LOGO OLD ENGLISH PHONOLOGY Lecture 3 Lecturer OLENA

LOGO OLD ENGLISH PHONOLOGY Lecture 3 Lecturer: OLENA BABENKO Candidate of philological sciences, Ph. D in Philology, Associate Professor , the Department of the Humanities and Pedagogy, NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF LIFE AND ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES OF UKRAINE Kyiv 2016

Plan 1. Old English Phonology 1. 1. Old English Vowels 1. 2. Old English Consonants 2. Middle English Phonological System. 2. 1. Middle English Vowel System; 2. 2. Middle English Consonant System. 3. Modern (New) English Phonological System. 3. 1. Modern (New) English Vowel System. 3. 2. Modern (New) English Consonant System.

References 1. Verba L. G. History of the English Language, Nova Knyga 2006. - 293 c. 2. Baugh A. C. The History of the English Language. London, 1997. 3. Иванова И. П. , Чахоян Л. П. , История английского языка. Учебник. Хрестоматия. Словарь. – СПб. , 1999. - 510 c. 4. Раторгуева Т. А. History of English. М. , 1983, 1999. 5. Ильиш Б. А. История английского языка (на английском языке). М. , 1973

Old English pronunciation Vowels a [ɑ] as in Modern English father æ [æ] as in Modern English cat e [e] as in Modern English fate ea [æɑ] a diphthong, starting with [æ] and ending with [ɑ] eo [eo] or [eʊ] a diphthong, starting with [e] and ending with [o] or [ʊ] i [i] as in Modern English feet ie [ɪ] as in Modern English sit o [o] as in Modern English boat u [u] as in Modern English fool y [y] as in German über or Füße, French tu or dur

Old English pronunciation Consonants c [k] as in Modern English cow ċ [ʧ] as in Modern English chew cg [ʤ] like the dge in Modern English edge f [f] as in Modern English fox; between voiced sounds [v] g [ɡ] as in Modern English good; between voiced sounds [ɣ], a voiced velar spirant ġ [j] as in Modern English yes; after n [ʤ] as in angel h within words or finally, [x] or [ç] like German ch s [s] as in Modern English sin; between voiced sounds [z] sc [ʃ] usually as in Modern English show; occasionally [sk] þ/ð [θ] as in Modern English thin; between voiced sounds, [ð] as in then

v Phonetics and phonology are related, dependent fields for studying aspects of language. v Phonetics is the study of sound in speech. v Phonology is the study (and use) of sound patterns to create meaning.

v Phonology relies on phonetic information for its practice, but focuses on how patterns in both speech and non-verbal communication create meaning, and how such patterns are interpreted. Phonology includes comparative linguistic studies of how cognates, sounds, and meaning are transmitted among and between human communities and languages.

Tree climbing from PIE to English

v Each branching of the language family tree is characterized by a distinct sound law. For English all of the sound laws mentioned above are applicable and they explain major differences in the pronunciation of cognate words between neighboring languages. v Cognate is a word that has the same origin as another: (‘Haus’ and ‘house’ are cognates)

sound change v Isolative sound change 1. Rhotacism 2. Grimm's Law 3. Ingvaeonic Monophthongisation sound changes are independent of the surrounding sounds Combinative sound change 1. Verner's Law 2. WGMc. Gemination 3. Anglo-Frisian Palatalisation sound change occurs only in specified positions

The system of vowels in Old English v The system of vowels in Old English included eight short vowels (monophthongs) and seven long vowels ◦ v ɑ æ e i u o y ɑ ɑ: æ: e: i: u: o: y: v And four short and four long diphthongs v ea eo ie io v ēa ēo īe īo

v The length of the vowel was a phonemic quality. The words having long and short vowels differed in meaning: v ᵹod (god) - ᵹ ō d (good) v west (west) – w ē st (waste) v for (preposition for) – f ō r (past tense of the verb f āran - go)

v Assimilative changes influenced OLD English v Assimilative changes are the changes that occurred in the language in specific surroundings. v There are two types of assimilation regressive progressive

v If a sound influences the preceding sound, the assimilation is regressive v , if it influences the following sound v - it is called progressive. v Both types of assimilation are found in Old English.

