Vowel system: quantitative changes in unstressed vowels

An important change characteristic of the ME period affected the unstressed vowels. All unstressed vowels were weakened and reduced to a neutral vowel [∂], which was denoted by the letter e. E.g. the infinitive suffix was reduced: -an > -en bindan > binden, sunu > sune, and the nominative plural ending –as became - es, e.g. stanas > stones.

From the 13^th century some dialects showed certain vacillation in spelling of unstressed vowels. In Northern dialects the unstressed vowel was often spelt i, y: askid; in North Midland an u-spelling appears: fadur.

Thus in ME the unstressed vowels were separated from the stressed vowels. The stressed position allows a distinction of many vowel phonemes and the unstressed position doesn’t. So the number of unstressed vowel phonemes in ME was greatly reduced.

At the beginning of the 16^th century the vowel [ ∂ ] of unstressed endings was lost. Even in the 14^th century the rhythm of Chaucer’s verse shows that in many cases it was no longer pronounced. In the 15^th century it finally disappeared.

Loss of [ ∂ ] started in the Northern dialects. The vowel [ ∂ ] was lost when it was final and when it was followed by a consonant: tables, books, likes, filled. But [ ∂ ] was preserved and later changed into [i] in the groups /s∂z/, /z∂z/, /ſ∂z/, /tſ∂z/, /dg∂z/, /t∂d/, /d∂d/ - houses, wanted, loaded, in some adjectives, participles: learned, wicked, blessed.

Loss of / ∂ / had special consequences for spelling: the letter e was preserved in words having a long root vowel. In this case mute e arose, which denoted length of the preceding vowel. On the analogy of such words the letter e was added in words which had never had any unstressed vowel: hūs > house, stōn > stone.

Quantitative changes in stressed vowels

The earliest of positional quantitative changes was the readjustment of quantity before some consonant clusters – 1. lengthening of vowels before ld, mb, nd (9 – 11^th c.). 2. In the 12^th – 13^th c. short vowels, especially open a, o, seldom close i, u, more open e became long in open syllables.

OE open > ME ōpen

wike > wēke

nama > nāme

Note: No lengthening occured in polysyllabic words and before some suffixes, e.g. – ig bodig (MnE –y: body).

In the ME period a great change affected the entire system of vowel phonemes. OE quantity - length / shortness of vowels which was a distinctive phonemic feature in ME became a merely phonetic peculiarity of a vowel sound, it became dependent on their environment or positionally predetermined. In some phonetic environments only short vowels can appear (e.g. before the clusters of 2 or more consonants - kepte), while in other phonetic environments only long vowels can appear (e.g. vowels a, o, e were long in the open syllables). The scholars seek explanations in the rhythmic tendency: in order to achieve an average uniformity in the length of the syllable the vowel was shortened or lengthened in some positions. the theory was criticised.

Qualitative changes:

development of monophthongs and diphthongs

Monophthongs

1. ā > ō (M, S), ā – N, stān > stōn

2. an > on (WM) man > mon, other dialects – an, man

3. æ > a, wæs > was

4. y > i (N, EM) hyll > hill

y > e (K) hyll > hell

y > y, u (WM, SW) hyll > [hűll] > [hull]

Diphthongs

In the ME period OE diphthongs were lost and the new diphthongs grew. OE diphthongs were short and long (eo, ea, ie), they were falling – with a closer nucleus and more open glide. Towards the end of the OE period two sets of diphthongs – short and long were lost, some of the diphthongs merged with the monophthongs (ēa, ēo > ē, ea > a, eo > e), īe > ī, ie > i before [χt, χ’t]:

OE ēast > eest

dēop > deep

līehtan > lighten

earm > arm

heorte > herte

nieht > night

In ME a new set of diphthongs developed from some sequences of vowels and consonants due to the vocalisation of OE [j] and [γ].

1. e, ē + j > ei OE weg > ME wey

2. æ + j > ai mæg > may

3. ā + γ > au lagu > lawe

4. o + γ > ou cnāwan > knowen

5. ā + χ > au + χ brāhte > braughte

The newly formed diphthongs differed from the OE in structure: they had an open nucleus and a closer glide, they were arranged in a system consisting of two sets – with i-glides and u-glides, but were not contrasted through quantity.

Lecture 10. Great Vowel Shift.

Contents:

1. The Great Vowel Shift (GVS).

2. Interpretations of GVS.

3. System of vowels in Late ME.

4. Word-stress in ME.

The Great Vowel Shift (GVS)

The main difference between Chaucer's language and our own is in the pronunciation of the long stressed vowels. The consonants and short vowels remained generally the same, but the long vowels in stressed syllables are regularly different. This is due to what is called The Great Vowel Shift.

Beginning in the 12^th – 13^th c. and continuing until the eighteenth century the long sounds of the stressed syllables changed their places of articulation. The high vowels moved up, except for /i:/ and /u:/, which formed diphthongs /ai/ and /au/. Likewise the mid and low vowels moved up, except for /o:/ and /a:/, which formed another diphthongs /ou/ and /ei/. The first element of the diphthongs was contrasted to the second as a more open sound to a close one.

As a result all the long vowels became shifted – closer.

FRONT HIGH /i:/ > /ai/

ME time /tīm∂/ > NE time /taim/

MID CLOSE /e:/ > /i:/

ME kepen /kēp∂n/ > NE keep /kīp/

MID OPEN /ε:/ > MID CLOSE /e:/ > later FRONT HIGH /i:/

ME street /strēt/ > NE street /strēt > strīt/

BACK HIGH /u:/ > /au/

ME mous /mūs/ > NE mouse /maus/

MID CLOSE /o:/ > /u:/

ME moon /mōn/ > NE moon /mūn/

MID OPEN /o:/ > /ou:/

ME stone /stōn∂/ > NE stone /stoun/

BACK LOW /a:/ > /ei:/

ME maken /māk∂n/ > NE make /meik/

The change affected only long stressed vowels.

In ME word my /mī/ ī was affected because it has primary stress, and we say /mai/; /ī/ in a word only was not affected - the primary stress fell on the first syllable and -ly was unstressed, so we say /li:/.

The Great Vowel Shift was not followed by any regular spelling changes. The modification in the pronunciation of words was not reflected in their written forms. During the Shift even the names of some English letters were changed, for they contained long vowels.