Accommodation of OE Vowels (breaking and diphthongisation)

The later PG and the OG languages possessed the tendency to assimilation and accommodation. This tendency accounted for many modifications in Early OE. 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 the other. The glide, together with the original monophthong formed a diphthong.

The front vowels [i],[e] and the newly developed [æ], changed into diphthongs with a back glide when they stood before [h], before long (doubled) [ll] or [l] plus another consonant, and before [r] plus other consonants. This change is known as breaking or fracture.

Scheme 3

OE Breaking

e------ before h, ll, l+cons, r+cons ----->eo (OHG fehtan > WS > feohtan > NE fight)

æ ---- before h, ll, l+cons, r+cons ------>ea (OHG æld, North ald > WS eald > Ne old)

æ: --- before h ---------------------------->ea: (OHG nâh > WS nēah > NE near)

Breaking is dated in Early OE. OE texts show that this process had already been completed by that time. But it must have taken place later than the vowel changes described above as the new vowel [æ] (a>æ), which appeared some time during the 5th c. That’s why breaking is supposable dated in the first half of the 6th c.

Breaking produced a new set of vowels in OE – the short diphthongs. They could enter the system as counter parts of the long diphthongs that had developed from PG prototypes.

Preceding consonants could cause diphthongisation of vowels: a glide arose after palatal consonants as a sort of transition to the succeeding vowel. After the palatal consonants [k’], [sk’] and [j] short and long [e] and [æ] turned into diphthongs with a more front close vowel as their first element.

Scheme 4.

OE Diphthongisation

sk’

e ----------> ie (OHG skild > WS scield > NE shield)

after { k’ æ --------->ea (L castra > WS ceaster > NE chester)

e ---------->ie (Gt giban > WS 3iefan > NE give)

j æ --------->ea (OHG jâr > WS 3ēar > NE year)

In the resulting diphthongs the initial [i] or [e] must have been unstressed but later the stress shifted to the first element, which turned into the nuclease of the diphthong, to conform to the structure of OE diphthongs (all of them were falling diphthongs). This process known as diphthongisation after palatal consonants occurred some time in the 6th c.

e.g. [æ]>[ea]: Gt alls WS eall NE all

[æ:]>[ea:]: OHG nâh WS nēah NE near

3) Palatal Mutation.

Mutation is the change of one vowel to another more front one through the influence of a vowel in the succeeding syllable. This kind of change occurred in PG when [e] was raised to [i] and [u] could alternate with [o] under the influence of succeeding sounds. In Early OE mutations affected numerous vowels and use of vowels.

The most important series of vowels mutations shared in varying degrees by all OG languages (except Gothic), is known as “i-Umlaut” or “palatal mutation” (палатальна перегласовка). Palatal mutation is the fronting and raising of vowels through the influence of [i] or [j] (the non-syllabic [i]) in the immediately following syllable. The vowel was fronted and made narrower so as to approach the articulation of [i].

Scheme 5

Palatal Mutation (i-Umlaut)

all vowels syllable with i fronted

except e, e:, i, i:, y, y: > before { syllable with j (the non-syllabic [i]) > vowels

Since the sounds [i] and [j] were common in suffixes and endings, palatal mutation was of very frequent occurrence. Practically all Early OE monophthongs, as well as diphthongs except the vowels [e], [e:], [i], [i:], [y], [y:] were palatalised in these phonetic conditions. The vowels [e], [e], [i], [i] were the closest front vowels so they could not be fronted. The vowels [y], [y:] did not occur in such position necessary for i-Umlaut.

