Other changes and loss of consonants

Palatalization of consonants

Palatalization

A palatal consonant standing at the beginning of a word caused a phonetic phenomenon called palatalization. Palatalization of vowels is a process of formation of diphthongs under the influence of initial palatal consonants. The consonants which caused palatalization are the following: 3, c., sc.

Under the influence of these consonants e > ie 3 efan > 3 iefan ‘to give’;

a, æ, æ > ea scacan > sceacan ‘to shake’; o > eo scort > seort ‘short’.

LECTURE 3

1. Verner’s law.

2. Palatalization of consonants.

3. Other changes and loss of consonants.

4. Metathesis.

5. Stress.

In all the OG languages we can find a certain gradation of consonants which in the period preceding the OE was like this: [s] - [z], [θ] - [ð], [h] - [g], [hv] - [v] (g). This phenomenon was explained by the Danish scholar Verner and came to be known in linguistics as Verner’s Law. The essence of this phonetic phenomenon is the following: a voiceless stop was preceded by an unstressed vowel, the voiceless fricative which developed from it became voiced, and later this voiced fricative became a voiced stop. Thus in the Greek word patēr voiceless stop t was preceded by an unstressed vowel. Under these circumstances the voiceless fricative ƥ which developed from it became a voiced fricative ð, and eventually this voiced fricative developed into the voiced stop d: cweƥan – cweðan – cwædon - cweden ‘to speak’: [ƥ] → [ð] → [d]. The voiced fricative [z] in the position between two vowels changed into [r]. The phenomenon of changing [s] - [z] - [r] is called rhotacism, e.g. ceosan – ceas – curon – coran ‘to choose’. The process of changing of voiceless fricatives into voiced ones according to Verner’s law can be traced in MnE.: be - was - were;

OE wæs - wæron - where OG stress followed the voiceless fricative [s] which turned into [z], the voiced [z] in the position between two vowels changed into [r]. Thus as a result of the influence of Verner’s law and some other phonetic phenomena the OG fricative sounds changed as the following: [f]>[v]>[b]; [ƥ]>[ð]>[d]; [h]>[y]> no consonant; [s]>[z]>[r]> no consonant.

At a very early time the consonant c before a front vowel, as in cild ‘child’, and occasionally in other conditions as well, became palatalized and approached the affricative [tʃ]. In a similar way, the cluster sc, as in scip ‘ship’, became palatalized and approached [ʃ].

An analogous development affected 3 and c 3 before a front vowel and when final becoming palatalized, they approached and may have reached [d 3 ], as in sin3ean ‘sing’.

OE shows the results of a common Germanic phonetic process, which may be expressed by the following formula:

any velar consonant + t > ht

any labial consonant +t > ft

any dental consonant +t > ss

e.g. sōcte > sōhte ‘sought’, witte > wisse ‘knew’. The [n] sound before the consonants h, f, s, p disappeared. The preceding vowel became lengthened and nasalized, but nasalization eventually vanished: bronhte > brōhte ‘brougth’;

h is lost between vowels: tīhan > tēon ‘accuse’.

Metathesis is a phenomenon whet two sounds standing near one another interchange their places. Most of all it happened with the sounds [i], [r]: OE rinnan > irnan > iernan > to run.

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