Middle English phonetic system

Vowels.

In ME a great change affected the entire system of vowel phonemes. OE had both short and long vowel phonemes, which were absolutely independent and could occur in any phonetic environment. In the 10^th-12^th c. quantity of vowels becomes dependent on their environment: in some phonetic environment only short vowels can appear, while in other – only long due to a number of changes:

1. shortening: Long vowels occurring before two consonants are shortened; though they remain long before “lengthening” consonant groups “ld, nd, md” and before clusters belonging to the following syllable. They are also shortened before one consonant in some three-syllable words:

e.g.: cēpte – kepte (keep); wīsdōm – wisdom

wēnde – wēnde (think)

lāferce – laferce (lark); sūþerne – suþerne (southern)

2. lengthening: Short vowels were lengthened in open syllables and affected short vowels “a, e, o”. The vowels “i, u” remained unaffected though sometimes were also lengthened in open syllables, “i” became “ē”, “u” – “ō”:

e.g.: caru – cāre (care); werian – wēren (wear); hopian – hōpen (hope)

yfel – ifel – ēvel; dures – dōres (doors)

3. monophthongization of OE diphthongs: All OE diphthongs became monophthongs in ME:

• short “ea” became “a” passing through the stage of “æ: eald – ald; healf – half;

• “ea” before “ld” yielded different results in different dialects: in Southern dialects eald – ēald – ēld; in Midland dialects “a” corresponded to Southern “ea” and was lengthened before “ld”, which in its turn changed into “ō” ald – āld – ōld; in Northern dialects “a” before “ld” was lengthened ald – āld;

• “ea” before “h” and the cluster “h+consonant” also yielded different results in different dialects: in Southern dialects “eah” became “eh, eih” seah – she, seih (saw); in Northern and Midland dialects “eah” changed into “ah, auh” seah – saugh; in West Saxon as a result of i-mutation “ea’ changed into “ie, i” meaht – mieht, might; in other dialects into “e” meaht – meht, miht;

• long “ēā” changed into long “ē” strēām – strēm;

• short “eo” changed first into the vowel “ö” and then into “e”: heorte – hörte – herte; influenced by i-mutation it yielded “ie” into “i” in West Saxon; “io” into “eo” in Kent and “io” into “i” in the North and Midlands;

• the group “eoht” had developed into “iht” in Oe already and “ight” predominates in ME”: knight, fighten;

• long “ēo” changed into long “ē”, often spelt “ee”: dēop – dēp, deep.

4. rise of new diphthongs: New diphthongs arise in ME different from the OE ones and originated from groups consisting of a vowel and either a palatal or velar fricative:

• rise of diphthongs in –i: æz ► ai, ay (dæz – dai, day); ez ►ei, ey (wez – wei, wey); ēz ► ei, ey (zrēz – grei, grey);

• rise of diphthongs in –w: az ►aw (drazan – drawen; sazu – sawe (saw)); āz ►ōw in Northern dialects (āzen – ōwen (own));

• rise of long front vowels: i+z ►ī (izel – īl (hedgehog)); ī+z ► ī (stīzen – stīen (ascend)); y+z ►ī in Northern and Midland dialects (ryze – rīe (rye); ÿ+z ►ī in Northern and Midalnd dialects (drÿze – drīe (dry)); ēa+h ► eih, ih (hēah – hein (high); ēo+z,h►ei►ī (lēozan – leien – līen (lie))

• rise of long back labialised vowels: u+z ►ū (spelt “ou, ow” fuzol – foul (bird)); ū+z ►ū (spelt “ou, ow” būzan – bowen (bow)); lz►lw (zalze – galwe (gallows)); rz►rw (morzen – morwen)

5. leveling of unstressed vowels: All unstressed vowels were weakened and reduced to a neutral vowel which was denoted by the letter “e”:

e.g.: bindan – binden, tellan - tellen

Consonants.

OE palatal “c”, which occurred initially before front vowels, medially before “i” and finally after “i” developed into the affricate [t∫]:

e.g.: cild – child; ic – ich (I); swilc – swich (such)

In a few cases ME has variants with [k] and [t∫], [sk] and [∫]:

e.g.: picken (pick) – pitchen (throw); bank (hill) – bench ; skirt – shirt

The OE long consonants denoted by the spelling “cz” developed into voiced affricate [dz]:

e.g.: brycz – bridge; seczan – seggen

In the Southern dialects initial “f” became voiced: for – vor.

In Kent initial “s” in words of OE origin was also voiced: synne – zenne (sin)

Middle English grammar system

Substantives.

In OE the reduction of declension had already begun: many i-stem and u-stem substantives were influenced by a-stems and ō-stems. In the 11^th -13^th centuries these tendencies developed more intensively. Weakening of inflections is connected with leveling of unstressed endings. Simplification of substantive morphology affected the grammatical categories of the substantive in different way. The OE gender disappeared together with other distinctive features of the substantive declension. Semantically gender was associated with the differentiation of sex and, therefore, the formal grouping into genders was suppressed by a semantic division into inanimate and animate nouns with a further subdivision into males and females. Thus, the two categories preserved in ME substantive are case and number.

