The system of oe consonants (compared with that of MnE)

OE		MnE
[p], [b], [m], [w]	bilabial	[p], [b], [m], [w]
[f], [v]	labiodental	[f], [v]
[T], [D]	interdental	[T], [D]
dental [t], [d], [n], [s], [z]		alveolar[t], [d], [n], [s], [z], [l]
[k’], [g’], [x’], [j]	mediolingual	[j]
[k], [g], [N], [y], [x], [r], [l]	backlingual	[k], [g], [N]
-	forelingual	[r]
[h]	pharyngal	[h]
-	hissing sounds	[S], [Z]
-	affricates	[tS], [dZ]

1

4. In early OE the runic alphabet was used which consisted of ancient Germanic letters. But when England was converted into Christianity (which began in 597 and was over a century later) the Latin alphabet began to oust the runic letters. By the end of the OE period the English used the so-called I Insular Latin alphabet which was borrowed from the Irish. That alphabet was a little different from the "continental" Latin alphabet - it had the runic letter p) (thorn) which stood for the forelingual interdental sounds [T] and [D], the letter Z (yogh - a modification of the Latin letter g) which I indicated the sounds [g], [j]. Double Z was written cZ and stood for the I sound [g']. There was also p (wynn) until w was introduced, being formed out of the two letters u (hence its name "double u"). There existed also the vowel letter x (ash) to indicate the sound [ae]. The letters v and u were not separated until the 17^th century when u remained for vowel use and v - for consonant use. The letters k, q, z and j were added to the English alphabet only during the Middle English period. Thus, the OE alphabet included the following symbols:

A, x, b, c, d, e, f, Z, h, I, l, m, n, o, p, p, D, r, s, t, u, v, y.

In the Middle English period the symbols p and D were lost and the sounds which were indicated by them came to be spelt th; the digraph ae became a.

Check yourself test 3

1. What are the principal differential features between a synthetic language and analytical one?

2. Prove that OE was a synthetic language.

3. Name the grammatical categories of OE nouns and compare them with those of MnE nouns.

4. What was so peculiar about the OE adjective?

5. What types of formation of degrees of comparison of adjectives existed in OE? Are found in MnE?

6. Name the t classes of pronouns in OE.

7. How many cases did OE pronouns have?

8. Why do we sometimes use the two terms "Genitive" and "Possessive" as synonyms?

9. Name the calegories of OE verbs. Contrast them with the grammatical categories of MnE verbs.

10. Were there any differences in spelling of OE strong and weak verbs?

11. Why do the so-called preterite-present verbs have such a name?

12. What suffixes were used to form cardinal numerals? Give examples.

13. What were the suffixes of ordinal numerals? Give examples.

14. In what ways could compound numerals be formed?

15. What are the principal characteristics of OE syntax?

16. Dwell upon the etymological structure of the OE vocabulary.

17. Speak about the system of OE vowels. Compare it with the MnE vowel system.

18. What are the classes of consonants? Which of the classes of consonants existed in OE?

19. What is the difference between the so-called Insular Latin and the Con­tinental Latin alphabets?

20. What symbols can be found in OE manuscripts?