Phonetic changes. Vowels

Changes of the 15^th century:

a) The vowel [a] was lost when it was final and also when it was followed by a consonant, as in plural forms of substantives, e. g. tables, hats, books, in the 3^rd person singular present indicative, e. g. likes, sits, shines, and in the past tense and second participle in -ed, e. g. lived, ƒilled, stopped.

b) The [a] was preserved, and later changed into [i] in houses, washes, watches.

c) The vowel [a] was preserved and developed into [i] in some adjectives and adjectivized participles in -ed, e. g. wicked, ragged, crooked, rugged, blessed, dogged.

d) unstressed e was still written at the end of the words which had a long root vowel. In this way the so-called «mute» e arose, which denoted length of the preceding vowel. On the analogy of such words the letter e was added in words which had never had any unstressed vowel. Such was the origin of the spelling house, stone, wrote (ME hous, ston, wrot).

e) When final [a] was lost in the words ending in «we», as morwe ‘morning’, sorwe ‘sorrow’, narwe ‘narrow’, the letter «w» was changed into «ow» [ou] and «r» was doubled - morrow, sorrow, narrow.

f) In some cases an unstressed vowel in the 4^th or 5^th syllable or the whole syllable disappeared: chapiter > chapter; phantasie > fancy.

g) The combination «er» turend into «ar»: sterven > starve; sterre > star; bern > barn, except ‘certain, perfect, universal, university.

h) in some cases the combination «er» developed into «ear»: herte > heart, but unchanged «er»: certain, merchant, mercy, servant, perfect. In some cases only the pronunciation was changed: clerk [kla: k).

Vowel shift. Vowel shift is the narrowing of the long vowel and the formation of diphthongs: [a] > [ei], [ta:ke] take [teik]; [o:] which developed from the OE [a] turned into [ou]: [sto:n] > stoun]; [o] from the OE [o] gave [u:]: [do:] > [du:], moon [mo:n]> [mu:n]; [e:] > [i] sleep [sle:p]> [sli:p]; field [fe:ld] > [fi:ld]; [i:] > [ai], time [ti:m] > [taim]; [u:] > [au]: house [hu:s] > [haus]; dpwm [du:n] > [daun].

French words didn’t change their pronunciation: police, machine, vase, promenade. In a number of words, especially before «d» [e:] lost its length: [bre: d] > [bred]; [he: d]> [hed]; [de: θ]> [deθ]; [fre:nd]> [frend].

In other words however were such changes: before «d» [e:]> [i:] -[re:d]> [ri:d]; ã>æ kãt>kæt; glad> glæd. In case [ã] was preseded by [w] it remained unchanged and only in the course of time the combination [wa]> [wo]- [waz]> [woz], [swan]> [swon];

The diphthongs [ai] and [ei] were towards the end of the ME period merged in [æi], asa in day, etc. Eventually this [æi] developed into [ei]: [dei], [wei], etc.

The diphthong [ei] merged with [ei] from ME [a:]. A few pairs of homophones resulted from this: ail- ale, fain- feign-fane; tail- tale;

ME [eu] (spelt eu, ew) developed through [in] into [ju:], as in dew [dju:]. This change also affected French words in which French [ü] had been substituted by [in], as pure, nature, etc.

In MdE the ME sounds [ou] and [o] were merged into one. This brought about several pairs of homophones: growngroan; know-no; rowed-road,

In consonant group «gh» in right, light, broght [h] was pronounced: [liht], [riht]. In the 15^th century [h] disappeared and [ou], [au]> [o:] - [bro:t]. In spelling it didn’t change. In other cases [h] > [f]: cough, enough, rough, laugh. In the 15^th century al > aul: all, tall, talk, walk were pronounced [aul], [taul], [taulk], [waulk]. Later on the diphthong [au] spelt «aw», «au» gave [o:]: cause [ko:z], autumn, dawn. When this change took place the group [aulk] > [o:]: [to:k], [wo:k]; [l] disappeared before [d] in should, would, could.

In the XVI century a new long vowel [a:] appeared before [f]: after, laugh; before [ð] [θ]: path, bath, rather, father; before [s]: class, grass, pass. At the beginning of the words the combination ass is usually [æs]: passenger, passage, classic; [a:] appeared before st: vast, fast, last; before sk ask, mask, basket; sp grasp, rasp.

Before lf, lv an [a:] developed: calf, half, behalf, halve.

The development of [au] before the clusters “n + consonant” and “m + consonant” is difficult. Here we find three possibilities:

[æ]: cant, decanter, rant, scant, pant, grand;

[a:]: plant, enchant, advantage, command, branch, chance, example, sample;

[o:]: gaunt, haunt, taunt.

Before [nd 3 ] the vowel is usually [ei:] change, strange, danger, manger.

In the 16^th century a new vowel appeared namely [ə:]. Its rise is closely connected with changes of some vowels before [r] and with vocalization of [r], [ə:] arises in the following cases:

1) from the group i + r, as in fir, sir, dirt, mirth, firm, first, thrist;

2) from u + r, as in fur, curt, curtain, burn, hurt, further;

3) from o + r, after w, as in worm, word, world, worse;

4) from e + r, as in heard, learn.

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