The number of declensions is preserved: strong and weak, but the number of stems is reduced. The strong declension originates from the OE a-stem declension, but in ME all vowel-stem substantives and many consonant-stem ones are added to this declension. Strongly declined substantives have two cases: common and genitive, OE nom., acc., dat. cases having fused into one case – the common case at the beginning of ME, and two numbers: singular and plural.

e.g.: nom. - stōn – stōnes; gen. - stōnes – stōnes

nom. - fish – fishes; gen. – fishes - fishes

The case forms differ only in the singular.

The weak declension of substantives originates from OE n-stem declension. However in ME it has a tendency to disappear, therefore, many substantives with former n-stem pass into the strong declension. The substantives persevered in the weak declension do not have case forms and build plural forms by means of the ending –en(n):

e.g.: care – caren.

Substantives belonging in OE to root-stems in ME have the same categories of number and case as the strong declension but there is leveling of forms without Umlaut in the singular and with Umlaut – in the plural:

e.g.: nom. – fōt – fēt; gen. – fōtes – fētes (foot-feet)

Thus, the complicated substantive paradigm that existed in OE was gradually simplifies in ME, which is reflected in the following:

1. reduction of number of declensions;

2. reduction of the number of grammatical categories;

3. reduction of the number of categorial forms within one of the two remaining grammatical categories – the category of case.

Pronouns.

In OE all pronouns were declined and the pronominal paradigm was very complicated. In ME the system was greatly simplified and nowadays what remained of the pronominal declension is mainly represented by the declension of the personal pronoun and on a small scale – demonstrative and interrogative (relative).

• personal pronouns: have the following forms in ME:

sing. 1^st, 2^nd, 3^rd (m., f., n.) p. pl. 1^st, 2^nd, 3^rd p.

nom. ich thou hē, hē/shē, hit/it wē yē hī, they

obj. mē thē hir, her, hit/it ūs you hem, them

The following changes occur here since OE:

• dual number pronouns have disappeared;

• genitive case forms no longer exist;

• the dat. and acc. have been merged into one objective case;

• the 3^rd per.pl. pronoun “hī” is gradually suppressed by “they”;

• initial “h” of the neuter pronoun “hit” is often lost;

• the origin of the fem.pronoun “shē” is not clear; it may have developed from the OE fem. demonstrative pronoun “sēo”.

• possessive pronouns have the following forms:

sing. 1^st, 2^nd, 3^rd (m., f., n.) p. pl. 1^st, 2^nd, 3^rd p.

mīn, mī thīn, thī his, hir/her, his our your hire, their

The forms “mīn, thīn” are used if the following word begins with a vowel or “h”; they are also used as predicatives no matter what the initial sound of another word is. The forms “my, thy” are found before a word with an initial consonant.

e.g.: myn herte, myn elbowe; thy child

• demonstrative pronouns: the OE forms of the demonstrative pronouns “sē, sēo” are changed into “þe, þeo” which in ME function both as demonstrative pronoun and as article. Since the 14^th c., however, the form “þat” was the only one preserved as a demonstrative pronoun form. Simultaneously, the declension system of the pronoun was undergoing changes: the form “þōs” (from nom. and acc. pl. of the OE “þes”) became the plural of “þat”. The other demonstrative pronoun “þes” (this) developed in the following way: sing. –“this” from OE nom. and acc. sing. “þis”; pl. - “thise, these”; sing. - “that” from OE nom. and acc. sing. Neuter “þæt”; pl. – “thō, thōs.

the pronoun “þe” (that)

singular (m., f., n.) plural

nom. þe þeo þat, þet þeo, þe

gen. þes, þe þer þes, þe þer, þe

dat. þen, þan þer þen, þan, þe þen, þe

acc. þene, þe þeo þat, þet, þe þeo, þe

the pronoun “þes”

singular (m., f., n.) plural

nom. þes þeos þis þeos

gen. þisses þisse þisses þisse

dat. þisse þisse þisse þissen

acc. þesne þeos þis þeos

• interrogative pronouns developed from OE.

• reflexive pronouns developed in ME from the groups “objective case of personal pronouns + self”: himself, herself, themselves;

• relative pronouns: from OE form “þæt”, which was the nom. and acc. neuter of the dem. and relative pronoun, in ME “that” developed, which was used as a relative pronoun without destination of gender or number. In the 14^th c. new relative pronouns appear developed from negative ones: “which” and “who”.

• other pronouns: the OE defining pronouns “zehwā” (every) and “zehwilc” (each) disappear in ME. The pronouns “æzþer” (either), “ælc” (each), “swilc” (such) and “sē ilca” (the same); the indefinite ones “sum” (some) and “æniz” (any); the negative “nān” (no, none) are preserved as “either, ech, swich, that ilke, som, any, noon” and become invariable.