Breaking (fracture) преломление (заломлення) v This is the process of formation of a short diphthong from a simple short vowel when it is followed by a specific consonant. v Thus, v a + r +cons, l +cons. > ea v æ + h+cons. > ea v e + final > eo

v a > ea v hard > heard (hard) v arm > earm (arm) v ahta > eahta (eight) v talde > tealde (told) v warm > wearm (warm) v e > eo v herte >heorte (heart) v melcan > meolcan (to milk) v feh > feoh (cattle)

UMLAUT OF VOWELS Umlaut of vowels, (palatal) front mutation or i/j mutation. нёбная мутация піднебінна мутація v The essence of this change is that a back sound (a, o) changes its quality if there is a front sound (i) in the next syllable. v a > æ; a > e v sandian – sendan (to send) v namnian – nemnan (to name) v talian-tælan-tellan (to tell) v salian- sælan

vā > ǣ v lārian- lǣran (to learn, to teach) v hālian-hǣlan (to heal) v o > oe >e v ofstian – efstan (to hurry) v dohter – dehter (dative case of daughter) v ō > oe > ē v wōpian- wēpan (to weep) v dōmian – dēman (to deem)

u>y fullian – fyllan (to fill) Kuninᵹ - cyninᵹ (king) ū> ȳ M ū s – m ȳ s (mice)

Palatal mutation in diphthongs v ea > ie v eald- ieldra (elder) v hleahian – hliehhan (to laugh) v eo >ie v feor – fierra (further) v ēa > īe v hēarian- hīerian (hear) v ēo > īe v ᵹetrēowi - ᵹetrīewe (true)

Diphthongization after palatal consonants v Diphthongs may have resulted from another process in Old English- diphthongization after palatal consonants sk’, k’ and j (sounds) (in spelling sc, c, ᵹ): v a > ea, skal- sceal (shall) v ā > ēa, skāggwon - scēawian (to show) v e > ie, ᵹefan - ᵹiefan (give) v æ > ea, ᵹæf - ᵹeaf (gave), ᵹæt - ᵹeat (gate) v ǣ > ēa (the ǣ sound was actually derived from ā ) v jār - ᵹēar (year) v o > eo, scort – sceort (short), yong-ᵹeonᵹ, (young)

Back, or Velar Mutation v The essence of this change is that the syllable that influenced the preceding vowel contained a back vowel – o or u, sometimes even a v i > io hira – hiora (their) v silufr – siolufr (silver) v e > eo hefon – heofon (heaven) v a > ea saru- searu (armour)

Mutation before h v Sounds a and e that preceded h underwent several changes, mutating to diphthongs ea, ie and finally were reduced to i/y: - naht – neahtniht-nieht – nyht (night).

Contraction v The consonant h proved to have interfered with the development of many sounds. When h was placed between two vowels the following changes occurred. v a + h+ vowel > ēa slahan – slēan (slay) v e + h+ vowel > ēo sehen-sēon (see) v i + h+ vowel > ēo tihan- tēon (accuse) v o + h+ vowel > ō fohan-fōn (catch)

Old English Consonant System. v There were 19 consonants in Old English.

v The subgroup of Germanic languages contains many differences that set them apart from the other I-E languages. The following outstanding linguists made a great contribution into the development of comparative linguistics.

Famous linguists Rusk R. (1787 -1832) Grimm J. (1785— 1863)

The Germanic Consonant Shift v The Germanic Consonant Shift (also known as the First Sound Shift or Grimm's Law) which, in effect, gave birth to the Germanic languages. v It is considered to be Grimm’s Law and Verner’s Law taken together.

v Grimm's Law (or the First Sound Shift) helps to explain the consonant changes from P-I-E to Germanic.

v This phenomenon was first described in 1814(according to other sources in 1818) by the Danish linguist Rasmus Rusk. In 1822 it was fully formulated and investigated by the German philologist Jacob Grimm, whose name in the end, it got. Grimm's Law (together with Verner's Law) is considered one of the most well -known phonetic laws in comparative studies.

