Between Spelling and Pronunciation in Modern English

A Diachronic Account of the Discrepancy

English vocalic and consonant systems have greatly changed in the course of time. The spelling of the English language has undergone some changes only once, in the XI-XII c.c. to a great degree under the influence of Norman copy-writers. In general spelling standards are not so progressive as pronunciation ones. The written form of the English language became standardized earlier than its spoken form. To a great degree modern spelling goes back to William Caxton who introduced printing in 1476. It is difficult to overestimate the influence of the first printers on fixing and spreading the written form of English. Caxton’s spelling, for all its irregularities and lack of correspondence, was far more normalized than the chaotic spelling of the manuscripts. It was accepted as standard and has in many cases remained unchanged even up to the present day in spite of the drastic changes in pronunciation. As a result, the spelling became increasingly conventional in later ages, as the pronunciation continued to change whereas the written form remained fixed. The main principles of English spelling have a diachronic account and can be explained from a historical point of view.

OE spelling was phonetic, a separate letter was used for each distinct sound.

ME spelling innovations incorporated many sound changes, spelling became more ambiguous and conventional.

In ME the length of the vowel became positively dependent: in closed syllables the vowels shortened and in open syllables they became long. The French scribes applied their graphic habit to double o, e to indicate [o:], [e:]: foot, feet while [O:], [F:] were spelt as diphthongs: boat, meat. From borrowed French words such as trouble, couch the spelling was transferred to native English words: OE hus > ME hous(e). From French loan words chief, relief this spelling penetrated into native English words: field, thief. After reduction and loss of the final e its remaining in spelling meant nothing but the open syllable and the long vowel, it began to appear in the words where historically it had never been written: ME hom, bon > NE home, bone.

In the sphere of consonants French scribes introduced some diagraphs: th is, ch ild, sh ip, li gh t. Even OE hwan turned into ME wh an.

In NE all long vowels have undergone the influence of the Great Vowel Shift which resulted in narrowing of the long vowels while the narrowest ones turned into diphthongs. The results of the Shift are not reflected in spelling: climb, name, nice, home, teeth.

The XVI c. known in the cultural life as Renaissance gave rise to latinization. It was considered that borrowed words should be written as they used to be written in the original, in the language from which they had been borrowed. Pafit borrowed from French in NE was compared to its original in Latin perfectus, as a result we use the word perfect today. It is a rare case when the introduced letter is pronounced. Compare ME dette – Lat debitum – NE debt, ME doute – Lat. Dubito – NE doubt. Lots of attempts to change the spelling according to the pronunciation have been undertaken, but until now they are of no effect.

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