Due to the reduction of final syllables the conditions that caused palatal mutation, that is [i] or [j], had disappeared in most words by the age of writing; these sounds were weakened to [e] or were altogether lost. Palatal mutation could affect most OE vowels, both long and short, diphthongs and monophthongs. It led to the appearance of new vowels and to numerous instances of merging and splitting of phonemes. That’s why i-Umlaut is considered to be the most comprehensive process in the OE vowel system.

e.g. æ

a } e Gt mats OE (after the palatal mutation) mete NE meat

ב

ea

} ie OE eald OE (after the palatal mutation) ieldra NE old, elder

eo

The labialised front vowels [y] and [y:] arose through palatal mutation from [u] and [u:], respectively, and turned into new phonemes, when the conditions that caused them had disappeared.

e.g. OE mūs OE (after the palatal mutation) mýs NE mouse, mice

Palatal mutation led to the growth of new vowel interchanges and to the increased variability of the root-morphemes. Owing to i-Umlaut many related words and grammatical forms acquired new root-vowel interchanges. Traces of palatal mutation are preserved in many modern words and forms.

e.g. mouse - mice, foot - feet, blood - bleed

The conditions that caused palatal mutation disappeared but the result of i-umlaut is preserved.

Scheme 6

The Result of Palatal Mutation

∕ │ \

appearance of new appearance of vowels growth of new

phonemes that merged with vowel interchanges

the same vowels which

had arisen earlier

The dating, mechanism and cause of palatal mutation have been a matter of research and discussion over the last hundred years.

I-umlaut in OE had already been completed by the time of the earliest written records (before the 8th c.). But it must have taken place later than all the Early OE changes described above because vowels resulting from other changes could be subjected to palatal mutation. So palatal mutation hypothetically took place during the late 6th c. - 7th c.

Scheme 7

The succession of OE Vowel Changes

OG *aldira > OE *ældira > OE *ealdira > OE ieldra > NE elder

fronting breaking palatal

mutation

There are two explanations of i-umlaut: “mechanistic” theory and “psychological” or “mentalistic” theory. According to the former explanation human organs of speech cannot pronounce some sounds after the other sounds because these sounds are very different. So some vowels or consonants are changed or added. That’s why palatal mutation can be explained like the following successive stages:

1) [i] or [j] palatalise the preceding consonant;

2) this consonant is palatalised and it influences the preceding consonant;

3) this root vowel is fronted and raised.

According to the latter theory the speaker unconsciously anticipates the [i] and [j] in pronouncing the root-syllable – and through anticipation adds an i-glide to the root-vowel. The process is thus subdivided into several stages.

e.g. 1) OE*dōmjan > 2) *dōimjan > 3) *dœmjan > *dēman > NE deem (думати)

Another kind of change referred to umlaut in Early OE is the so-called “velar-mutation” found in some of the OE dialects. It was caused by the influence of back vowels in the succeeding syllables, which transformed the accented root-vowels into diphthongs.

e.g. OHG swestar > OE sweostor > NE sister

b)Changes of Unstressed Vowels.

There were great differences between the development of vowels in stressed syllables and vowels in unstressed syllables. Whereas in stressed position the number of vowels had grown (as compared with the PG system), the number of vowels distinguished in unstressed position had been reduced. The process of reduction of unstressed vowels had begun in PG. In unaccented syllables, especially final, long vowels were shortened, and thus the opposition of long and short vowels was neutralised.

e.g. OE* namon > OE nama > NE name

Some short vowels in final unaccented syllables were dropped. After long syllables which are syllables containing a long vowel, or a short vowel followed by more than one consonant, the vowels [i] and [u] were lost.

Sheme 8

Loss of Short Vowels in Final Unaccented Syllables

V, i

V+c (v+cc) + > lost

u

V - long vowel

v - short vowel

c - consonant

e.g. OE scipu > sceap > NE ships

OE werian, deman > NE wear, deem

These changes of unstressed vowels greatly influenced the further development of English phonological and morphological systems.

4. OE Consonant System.

The OE consonant system consisted of several correlated sets of consonants. All the consonants fell into noise consonants and sonorants. The noise consonants were subdivided into plosives and fricatives; plosives were further differentiated as voiced and voiceless, the difference being phonemic. The fricative consonants were also subdivided into voiced and voiceless; in this set, however, sonority was merely a phonetic difference between allophones.

e.g. OE pin - bin > the difference in sonority is phonemically relevant

OE hlaf - hlaford [v] > the difference is positional (the consonant is voiced intervocally).

The opposition of palatal and velar lingual consonants [k] - [k’], [g] - [g’] had probably become phonemic by the time of the earliest written records.

Table 2

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