KYIV NATIONAL LINGUISTIC UNIVERSITY

systems.
Qualitative changes within the system of vowels.
Quantitative changes within the

system of vowels.
The system of consonants.
The main processes within the system of consonants.

С. 75-90.
Ильиш Б.А. История английского языка. – Л.: Просвещение, 1972.

– С. 44-56.
Иванова И.П., Чахоян Л.П. История английского языка. – М.: Высшая школа, 1976. – С. 53-67.
Студенець Г.І. Історія англійської мови в таблицях. - К.: КДЛУ, 1998. – Tables 32-39

changes in OE.
In EPG the stress was still movable; in

LPG it became fixed on the first syllable.
The OE period was characterized by a system of fixed stress. The stress was fixed on the first syllable.
Due to the force of articulation the stressed and unstressed syllables underwent different changes: stressed syllables were pronounced with great distinctness and precision, while unstressed syllables became less distinct and phonetically weakened.

the root morpheme or on the first syllable.

Word stress was fixed: it remained on the same syllable in different grammatical forms of the word and as a rule didn’t shift in word building as well.
e.g. Nom. Sing. scip (ship), ʹhlaford (lord)
Dat. Sing. ʹscipu, ʹhlaforde
Polysyllabic words, especially compounds, may have had 2 stresses (primary and secondary).
e.g. OE boc-hus (a library)
The verbal prefixes were unstressed
e.g. OE misʹfaran (to mislead),
andʹswarian (to answer), the nominal, adjectival prefixes were stressed
e.g. ʹandswaru (an answer).

and [a:] were fronted and, in the process of fronting,

split into several sounds. [a] > [æ] in closed syllables; [a] > [o, ã] before a nasal; [a] remained unchanged if it was followed by a back vowel in the next syllable.

vowel changes
Under the influence of succeeding and preceding consonants some

Early OE monophthongs developed into diphthongs.
If a front vowel stood before a velar consonant there developed a short glide between them, as the organs of speech prepared themselves for the transition from one sound to another.
The glide together with the original monophthong formed a diphthong.

clusters.
before clusters l, r, h + consonant

a (æ)

> ea Goth. alls – OE eall
Goth. ahtau – OE eahta
e > eo OHG. derk – OE deorc
OHG. herza – OE heorte
OHG. melcan – OE meolcan

under the influence of [i], [j]

in the following syllable.

i /y < u Goth. fuljan – OE fyllan, OE mus-mys
e < o Goth. dohtar – OE dehter, OE boc-bec
æ < a Goth. saljan, ān – OE sellan, æniʒ
ie < ea, eo OE eald – OE ieldra, ieldest

the influence of back vowels in the following syllable.

i >

io OE silufr – siolufr (silver), OE hira -hiora (their)
e > eo OE sifon – siofon, OE hefon - heofon (heaven)
æ > ea OE cæru – cearu (care)

after the palatal consonants ʒ [g’], c [k’] and sc

[sk’]
e > ie OE ʒefan – ʒiefan (to give),
OE ʒeldan -ʒieldan (to pay)
o > eo OE scort – sceort (short)
a > ea OE scacan – sceacan (to shake)
Goth. scadus – OE sceadu (shade)

slēan (to slay)
OE*sehan>*seahan > sēon (to see)

θ, s) due to the loss of

nasals
OE *onþar > OE oþer (other)
OE *uns, ʒons, munþ > OE ūs (us), ʒōs (goose), mūþ (mouth)
Loss of [χ] after a vowel OE * mæʒden > mǽden (a maiden)
Lengthening in the final stressed position OE by, swa > OE bý, swā (as)

certain clusters ld, nd, mb

OE ald, cild, wild, wind – OE āld (old), cīld (child), wīld (wild), wīnd (wind)

Shortening before other clusters
OE wīfmann (wife), cēpte (kept) – OE wifmann, cepte

a front vowel (sometimes after front vowels) unless followed by

a back vowel. OE cild [kild] > [k’ild] (before a front vowel), OE spræc (speech), but in sprecan (to speak)[k] was followed by a back vowel. The differences between velar and palatal consonants were not reflected in the spelling.

f, s) Goth. fimf, uns - OE fīf (five), ūs

(us)
X was lost between vowels
PG *fōhan > *fōan > OE fōn (to catch)
ʒ was lost before the dentals (d, t, n)
OE sæʒde > sæde (said)
X was lost before sonorants
OE hring, hnutu > OE ring, nute (ring, nut)

The vowel disappears and [r] becomes syllabic;
2) Eventually the vowel

reappears
on the other side of [r]
*hros > hors (horse)
OE þrida > *þrda > þirda (third)
OE rinnan > *rnan > irnan (to run)

affricates and sibilants: g, k, sk change correspondingly into dʒ,

tʃ, ʃ bryʒʒe – bridge, cild – child, scirt – shirt.

Long consonants in the final position became short – hence the process of Shortening: mann – man (but manna)