Seminar 4. ME Phonetics and Orthography
1. Middle English Alphabet.
2. Changes in Spelling habits.
3. Changes in phonetics. Vowels. Consonants.
.4.Types of ME literary documents.
Lecture 5
NEW ENGLISH PERIOD.
FORMATION OF THE NATIONAL LANGUAGE.
Contents
I. Spreading of London dialect in the 15th century
II. Phonetic Changes. Vowels.
1. The Vowel Shift.
2. Influence of – “R”.
3. Special cases.
4. Other changes.
III. Phonetic changes. Consonants.
1. Development of [h].
2. Loss of [l] before [k,m,f,v].
3. [j] Merged with Preceding Consonant.
I. Spreading of London dialect in the 15th century.
In the course of the 15th century the London literary language gradually spread over the country superseding local dialects. Spoken English in various parts of Britain gradually approaches the literary norms, and differences between the norms and popular speech tend to become obliterated (стираться). This process has been carefully studied by the eminent British scholar Henry Wyld. According to his classification, written documents of the 15th century can be classified into three types:
1-official documents; 2 -literary texts; 3 -private letters.
The most significant event of the period was War of Roses (1455 -1485), which marked the decay of feudalism and the birth of a new social order. Feudal law came to an end in the battle of Bosworth, when Richard III was defeated by Henry Tudor, who became king of England as Henry VII. The political result of this struggle was the rise of an absolute monarchy. That meant a high degree of political centralization and thus contributed to centralization in language as well, that is, to a predominance of the national language over local dialects.
Another great event was the introduction of printing. Printing was invented in Germany by Johann Gutenberg in 1438. The Englishman William Caxton (1422 – 1491) learnt about printing when he was in Netherlands. He published the first English printed book in Netherlands. Returning to England, he founded the first English printing office in London in 1478, and in 1477 the first book was printed in England, namely, “The Dictes and sayings of the Philosophers”. The spread of printed books encouraged the normalization of spelling and grammatical norms.
Caxton was a native Kent, but he knew the London dialect. In spelling he adhered closely to the tradition of the scribes. Having completed his book he submitted it to the princess Margaret, sister of King Edward IV (reigned 1461 – 1483) and “she found a default in my English which she commanded me to amend”. So his book was written in London dialect.
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Introduction of printing contributed to normalization of spelling. Standards adopted by to the first printers have basically survived up to our days. Phonetic changes which have occurred since then have hardly been reflected in the spelling. As a result the vowel letters in English acquired meanings different from those they have in French, German, Italian and other European languages, besides, each vowel letter acquired different sound values depending on its environment. Thus letter “a” denotes different vowel sounds in the words: “make”, “cat”, “water”, any.
In the 17th and 18th century a great number of grammarians and orthoepists appeared, they understood their task was to establish literary language forms.
II. Phonetic changes
The Vowel Shift
The most significant phonetic change of this period was the Great Vowel Shift, beginning in the 15th century. It left its imprint on the entire vowel system of the ME period.
The essence of the shift was the narrowing of all ME long vowels, and diphthongization of the narrowest long ones: [i: → ai], [u: → au].
The shift can be represented by the following diagram:
ai ← i: i: i: u: u: → au
↑ ↑ ↑
e: e: ei ou o:
↑ ↑ ↑
ع: ǽ o:
↑
a:
In the 16th century the vowel [e:] from ME [E] differed from vowel [i:] from ME [e:], and the words "speak", "beat", "mean" did not rhyme with the words ''meek", "meet", "keen". In the late 17th century [e:] changed into [i:] and the difference between the two vowels disappeared.
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Spelling Middle English Modern English
pronunciation pronunciation
1. take 'ta:kə 'teik
name 'na:mə 'neim
grave 'gravə greiv
sane 'sanə 'sein
2. beat 'be: t 'be:t → bi:t
clean 'kle: n 'kle:n→kli:n
speak [spe: k] [spi:k]
lead [le: d] [le:d] → [li:d]
3. meet [me: t] [mi:t]
sleep [sle: p] [sli:p]
keen [ke: n] [ki:n]
see [se :] [si:]
be [be :] [bi:]
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field [fe: ld] [fi:ld]
chief [t∫e: f] [t∫i:f]
receive [re'se: v] [ri'si:v]
seize ['se: zə] [si:z]
4. like ['li: kə] [laik]
time ['ti: mə] [taim]
rise ['ri: zə] [raiz]
side [si: də] [said]
5. boat [bo: t] [bout]
load [lo: d] [loud]
moan [mo: n] [moun]
go [go :] [gou]
6. tool [to: l] [tu:l]
moon [mo: n] [mu: n]
food [fo: d] [fu: d]
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do [do :] [du: ]
7. house [hu: s] [haus]
noun [nu: n] [naun]
how [hu: ] [hau]
down [du: n] [daun]
As will be seen, the ME long [e:] (from OE [æ] or [ea]) changed into long [e:]. To denote this vowel the spelling ea was introduced, in order to distinguish this sound from another vowel – the long [e:], which according to the vowel shift changed into [i:] and was denoted by the spelling ee. However, when in the 17th century the former vowel also changed into [i:], the difference between the two spellings lost its phonetic value (two phonemes were merged into one), and since then the spelling ea and ee became hieroglyphic, i.e. they serve to distinguish between two words pronounced in the same way, e.g. sea and heel, meat and meet, leak and leek, etc. In a few words [e:], which in the vowel shift became [i:], is denoted by the spelling ie, e.g. field, friend, chief; occasionaly also ei, as in deceive, receive, seize.
