2) Quantitative changes
- Contraction
e/æ + h+ vowel = ea
eo + h + vowel = eo
e.g. slæhan > slehan > sleaan > slean
Some short vowels in final unstressed syllables were dropped.
- Lengthening (9 th c.)
Vowels were lengthened before the clusters nd, ld, mb
Bindan > bīndan
Cild > cīld but cildru = because the cluster is followed by another consonant
In classical Old English there were seven long vowels and seven corresponding short vowels. We can identify them by means of a (schematic) vowel chart.
I(:) y (:) u (:)
E(:) o(:)
Æ(:) a(:)
There were only two principal diphthongs which contrasted in length = /eo/, /eo:/, /ea/, /ea:/.
OE Consonant system
In many respects the Old English consonant system was not unlike the system in the present-day language. Perhaps the most obvious difference between Old English and present-day English is the existence in the former of geminate consonants.
1) West Germanic germination of consonants
In all WG languages at an early stage of their independent history, most consonants were lengthened after a short vowel before [j]. this process is known as WG germination or doubling of consonants, as the resulting long consonants are indicated by means of double letters: e.g. fuljan > OE fyllan.
The change didn’t affect the sonorant [r], e.g. OE werian ; nor did it operate if the consonant was preceded by a long vowel
e.g. OE dēman, mētan
- degemination of consonants
At the beginning of the period geminates could only occur medially, but when final unstressed syllables were lost examples, such as bedd < Gmc *baddjaz, showed final geminates.This position was not to last, for by the classical period variant spellings with single final consonants appeared, e.g. bed
Palatalisation and assibilation
The process by which the velar consonant is fronted is called palatalisation, and this process is found in several Germanic languages. In prehistoric Old English this phonetic process affected all the Germanic velar consonants. The change took place whenever the velar consonant was adjacent to and in the same syllable as a front vowel or a palatal consonant (this could only be / j /).
By the ninth century, however, the new palatal stops had developed into the palato-alveolar affricates /tf/ and / d j /. The affricate development is usually called assibilation.
Palatalisation (and the associated assibilation) is one of the most important sound changes in Old English, not only for the period itself but also for the later history of the language. In terms of Old English, the new phonemes /J,tf,d3/ were introduced.
The v elar consonants [k, g, x, γ] were palatalized before a front vowel, and sometimes also, after a front vowel, unless followed by a back vowel.
e.g. OE cild [k] was softened to [k’] at it stood before the front vowel [i]. in Late OE it may have reached the stage of [t∫]
In a similar way, the cluster sc, as in scip (ship), became palatalized and approached [∫] in Late OE.
An analogous development affected [3] and [c3] before a front vowel and when final becoming palatalized, they approached [d3], as in sen3ean ‘single’, bryc3 ‘bridge’.
but: OE sprecan where [k] was followed by the back vowel [a].
The difference between velar and palatal consonants was not shown in the spellings of the OE period. In the course of time the phonetic difference between them grew and towards the end of the period the palatal consonants developed into sibilants and affricates: [k’] > [t∫], [g] > [dg]; in ME they were indicated by means of special digraphs and letter sequences.