Grimm's Law v Grimm's Law implies a set of relationships among the consonants of the Germanic and non. Germanic Indo-European languages. Law consists of three parts, which must be thought of as three consecutive phases in the sense of a chain shift: v a. Aspirated voiced stops became Unaspirated voiced stops (Bʰ, dʰ, gʰ became b, d, g) v b. Voiced stops became Voiceless stops (B, d, g became p, t, k) v c. Voiceless stops became Voiceless fricatives (P, t, k became f, θ, x (h))

Examples illustrating Grimm's Law

shortcomings of theory v But Grimm’s realized shortcomings of his theory and expected someone else would discover why p is sometimes becoming b, v t is becoming d, v k is becoming g. v What causes the voicing of these consonants in several cases?

v Verner's Law, Part 1 of 3 v Verner's Law, Part 2 of 3 v Verner's Law, Part 3 of 3

Karl Verner v Karl Verner (18461896) was a Danish linguist.

v Karl Verner (1846 -1896) was a Danish linguist. He was well-trained in Indo-European linguistics. In 1876 he decided to address to a problem of badly shifted consonants. He liked reading his favourite book Franz Bopp’s “Comparative Grammar” which was some kind of the Bible for the 19 -th century linguists.

v. Looking at Sanskrit forms and comparing them to Germanic ones Verner noticed that the placement of STRESS (ACCENT) affected how Indo-European consonants were shifted.

v Then Karl published his findings in the article “An exception to the first consonant shift” in one of the prestigious linguistic research journals. Verner’s Law (A Germanic Voicing Rule) said when the following consonants p, t, k occurred in the middle of the word they would become the voiced consonants b, d, g, and not f, þ, h as predicted by Grimm.

v Voiceless fricatives became voiced (when they were in a voiced environment and the Indo. European stress was not on the preceding syllable). This process was called hardening.

Changes in consonants v Voiceless fricatives appeared in Germanic languages as a result of the First Consonant Shift (Grimm’s Law) v 1. Voicing of fricatives in intervocal position: v f > v ofer (over) v hlāf – hlāfas (loaf-loaves) v θ > ð ōðer (other) v raðe (quickly)

s >z >r Rhotacism v Wesun – weren (now were, but was) v Maiza- māra (now more, but most)

Palatalization

Assimilation before t v Velar+t >ht sēcan- sōcte-sōhte (seek-sought)

Loss of consonants in certain positions v h that was lost in intervocal position, the sounds n and m were lost before h, entailing the lengthening of the preceding vowel. v Bronhter – brōhter (brought) v fimf- fif (five)

Metathesis of r v In several OE words the following change of the position of consonants takes place v cons+r+vowel > cons+vowel+r v ðridda- ðirda (third)

Gemination

MIDDLE ENGLISH PHONOLOGICAL SYSTEM v Middle English Vowel System

v For various reasons nobody knows what the primary and what the secondary reason of the most fundamental changes in Middle English phonology. The following features were typical of that period:

v Some processes which began in Old English were completed in Middle English. ( formation of new sounds [ʧ] [ʃ], [ʤ]) , v Pendulum-like movements of sounds (Germanic ɑ Old English æ Middle English ɑ). v Middle English had a number of French unassimilated sounds.

v Vowels in Middle English were, overall, similar to those of Old English. v Except for the loss of OE y and æ so that y was unrounded to [I] and [æ] raised toward [ɛ] or lowered toward [ɑ].

v Addition of new phonemic sound (mid central vowel), represented in linguistics by the symbol called schwa: [ə], the schwa sound occurs in unstressed syllables and its appearance is related to the ultimate loss of most inflections. v The Middle English vowels existed, as in Old English, in long and short varieties.

Word Stress in ME and Early NE v In OE stress usually fell on the first syllable of the word, rarely on its second syllable. v In ME the word accent began to play a more important role in word derivation. v These changes were connected with the phonetic assimilation of thousands of loan-words adopted during the ME period.

v The latter pairs of words show that the role of word accentuation has grown: word stress performs a phonological function as it distinguishes a verb from a noun. v NE ΄present n - pre΄sent v; v ΄discord n - dis΄cord v.

Unstressed vowels v In OE there were five short vowels in unstressed position [e/i], [a] and [o/u]. v Late ME had only two vowels in unaccented syllables: [ə] and [i], e. g. v OE talu – ME tale [΄ta: lə] – NE tale, v OE bodiз – ME body [΄bodi] – NE body.

v The final [ə] disappeared in Late ME though it continued to be spelt as -e. v When the ending –e survived only in spelling, it was understood as a means of showing the length of the vowel in the preceding syllable and was added to words which did not have this ending before, v e. g. OE stān, rād – ME stone, rode [´stone], [´rode] – NE stone, rode.

