KYIV NATIONAL LINGUISTIC UNIVERSITY

in ME.
Development of diphthongs.
Levelling of final unstressed vowels.
ME consonant system.

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

ea:, eo:, io:, ie: ME ei, ai, ou,

au, oi

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

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
dūst, fyst, rūst – dust, fist, rust

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)

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.

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.

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)

[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)

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]

positions
Foot-initial ferry-very, fan-van
Foot-middle selfish- selvedge
Foot-final

calf – carve

Veal, victory, zodiac
OE lufu –ME love