MODERN ENGLISH PERIOD

Vowels: 1) loss of the neutral sound of unstressed endings (in the 15^th c.) 2) loss of vowels in intermediate syllables: chapiter – chapter, medicine 3) change of [er] into [ar] with some exceptions: ferre – far, sterre – star , but occasionally this change did not take place: certain, prefect, etc. when it didn’t change into [ar] , it eventually developed into [e:], but ‘clerk, ‘Derby’.

The Great Vowel Shift began in the 15^th century: all long vowels were narrowed and the narrowest were diphthongized:

Take [ta:ka] – [teik]; beat [be:t]/[ bi:t]; meet [me:t]/[mi;t]; like [li:ka]/[laik]; boat [bo:t]/[bout]; tool [to:l]/[tu:l]; house [hu:s]/[haus]. All those changes show one general tendency: narrowing of long vowels and diphthongization of the narrowest of them. All these changes occurred gradually, without being noticed by the speakers.

Influence of [r]: when a long vowel was followed by ‘r’, new phonemes came into being: (ia], [ea], [ua]: fare [fa;r] – [fea]; tire [ti:r] /[taia], power [pu:ar] /[ paua].

Some words have sounds which do not correspond to the general law of the shift.

Long [u:] remained unchanged when followed by a labial consonant: droop, room; [i:] remained unchanged in words borrowed from French: machine, police, etc.; long open [e:] did not always change into [i:], it was shortened in some words head, death, etc.

Other changes:

- short ‘a’ into ‘ae’: hat, cat; but when it was preceded by [w] it developed into [o]: what, was, ec.

- In the 16^th c. 2 new long vowels arose [a:], [o:]

- [a:] – before: bath, father, brass, cast, ask, clasp, calm

- [o:] – before: cork, port, autumn, dawn

- long [u:] was shortened before [k]: book, cook; also in good, foot, etc.

- rise of long [e:] – fir, sir, fur, curtain, worm, word, heard, learn

- short [u] changed into [^]: cut, but, love, son, rough, enough; blood, flood; remained unchanged before labial consonants: pull, full, bull, etc.

- unstressed vowels were reduced either to [i] or [a]: begin, wishes, mountain, etc.

Date: 2015-01-12; view: 1587