Quantitative vowel changes in Early ME v In Late OE and in Early ME vowel length began to depend on phonetic conditions. (before some consonant clusters): v 1) Short vowels were lengthened before two consonants – a sonorant and a plosive; e. g. OE wild – ME wild [wi: ld] – NE wild.

Quantitative vowel changes in Early ME v

v 2) All other groups of two or more consonants produced the reverse effect: they made the preceding long vowels short, and henceforth all vowels in this position became or remained short, e. g. OE cēpte > ME kepte [΄keptə] – NE kept. v 3) Short vowels became long in open syllables, e. g. OE nama > ME name [na: mə] – NE name

Qualitative vowel changes in Early ME v The OE close labialized vowels [y] and [y: ] disappeared in Early ME, merging with various sounds in different dialectal areas.

v In some areas OE [y], [y: ] developed into [e], [e: ], in others they changed to [i], [i: ]; in the South. West and in the West Midlands the two vowels were for some time preserved as [y], [y: ], but later were moved backward and merged with [u], [u: ], v e. g. OE fyllan – ME (Kentish) fellen, (West Midland South Western) fullen, (East Midland Northern) fillen – NE fill.

In Early ME the long OE [a: ] was narrowed to [o: ]. v e. g. OE stān – ME (Northern) stan(e), (other dialects) stoon, stone – NE stone. v The short OE [æ] was replaced in ME by the back vowel [a], e. g. OE þǽt > ME that [Өat] > NE that.

Development of diphthongs v As a result of these changes the vowel system lost two sets of diphthongs, long and short.

Middle English Consonant System v In the history of the English language the consonants were far more stable than the vowels.

v A large number of consonants have remained unchanged since the OE period. v Such consonants as [t], [d], [n], [l], [m], [k] have not been subjected to any alteration.

v A large number of consonants have remained unchanged since the OE period. v Such consonants as [t], [d], [n], [l], [m], [k] have not been subjected to any alteration.

v Consonants of Middle English were very similar to those of Present Day English but lacking [ ŋ ] as in hung (velar nasal) and [ 3 ] as in measure (alveo-palatal voiced fricative). v Addition of phonemic voiced fricatives: [v], [z], [ð]; effect of French loanwords: vetch/fetch, view/few, vile/file ( [v], [z]) v loss of long consonants (OE mann > ME man). v h lost in clusters, OE hlæfdige > ME ladi ("lady"), OE hnecca > ME necke ("neck"), OE hræfn > ME raven.

v fricative f/v tended to drop out before consonant+consonant or vowel+consonant: OE hlaford, hlæfdige, heafod, hæfde >ME lord, ladi, hed, hadde ("lord, " "lady, " "head, " "had") (sometimes retained: OE heofon, hræfn, dreflian > "heaven, " "raven, " "drivel")

v g became w after l and r: OE swelgan > ME swolwen ("swallow"), OE feolaga > ME felawe ("fellow"), OE morgen > ME morwen ("morning"), OE sorg > ME sorow ("sorrow").

v OE prefix ge- lost initial consonant and was reduced to y or i: OE genog > ME inough ("enough"). v unstressed final consonants tended to be lost after a vowel: OE ic > ME i, OE -lic > ME -ly (e. g. OE rihtlice > ME rihtly ("rightly").

v final -n in many verbal forms (infinitive, plural subjunctive, plural preterite) was lost, e. g. OE cuman > Modern English come (the n remains in some past participles of strong verbs: seen, gone, taken); v final -n also lost in possessive adjectives "my" (OE min > ME mi) and "thy" (OE þin > ME þi) and indefinite article "an" before words beginning with consonant (-n remained in the possessive pronouns, e. g. mine). v

v w generally dropped after s or t: OE sweostor > sister, (sometimes retained in spelling: sword, two; sometimes still pronounced: swallow, twin, swim). v l was lost in the vicinity of palatal c in adjectival pronouns OE ælc, swilc, hwilc, micel > each, such, which, much (sometimes remained: filch).