ME long [o:] became [ou] as a result of the vowel shift. This sound has been denoted by the spelling oa since the 16th century.
ME long [o:] became [u:] and is denoted by the spelling oo.
All these changes show one general tendency: narrowing of long vowels and diphthongization of the narrowest of them. Thus all items of the shift appear as elements of a single process affecting all ME long vowels.
If we compare the system of long vowels which existed before the shift with that which arose from the shift, we can state that there appeared no new sounds, that is, no sounds that had not existed in ME. This will be made clear by the following table:
Middle English Modern English
Sound Example Sound Example
[ei] wey [ei] make
i: time i: see
e: seen e: sea
ai sayde ai time
ou bowe ou go
u: hous u: moon
au drawen au house
However, the vowel shift is an important event in the history of the English sound system, as the distribution of long vowels was completely changed. Thus, for instant, long [i:] appears in ME in the word "see", which in ME had the vowel [e:] and it does not appear in the word "time" which was pronounced with an [i:] in ME.
2. Influence of "R"
When the long vowel was followed by the consonant [r], the results of the shift were somewhat different. Articulation of [r] favours a broader pronunciation of the preceding vowel, and that's why "R" conflicted with the tendency of the shift. The following table shows the specific features of the shift before [r], in comparison with other consonants.
Spelling ME MnE Spelling ME MnE
1. fate fa: t feit fare fa: r feər
2. (a) beat be: t bi: t fear fe: r fiər
(b) bear be: r beər
3. steep ste: p sti: p steer ste: r stie r
4. time ti: m taim tire ti: r taiər
5. boat bo: t bout boar bo: r bo: r
6. moon mo: n mu: n moor mo: r muər
7. house hu: s haus power 'pu: ər pauər
Trip thongs arising in words like tire and power eventually became diphthongs or even monophthongs:
[tarə←taər ← ta: r]; [pauər←paər←pa: r].
As a result of these changes new phonemes [iə], [εə] and [uə] came into being.
Special cases
Some words have sounds which do not correspond to the general law of the vowel shift.
Thus, long [u:] remained unchanged when followed by a labial consonant, for example, in droop (ME droupen), room (ME roum). Here the oo spelling was introduced to denote the vowel [u:]. In the words group and soup the [u:] is probably due to the fact that the words have been borrowed from French after the change [u:→au] was over (when the process of G.W.Sh.was completed). Compare also: accoutre, coup [ku:]. [u:] has also remained unchanged in the substantive and verb wound.
[i:] has remained unchanged in words borrowed from French when the change [i: → ai] was over, as in machine, police, chemise. [a:] has remained unchanged in words borrowed after the change [a →ei], as in vase, charade, etc.
ME long open [έ] did not always changed into [e: → i:]. In some words it was shortened to [e] before the narrowing had begun. This shortening is mainly found before [d] and [ө], as in bread, death; also before [t] in fret, let, ate, sweat, get. The vowel was also shortened before [s] in less and before [f] in deaf. ME [e:] was shortened in friend.
However, there was no shortening before the same consonants in other words; compare: knead, lead (v), plead, read, heath, sheath, wreath, beneath, underneath.
In two words long [i:] was shortened to [i]: breeches, sick (ME sēke).
Other changes
The change [a] → [æ]
At the same time short [a] changed into [æ]. This change affected all words containing [a ] except those where it was preceded by [w]. Thus the vowel [æ] appeared again in the words hat, cat, ladder, and others. OE [æ] changed into [a] in ME, and in N.E. this [a] changed again into [æ].
When the [a] was preceded by [w], it remained unchanged, and eventually developed into [o].
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