Principal Quantitative Vowel Changes consonants oe Constants

The system of OE consonants consisted of several correlated sets of consonants. All

the consonants fell into noise consonants and sonorants. The noise consonants were

divided into plosives and fricatives; the plosives were further differentiated as voiced and

voiceless, the difference being phonemic. The fricative consonants were also subdivided

into voiced and voiceless. The consonants were also divided into labial, dental or alveolar,

palatal, velar and pharingal. Every consonant could also appeared as long or doubled.

OE Consonant Phonemes

				labial	dental or alveolar	palatal	velar	pharingal
Conso- nants	noise	frica- tives	voiceless/ voiced	f7v	θ/р s/z	x' j	x y	h
		plosive	voiceless	p	t	k', sk'	k
			voiced	b	d	g'	g
	sono- rants			m	n, 1, r		ŋ
Semi- vowels				w		j

Grimm's law: regular correspondences between consonants of Germanic and those

of other (non-Germanic) Indo-European languages (Latin, Greek, Sanskrit and Russian)

can be grouped under 3 categories:

Indo-European Germanic

1) voiceless stops p, t, k -> voiceless fricatives f, p, h;

2) voiced stops b, d, g -> voiceless stops p, t, k;

3) voiced aspirated stops bh, dh, gh -> voiced non-aspirated stops b, d, g.

In Latin h + t, s + t — t did not change into p.

Karl Verner's law: in some words Indo-European voiceless stops p, t, k

corresponded to Germanic voiced stops but not to voiceless fricatives. In 1977 he

explained this seeming exceptions from the Grimm's law:

1) if Indo-European voiceless stop was preceded by an un stressed vowel, the voiceless

fricative which developed in accordance with the Grimm's law became voiced and

later developed into a voiced stop;

2) unstressed vowel + s -> z; in West and Northern Germanic this z became r, this

process is called rhotacism;

Splitting of Velar Consonants

In EOE the consonants [k], [g], [x], [y] were palatalized before a stressed front

vowel and sometimes also after a front vowel, unless followed by a back vowel. The

combination [sk] also became palatal: [sk'] without any positional restrictions. In other

positions the consonants remained velar and thus two contrasted sets arose. To the end of

OE period [k] -> [tj]; [g'] -> [d3]; [sk'] -> [J].

__ Splitting of Velar Consonants

	OE	NE	OE	NE	OE	NE	OE	NE
Before and after front- vowels	[k'] cild sprжce	child speec h	[j] dж3 3eard	day yard	[x'] niht mint	night might	[sk'] scip sceap	ship sheep
In other positions	[k] cuppa boc	cup book	[y] da3as bo3a	days bow	[x] hlaf puhte	loaf thought