Changes in the Orthographic System

One of the consequences of the Norman Conquest was the French influence on English spelling. The English language lost the letters which were not used on the continent, e.g. æ (ash), þ (thorn), ð(eth), ӡ (yogh), ƿ (wynn).

New letters were introduced, such as g,j, k, q, v. Many new digraphs and combinations of letters came into use, such as th,sh,ch,gh,ph,dg,ck,gue,qu,ou, ow, etc.:

The diagraph ghwas introduced torepresent the OE sound /x/ and /ç/:

The length of a vowel was marked by doubling it, especially in closed syllables:

OE swēt > ME sweet (Mod E sweet)

OE gōd > ME good (Mod E good) [Ivanova, 2001].

The most essential way of representing the length of vowels in Middle English was a graphically open syllable. With the complete reduction of the final ‘e’ in the words like OE ‘name’ (/ٰ'na:mə/ in the 13^th c.), the syllable ceased to be open (/na:m/ in the 14^th c.), the final mute letter came to be a marker of the length of the root vowel. Since then it had become possible to add the final –e to other words with a long vowel: OE hām > ME hōm > home; OE mӯs > mice; OE stān > stone [Ivanova, 2001 : 93-94].

Doubled consonants, which indicated consonant length in earlier periods, in Middle English time began to indicate also that the preceding vowel was short. Surviving examples are dinner and bitter, as contrasted with diner and biter [Algeo, 2010].

Sometimes the sound [e:], chiefly in French borrowings, was represented by ie or ei:

OF chef > ME chief [e:]

Many letters changed their signification. The letter u, which had denoted only [u] in OE, was used, after the French fashion, to denote [ü] formerly expressed by y: OE bysig > ME busy. The corresponding long vowel [ü:] was usually expressed by ui:

OE fӯr > ME fuir (Mod E fire)

The letter y came to denote the sounds [i] and [j]:

OE his > ME his/hys

OE dæg > ME day

There was a tendency to use the letter i at the beginning and in the middle of words. The letter y was used at the end of a word to separate it from the next letter, as there were often no intervals between words.

The letter c was used not only for the sound [k], but also, in accordance with French usage, for the sound [s] before the letters i, e, y. Therefore, OE cēpancould no longer be written with the letter c, for it would be read as [se:pən], that’s why the letter c was replaced by k; keepen.

The letter k was frequently used to replace the letter c in other cases: OE bōc > ME book.

Sometimes the sound [k] was denoted by the digraph ck: OE bæc > ME back.

The letter o was used not only for the sound [ↄ], but also for the sound [u], e.g. in ME cumen there were too many vertical lines. It made reading rather difficult. This is why words like come [u], som(e) [u], son [u] have the letter o instead of u.

All these spelling changes weakened the phonetic character of Old English orthography. They gave rise to fluctuations in the graphic presentation of sounds and words.

In Old English, the sound [e:] was represented only by the letter ē. In Middle English, the sound [e:] could be represented by e, ee, ei, ie. In Old English, the word fisc had only one spelling. In Middle English, it could be written fish, fysh, fissh, fisch, fyssh, fysch.

Unit 21

Middle English Phonetic Changes

A. Consonants

1. OE [g] (the letter g) > ME [w]: OE boga, dragan > ME bowe, drawen. Cf. Rus. “eгo”, where [g] > [в].

2. Initial [h] was dropped before “r, l, n”: hring > ME ring.

3. Before [w] the sound [h] remained longer especially in the North where OE “hw-” came to be written “quh-“ or “qwh-”.

In the South [h] was dropped before [w] in the Middle English language, and the OE combination “hw” was replaced by ME “wh”.

4. A very important change was the vocalization of [j] and [w] after vowels, which brought about the appearance of new diphthongs:

[j] > [i] (the letters i, y): OE dæg, segl > ME dai/day, seil >ModE day, sail.

[w] > [u] (the letters w, u): OE snāw > ME snōu > ModE snow; OE dēaw > ME dēw/dēu > ModE dew.

5. Final [-n] was often lost in unstressed syllables:

OE bringan > ME bringen > bringe > ModE bring

6. Medial [v] was often dropped before consonants:

OE hæfde > ME had

7. The palatalization of [k’], [g’], [sk’]: [k’] > [ʧ], [g’] > [ʧ], [sk’] > [ʃ].

Date: 2014-12-22; view: 2208