Exercises old english phonetics

1. Indicate the stress of the following OE words by placing a stress mark over the stressed vowel. A – words without a prefix; B – words with a prefix; C – compounds.

A 1) brinZan “bring” 2) sceawunZ “surveying” 3) sprecan “speak” 4) tweZen “two” 5) widuwe “widow” 6) frēōdōm “freedom”.

B 1) Zefeoht “battle” 2) underZitan “understand” 3) beZinnan “begin” 4) ūtrīdan “ride out” 5) tōcyme “advent” 6) undyrne “open”.

C 1) sundlida “sailor” 2) brimclif “cliff by the sea” 3) nōntīd “ninth hour” 4) sunnandæZ “Sunday” 5) sæman “seaman”.

2. Determine the sound values of the letters Z, þ, ð, s, and f in the OE words listed below.

Z 1) Zān “go” 2) āZān “gone” 3) dæZ “day” 4) Zēār “year” 5) folZian “follow” 6) sorZa “sorrow” 7) Zrund “ground” 8) Zūð “battle”.

þ/Đ 1) þæt “that” 2) oððe “or” 3) oðrōwan “row away” 4) sūð “south” 5) tēoða “tenth” 6) þider “thither” 7) āð “oath”.

S 1) sunu “son” 2) rīsan “rise” 3) þis “this” 4) steorra “star”.

F 1) feorh “life” 2) wīf “wife” 3) āfen “evening” 4) æfre “ever”.

3. Examine the following OE words to determine the environments in which the sounds of each pair occur.

f/v, O/ð, s/z

1) folc “people” 2) þurh “through” 3) sōna “soon” 4) bæþ “bathing” 5) hūs “house” 6) fīf “five” 7) offrunZ “offering” 8) maðelian “make a speech” 9) māðm “object of value” 10) cēōsan “choose” 11) misenlic “various” 12) swīðe “very” 13) efen “even”.

Which of the six sounds occur at the beginning of a word?

Which sounds occur next to a voiceless consonant?

Which sounds occur between vowels?

Which sounds occur between a vowel and a voiced consonant?

4. How do you account for the length of the root vowel in the following OE words? For reference use their cognates given in brackets.

1. OE gōs “goose” (MnG Gans) 2) OE tōþ “tooth” (Lat dēns/dēntis) 3) OE ōðer “other” (MnG ander) 4) OE fīf “five” (MnG fünf) 5) OE ūs “us” (MnG uns) 6) OE mūþ “mouth” (MnG Mund).

5. Explain the absence of /h/ in the infinitive and the presence of this consonant in the past singular of these OE verbs.

1) slēān “kill” – slōh 2) tēōn “draw” – tēāh 3) flēōn “flee” – flēāh 4) sēōn “see” – seah.

6. Explain the origin of the root vowel in each of the following OE words by comparing them with their cognates in other Germanic languages.

1. OE lecZan “lay” – Gth lagjan 2) OE hebban “heave” – Gth hafjan 3) OE dysiZ “silly” – OHG tusing 4) OE dynnan “make noise” – OSax dunnian 5) OE hycZan “ponder” – Gth gahugjan 6) OE sæliZ“happy” – OHG saling 7) OE dælan “divide” – Gth dailjan.

7. How can you account for instances of vowel interchange in the following pairs of MnE words?

1. old – elder 2) long – length 3) full – fill 4) blood – bleed

5) France – French.

8. Explain the root vowel differences between the OE forms and their cognates.

1) OE sceaft “shaft” – MnG Schaft 2) OE scēāp “shape” – OHG scaf 3) OE sceot “shot” – MnG Schoss 4) OE Zēār “year” – OHG jār 5) OE Ziefan “give” – OHG geban 6) OE Zeard “yard” – Gth gards, OHG gart 7) OE eard “earth” – OHG art 8) OE ēāhta “eight” – MnG Acht 9) OE Zefeoht “battle” – OHG gifeht 10) OE healf “half” – MnG halb 11) OE heard “hard” – MnG hart 12) OE heorte “heart” – MnG Herz 13) OE steorfan “die” – MnG sterben 14) OE seolf “self” – MnG selb 15) OE feoh “cattle” – OHG fehu.

9. In the following pairs the first word has a mutated vowel omitted from its spelling, and the second word is a related form without mutation. Supply the missing vowel.

1) d…man “to judge” – dōm “judgement” 2) …niZ “any” – ān “one” 3) h…lan “to heal” – hāl “whole” 4) m…tan “to meet” – mōt “meeting” 5) str…nZest “strongest” – stranZ “strong” 6) m…s “mice” – mūs “mouse” 7) f…dan “feed” – fōd “food” 8) Z…s “geese” – Zōs “goose” 9) t…þ “teeth” – tōþ “tooth” 10) l…ran “to teach” – lār “lore” 11) b…rZan “to bury” – burZ “town”.“