- •Module 2 old english historical background. Old english phonetics
- •Periods in the history of English
- •2. Old English historical background
- •3. The dialects in Old English
- •4. Old English alphabet and pronunciation
- •Old English Alphabet
- •5. Old English phonetics
- •5.1. Word stress
- •5.2. The system of Old English sounds
- •5.3. Basic phonetic changes in Old English
- •5.3.1. Changes of vowels
- •Splitting of [a] and [a:] in Early Old English
- •5.3.1.2. Development of Diphthongs
- •Old English Reflexes of Proto-Germanic Diphthongs
- •5.3.1.3. Oe breaking (fracture)
- •5.3.1.4. Palatalization
- •5.3.1.5. Mutation, or Umlaut
- •Palatal mutation
- •5.3.2. Consonant changes in oe
- •5.3.2.1. West Germanic gemination of consonants
- •5.3.2.2. Loss of Consonants in Some Positions
- •Old English consonant system
- •Table 2.4 Old English Consonants
- •6. Conclusions: Phonological status of oe sounds
- •I. Phonemics of oe consonants
- •II. Phonemics of oe vowels
Old English Reflexes of Proto-Germanic Diphthongs
(or Bi-Phonemic Sequences)
-
PG OE
Other OG languages
OE
a + i a:
Goth stains
stān ‘stone’
Goth ains
ān ‘one’
e + i i:
Goth meins1
mīn ‘mine, my’
Goth reisan
rīsan ‘rise’
a + u ea:
O Icel austr
ēast ‘east’
Goth auso
ēare ‘ear’
Goth augo (cf. G Auge)
ēae ‘eye’
e + u eo:
Goth þiudans
þēoden 'king'
Goth kiusan
cēosan ‘choose’
i + u io:
Goth diups
dēop, dīop ‘deep’
5.3.1.3. Oe breaking (fracture)
OE breaking (fracture) is due to the influence of l, r, h + consonant and h final on preceding vowels a, e, i, ǽ, ī, whereby a guttural glide was developed between the vowel and the consonant, which then combined with the vowel to form a diphthong:
a (æ) > ea: Goth alls > eall ‘all’, OHG nâh > nēah ‘near’, Goth. ahtau > eahta ‘eight’, Goth. hardus > heard 'hard’, OHG arm > earm 'arm’;
e > eo: OHG herza > heorte ‘heart’, OHG fehtan > feohtan ‘fight’, melcan > meolcan ‘to milk’ (v), selh > seolh ‘seal’, feh > feoh ‘cattle’, ‘property’;
i > io (later eo): lirnōjan > liornian, leornian ‘to learn’, *mihst > miox, meox ‘manure’;
ǽ > ēa: Goth nēhw > nēah ‘near’, *nēahur, nǽhur > nēar;
ī > īo (later ēo): Goth leihts > lēoht ‘light’, Goth weihs ‘holy’ > wēoh ‘idol’.
The phonetic essence of breaking is that the front vowel is partially assimilated to the following hard consonant by forming a glide, which combines with a vowel to form a diphthong.