [u] resulted in ambiguity, which is still felt in English spelling. The digraph ow could also denote the diphthong [ou]. When it came to be used for [u:], the result was two series of words one with [ou] slow, snow, crow, low, the other with [u:] cow, now, down

 

On the whole ME spelling is far from uniform. Purely phonetic spellings mix with French spelling habits and also with traditions inherited from OE. Besides, there are differences between dialects in this respect, too /1, 37-47, 2, 176-180/.

 

The Great Vowel Shift

 

Early NE witnessed the greatest event in the history of English – the Great Vowel Shift, - which involved the change of all ME long monophthongs, and probably some of the diphthongs. The Great Vowel Shift is the name given to a series of changes of long vowels between the 14^th and the 18^th c. The changes can be defined as “independent”, as they were not caused by any apparent phonetic conditions in the syllable or in the word, but affected regularly any stressed long vowel in any position.

 

 

 ME                          NE                                        ME                           NE

 

i:                              ai                                   time [ti:mə]                    time

 

 

e:                              i:                                  kepen [ke:pən]                 keep

  
 

          а:  ei  maken [ma:kən]               make

 

 

 

         

         

During the shift even the names of some English letters were changed, for they contained long vowels:

 

ME: A [a:], E [e:], O [o:], I [i:], B [be:], K [ka:]

NE: A [ei], E [i:], O [ou], I [ai], B [bi:], K [kei] /3, 200-203/

 

 

Literature

1. А.И.Смирницкий. Лекции по истории английского языка. М., 2000.
2. Б.А.Ильиш. История английского языка. М., 1968.
3. Т.А.Расторгуева. История английского языка. М., 2001 (англ. яз).