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What vowels existed in Old English? How were they represented in writing?

 

Old English Vowels

Old English Vowel Description, Position, Pronunciation The letter used for the vowel Example
MONOPHTHONGS
I Short front vowel; it is pronounced in Old English in much the same way as it is in Modern English (like in still); i bindan (to bind)
i: Long front vowel; like in ModEnglish steal ī wrītan (to write)
E Short front vowel; ModEnglish bed e helpan (help)
E: Long front [e] vowel; it is pronounced like an extended version of the first element in the diphtong [ei] in name; or like in German Meer ē cēpan (keep)
Æ Short back vowel; met mainly in closed syllables, or in open ones, if the next syllable contains a front vowel; like in ModE back æ wæter (water)
Æ: Long back vowel, like a longer variant of a ModE vowel in bad ǣ drǣfan (drive)
A Short back vowel; mainly in open syllables, when the following one contains a back vowel; like in ModE cup a macian (make)
A: Long back [a] vowel; In any kind of syllables; like in ModE star ā stān (stone)
o Short back vowel; like in ModE cost o stolen (stole)
o: Long back [o] vowel; like in ModE store ō scōc (shook)
u Short back vowel; used only when the next syllable contains another back vowel; like in ModE book u hulpon (they helped)
u: Long back [u] vowel; like ModE stool ū lūcan (lock)
y Short front vowel; i-mutation of u; like modern German vowel in fünf; pronounced as i, with lips in a whistling position y wyllen (woolen)
y: Long front [y] vowel; i-mutation of ū, like in German glühen mỹs (mice)
DIPHTHONGS A diphthong is a glide from one vowel sound to another pronounced as a single syllable. The short OE diphthongs ea, eo, io, ie and the long diphthong īe appeared after phonetic changes in pronunciation of some sounds. These were the processes of mutation, fracture and palatalization (see later). The long diphtong ēa and ēo resulted from Gothic sounds.  
ea The sounds starts with æ and glides to a, with the emphasis on the first sound. ea earm (arm)
ea: The sounds starts with ǣ and glides to a, with the emphasis on the first sound. ēa cēas (chose)
eo The sounds starts with e and glides to o, with the emphasis on the first sound. eo meolkan (to milk)
eo: The sounds starts with ē and glides to o, with the emphasis on the first sound. ēo cēosan (choose)
ie The sounds starts with i and glides to e, with the emphasis on the first sound. ie Ziefan (give)
ie: The sounds starts with ī and glides to e, with the emphasis on the first sound. īe hīeran (hear)
io The sounds starts with ī and glides to o, with the emphasis on the first sound. This diphthong in most cases is the variant of eo    
io: The sounds starts with ī and glides to o , with the emphasis on the first sound.    

 



 


Date: 2015-01-29; view: 1165


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