Adjectives.

The disappearance of grammatical gender in ME substantives and the reduction of case endings leads to a considerable change in adjective declension, besides, the characteristic weak-declension ending –en is dropped. The only case ending in adjectives comes to be –e and the highly developed OE paradigm is reduced to the following:

e.g.: nom. - yong – yonge (strong), gen. - yonge – yonge

nom. – gōd – gōde; gen. – gōde - gōde

Degrees of comparison of adjectives are formed by means of the suffixes –er, -est. suppletive forms are also preserved in ME as well as the forms with vowel interchange in the root syllable:

e.g.: hard - harder – hardest

good – bettre – best

evil – werse – werst

muchel – mōre – mōst, mēst

litel – lesse – lest

long – lenger – longest

Alongside of such degrees of comparison formations like “more profitable”, “most faithful” appear in ME.

Verbs.

All types of verbs that existed in OE are preserved in ME, but some changes take place due to phonetic phenomena of ME.

• strong verbs: The infinitive ending in –an and the past plural ending in –on are weakened to –en(-n). In class IV and class V verbs the past forms begin to penetrate into the past plural, thus preparing the reduction of four main parts of a strong verb to three. On the other hand, the vowel of participle II in class II and class III verbs begins to spread to the past plural. Grammatical alternation of consonants is completely abandoned. The OE prefix “ze-“ is reduced to “y-“. Thus classes of strong verbs in ME are the following:

I. wrīte wrōt writen writen

II. chēsen chēs chōsen chōsen

III. drinken drank drōnken drōnken

IV. bēren bār bēren, bar bōren

V. gēten gat gēten, gat gēten

VI. shāken shōk shōken shāken

VII. fāllen fell fellen fallen

The similarity of vowels in the infinitive, past singular and past plural of classes Iv and V made it possible for the two classes to influence one another and several verbs originally belonging to class V changed into class IV. This is what happened to the OE verbs “specan, wefan (weave), wrecan (avrnge), tredan (tread).

• weak verbs: The evolution of weak verbs in ME reveals a strong tendency towards regularity and order. Two classes are distinguished in ME: class I takes the ending –de in the past without any vowel interchange before the dental suffix and the ending –ed in participle II; class II verbs, which were marked by –ode, -od in OE, weaken these endings to –ede, -ed in ME. In the 14the c. in some weak verbs a stem ending in –l, -n, -f, -v the past suffix –d changes into –t; verbs with a stem in –rd, -nd, -ld form their past in –rte, -nte, - lte and their participle II in –rt, -nt, it.

I. deemen deemde deemed

II. stiren stirede stired

looken lookede looked

• preterite – present verbs are preserved in ME and their forms undergo changes due to the general tendencies of the period.

Infinitive	cunnen	durren	Shulen	mowen	mōten	owen
Present Indicative Singular 1st 2nd 3rd Plural Subjunctive Singular Plural Imperative Singular 2nd Plural 2nd	can, con canst, const can, con cunnen, can cunne cunnen ---- ----	dar darst dar durren durre durren ---- ----	shal shalt shal shulen shule shulen ---- ----	may mayst may mowen mowe mowen	mōt mōst mōt mōten mōte mōten	ouh owest ouh, oweth owen owe owen
Past Indicative Singular 1st 2nd 3rd Plural Subjunctive Singular Plural	couthe,coude couthest, coudest couthe,coude couthen, couden couthe,coude couthen, couden	dorste,durste dorstest, durstest dorst,durste dorsten, dursten dorste,durste dorsten, dursten	sholde sholdest sholde sholden sholde sholden	mighte mightest mighte mighten mighte mighten	mōste mōstet mōste mōsten mōste mōsten	oughte oughtest oughte oughten oughte oughten
Participle I Participle II	--- couth	---- ----				owen

• anomalous verbs preserve the system of the verbs inherited from OE: “bēn”, “gōn”, “dōn” and “willen”.

Infinitive	bēn	gōn	Dōn	willen
Present Indicative Singular 1st 2nd 3rd Plural Subjunctive Singular Plural Imperative Singular 2nd Plural 2nd	am art is bēn bē bēn bē bēth	gō gōst gōth gōn gō gōn gō gōth	dō dōst dōth dōn dō dōn dō dōth	wil, wol wilt, wolt wil, wol wollen wille, wolle willen, wollen ----- -----
Past Indicative Singular 1st 2nd 3rd Plural Subjunctive Singular Plural	was wēre was wēren wēre wēren	yede, wente yedest, wentest yede, wente yeden, wenten yede, wente yeden, wenten	dide didest dide diden dide diden	wolde woldest wolde wolden wolde wolden
Participle I Participle II	bēinge bēn	gōinge gōn	dōinge dōn	---- wold

LECTURE 4. The New English Period.

Plan:

1. Changes in phonetic system.

2. Changes in grammar system.

Changes in phonetic system.