5.3.1.4. Palatalization

OE vowels also change under the influence of the initial palatal consonants , c and the cluster sc. The sounds  and c influence only front vowels, while sc influences all vowels. As a result of palatalization the vowel is diphthongized.

e < ie: efan < iefan ‘give’

æ < ea: *æt < eat ‘gate’

ǽ < ēa *æfon < eafon ‘gave’ (pl.)

a < ea: scacan < sceacan ‘shake’

o < eo: scort < sceort ‘short’

5.3.1.5. Mutation, or Umlaut

Mutation, or umlaut, is a change of one vowel to another through the influence of a vowel in the succeeding syllable. Umlaut is of two kinds: palatal and guttural.

Palatal umlaut, generally called i-umlaut, is the modification (palatalization) of the accented vowel through the influence of i or j which originally stood in the following syllable. This process took place in Early Old English, and the i or j or the most part already disappeared in the oldest OE records. The i which remained mostly became e at an early period, so that for the proper understanding of the forms which underwent i-umlaut it is necessary to compare them with the corresponding forms of some other Geramnic language, especially with the Gothic.

Table 2.3

Palatal mutation

Change illustrated	Examples
Vowels prior to Mutated palatal vowels mutation	Goth. or OE (without palatal mutation)	OE (palatal mutation)	NE
æ	Goth. mats	mete	meat
a e 	OE sala, Goth. saljan	sellan	sale, sell
	Goth. sandjan	sendan	send
a: æ:	OE lār, Goth. laisjan	læran	‘teaching’, ‘teach*
	OE ān	æni	one, any
o e	OE dohtor	dehter	daughter
o: e:	OE bōc	bēc	book, books
	OE dōm		doom
	Goth. gadōmjan	dēman	deem
u y	OE full		full
	Goth. fulljan	fyllan	fill
u: y:	OE mūs	mys	mouse, mice
ea ie eo	OE eald OE feor	ieldra fierra	old, elder far, farther
ea: ie	OE elēafa Goth. galaubjan	elīefan	belief, believe
eo:	OE þēod	elþīedi (adj.)	tribe’, ‘of a tribe’

Since the sounds [i] and [j] were common in suffixes and endings, palatal mutation was of very frequent occurrence. Practically all Early OE monophthongs, as well as diphthongs except the closest front vowels [e] and [i] were palatalized in these phonetic conditions. Many parts of speech were subjected to palatal mutation:

1. Nouns of minor declension while forming their plural, e.g. man (pl. Goth. mani) > men, fōt (pl. Goth. foti) > fēt, mus (pl. Goth. musi) > mys. In Modern English there is a group of nouns which form their plural without any outer inflexion by means of changing a root vowel (a man – men, foot – feet). This is the so-called group of mutation plural.

2. Adjectives were affected by palatal mutation while forming degrees of comparison:

lon – lenra – lenest, eald – ieldra – ieldest.

In NE most adjectives gradually lost the influence of palatal mutation. In Modern English there is only one adjective which retained the traces of palatal mutation in the forms of its degrees of comparison: old – older – oldest and old – elder – eldest.

3. Many strong and weak verbs were influenced by palatal mutation, e.g. sændian > sendan, tælian – tellan (weak verbs), læian > lecan (strong verb). Weak verbs were more affected by this process than strong verbs.

Palatal mutation is displayed in root vowel changes in Modern English, e.g. in

1. nouns and adjectives: long – length; strong – strength (cf. OE degrees of comparison lon – lenra – lenest);

2. adjectives and verbs: full (adj.) – fill (v.) (cf. OE fulian – fyllan);

3. nouns and verbs: health – heal.

The conditions which caused palatal mutation, i.e. [i] or [j], had disappeared in most words due to the reduction of final syllables by the age of writing; these sounds were weakened to [e] or were altogether lost (this is seen in all the examples above except æni and elpīedi).

Of all the vowel changes described, palatal mutation was certainly the most comprehensive process, as it could affect most OE vowels, both long and short, diphthongs and monophthongs. It led to the appearance of new vowels and to numerous instances of merging and splitting of phonemes.

Guttural umlaut, or back (velar) mutation is the modification of an accented vowel (a, e, i) through the influence of a guttural vowel (u, o, a) in the next syllable, whereby a guttural glide was developed after a, e, i, which then combined with them to form the diphthongs ea, eo, iu. As a rule, umlaut only took place before a single consonant. Guttural umlaut, or back mutation may be illustrated by the following examples:

i > io hira > hiora ‘their’, silufr > siolufr ‘silver’, sifon > siofon ‘seven’;

e > eo hefon > heofon ‘heaven’, efor > eofor ‘boar’

a > ea saru > searu ‘armour’