v final b lost after m but retained in spelling: lamb, comb, climb (remained in medial position: timber, amble); intrusive b after m: OE bremel, næmel, æmerge>ME bremble, nimble, ember (also OE þuma>ME thombe, "thumb"). v initial stops in clusters gn- and kn- still pronounced: ME gnat, gnawen, knowen, knave, cniht ("gnat, " "gnaw, " "know, " "knave, " "knight") h often lost in unstressed positions: OE hit > ME it

v l was lost in the vicinity of palatal c in adjectival pronouns OE ælc, swilc, hwilc, micel > each, such, which, much (sometimes remained: filch). v final b lost after m but retained in spelling: lamb, comb, climb (remained in medial position: timber, amble); intrusive b after m: OE bremel, næmel, æmerge>ME bremble, nimble, ember (also OE þuma>ME thombe, "thumb"). v initial stops in clusters gn- and kn- still pronounced: ME gnat, gnawen, knowen, knave, cniht ("gnat, " "gnaw, " "know, " "knave, " "knight") h often lost in unstressed positions: OE hit > ME it

MODERN (NEW) ENGLISH PHONOLOGICAL SYSTEM Modern (New) English Vowel System v A major factor separating Middle English from Modern English is known as the Great Vowel Shift, a radical change in pronunciation during the 15 th, 16 th and 17 th Century, as a result of which long vowel sounds began to be made higher and further forward in the mouth (short vowel sounds were largely unchanged).

v Beginning in the 15 th century (and largely finished by the late 16 th or early 17 th century) the pronunciations of long vowels started changing in a “complicated but systematic” way. The long vowels began to shorten. v Each long vowel moved “UP” one slot, while the two highest vowels [i] and [u] were “lowered” through the central segment of the vowel trapezoid and were changed into diphthongs. The short vowels DID NOT shift.

v As a result of the Great Vowel Shift English lost the purer vowel sounds of most European languages, as well as the phonetic pairing between long and short vowel sounds.

Modern (New) English Consonant System v In many cases the change is resulted in the loss of consonants in certain positions. v The sound /l/ is lost in combinations before k, m, f, v, d v e. g. talk, walk; folk, yolk, chalk v calm, palm, balm, alms (but not in helm) half, calf (but wolf, elf) v halves, should, could, would

v The sound /b/ was dropped in combination mb when at the end of the word and not followed by another consonant: lamb, climb, tomb, bomb. v /n/ was dropped in combination mn, e. g. autumn, solemn, column v /t/—stl, stn, ftn, stm, ktr — e. g. castle, whistle, thistle, fasten, listen, often, Christmas.

v The consonants were lost in initial clusters: v g and k in gn, kn: v e. g. knight, knee, know, knock, knife, gnome, gnarl, gnat v /w/was lost before mainly r at the beginning of the word. v e. g. wreath, write, wrong, wreck, wring, wrist, wrestle and in unstressed syllables after a consonant in such words as: e. g. answer, conquer, Greenwich, Norwich. v and also in such words as sword, two, towards.

v /h/ disappeared in many unstressed syllables e/g/ forehead, shepherd, Birmingham, Nottingham. v In this period two new phonemes arise that filled gaps in the existing system v /ŋ/ -in OE, [ŋ] only occurred before /k, g/: sing /s. Iŋg/

v -[ŋ] used to be the allophone of /n/ before /g/ v -but word-final stops often lost in clusters v -sing /s. Iŋg/ -> /s. Iŋ/ with loss of word-final stop v -now sing is a minimal pair with sin, so the /ŋ/ is officially a phoneme v [ ʒ ]: -result of v a) borrowing from French (beige) and v b) a set of sound changes called palatalization

v Qualitative change of consonants is illustrated by voicing of fricatives (when the preceding vowel was unstressed) vs z: e. g. dessert, resemble, possess, dissolve, example, exhibit, anxiety. vf v: e. g. of (not off) vʧ ʤ: e. g. knowledge, Greenwich, Norwich.

v Some sounds, mainly in the borrowed words merged with the preceding consonant forming a sibilant: v sj, tj — ʃ : e. g. Asia, Russia, pension, musician, motion, ambition. v zj— ʒ: e. g. division, collision, measure, pleasure, treasure v tj— ʧ: e. g. question, nature, fortune, creature, feature, culture, mixture v dj— ʤ: e. g. soldier, procedure, verdure.