Changes of unstressed vowels in ME and Early NE

In the Middle and NE periods the main character and directions of the evolution of unstressed vowels were the same as before: the unstressed vowels had lost many of their former distinctions – their differences in quantity as well as some of their differences in quality were neutralised.

In the Middle English period the pronunciation of unstressed syllables became increasingly indistinct. As compared to OE which distinguished five short vowels in unstressed position (representing three phonemes [e/i], [a] and [o/u]), ME reduced them to [e/i] or rather [э/i], the first variant being a neutral sound. Compare: OE fiscas ME fishes [`fijэs]

Fisces

The occurrence of only two vowels [i] and [э] in unstressed final syllables is regarded as an important mark of the ME language distinguishing it on the one hand, from OE with its greater variety of unstressed vowels, and on the other hand, from the NE, when this final [э] was altogether lost. (Compare NE risen, tale.)

Some of the new unstressed vowels were not reduced to the same degree as the OE vowels and have retained their quantitative and qualitative differences, e.g. NE consecrate [ei], disobey [o].

These examples, as well as modern polysyllabic words like alternant with [o] and [o:], direct with [ai] and [i] and others show that a variety of vowels can occur in unstressed position, although the most frequent vowels are [i] and [э], the latter confined to unstressed position alone, being the result of phonetic reduction of various vowels.

These development show that the gap between the set of stressed and unstressed vowels has narrowed, so that in Middle and NE we need no longer strictly subdivide the system of vowels into two sub-systems – that of stressed and unstressed vowels (as was done for OE), - even though the changes of the vowels in the two positions were widely different and the phonetic contrast between the stressed and unstressed syllables remained very strong.

Date: 2015-02-28; view: 1770