15. Old English vowel system

All English vowels including diphthongs can be either short or long. The system of vowel phonemes consisted of the following:

i-ī

e-ē

a-ā

o-ō

u-ū

y-ֿ y

å

å an open or nasalized o[ο], [ֿ õ]

ea, eo, io, ie, ea, eo, io, ie are diphthongs

So we see, the system of vowels was not symmetrical on the phonetic level and the long phonemes in OE outnumbered the short ones.

Consonants in OE consisted of the following: labial p b m, labia-dental f, v, dental t, d, p, ð, n, s, r, l, velar c, z, h. The letter ‘x’ was used instead of the group ‘cs’.

Vowels

Among the most outstanding processes in the OE sound system, the process of assimilation has perhaps had the most important consequences almost all the English diphthongs were originated by various assimilative processes such as fracture, mutation and palatalization. Each of these processes requires fuller explanation.

Old English Fractures (Breaking) преломление.

Fracture occurred most regularly in the Wessex dialect. It consisted in diphthongization of front vowels before certain consonants. As a result a glide- sound appeared as a transitional element from a front vowel to a consonant. It is the vowels ‘a’ [æ] and ‘e’ that undergo fracture.

1) a[æ]>ea before the elucters r+cons, l+cons, h+cons and before h final.

Eg. ærm>earm; æld>eald; æhto>eahta; sæh>seah.

2) e>eo before r, lc, h+a consonant, h final

Eg. melcan>meolcan

herte>heorte

selk>seolk (seal)

feh>feoh (cattle)

The phonetic essence of fracture is that the front vowel is partially assimilated to the following hard consonant by forming a glide, which combines with the vowel to form a diphthong. So, fracture took place in the 6th century, in some dialects, such as Mercian, it did not occur, and the vowel [æ] became ‘a’

Eg. ærm>arm, old, ahta, sah.

Mutation or Umlaut (перегласовка)

Mutation is a change of vowel caused by partial assimilation to the following vowel. Mutation brings about a complete change in vowel quality: one phoneme is replaced by another. The process of mutation began in the 5th or 6th century. The most important type of mutation is that caused by an “i” or “j” of the following syllable, that is i-mutation. The OE mutation affects 7 vowels and 4 diphthongs, only short “e” and “i” were not submitted to it.

[І] i or [j] umlaut

Under the influence of i or semivowel [j] the root vowel is rendered more front and

close. Having caused umlaut the i or j either disappears or turns into an unstressed

vowel “e” or “i”

Ex. a>e sandian>sendan (to send)

æ>e tælian>tellan

ā>æ lārian>læran (teach)

o>e ofstian>efstan (hurry)

ō>ē dōmian>dēman (think)

u>y fulian>fyllan (fill)

ū>yֿ cūþian>cyֿ þan (to make known)

Umlauted diphthong

ea>ie hleahian>hliehhan (laugh)

eֿa>ie hֿ earian>hieran (hear)

eo>ie afeorrian>afierran (remove)

eֿo>ֿ ie cֿ eosan>ciesþ (chooses)

The i-mutation was significant for the phonemic structure of OE. This mutation accounts for the appearance of the new vowels “y” and “ֿ y” from “u” and “ū” respectively. I-umlaut or palatal mutation was certainly the most comprehensive process as it could affect most OE vowels. It has led to the appearance of new phonemes and numerous instances of vowel-variations in the root morpheme.

Old English Phonetic Changes. Back or Velar Mutation.

This kind of mutation was caused by a back vowel (u, o, a) of the following syllable. The root vowel was diphthongized under the influence of (u, o, a) in the next syllable.

Ex. e>eo herot>heorot (heart)

a>ea sary>seary (armour)

i>io hira>hiora (their)

One more type of mutation before h is found in OE, but the essence of it remains somewhat obscure. As we see, under mutation and fracture short and long vowels and diphthongs underwent qualitative changes. Quantitative changes occurred when

1. the vowels were lengthened. This phenomenon took place in the 9th century. The vowels were lengthened before the lengthened nd, ld, mb.

Ex. bindan>bīndan; wild>wīld; cild>cīld, but if the cluster was followed by

another consonant, lengthening did not take place, ex. cildru.

2. the vowel was also lengthened if the following consonant was dropped, Ex. sæzde>sæde; mæzden>mæden

3. if the consonants ‘m, n’ were lost before the fricatives ‘f, s, þ, h’ the vowels were lengthened: ex. finf>fīf; bronhte>brōhte; uns>ūs; onþer>ōþer (other).

Verner's Law

According to Grimm, the ancient Indo-European parent language sounds ofp, t, and k changed into f, th, and h in the Germanic languages, while b, d, and g in the ancient tongue changed to the Germanic p, t, and k. Verner observed that this was true when the accent fell on the root syllable, but when the accent fell on another syllable, ancient Indo-European p, t, and k became Germanic b, d, and g. Verner then applied these rules to the consonants s and r. Verner's law states that with respect to the Germanic languages, the medial and final fricatives were voiced if they came after an unaccented syllable in the Indo-European parent language.

Grimm's Law

According to Grimm's law, the ancient unvoiced p,t, and k became the English unvoiced f, th, and h, and the Old High German f, d, and h. Thus, taking Latin as an example of an earlier member of the Indo-European language group, the Latin pater became the English father and the Old High German Fater (modern German Vater). In addition, the ancient unvoiced b, d, and g changed to p, t, and k in English (for example, Latin dens, to English tooth) and kh in Old High German.