Peculiarities of Middle English spelling

Letters indicating vowels	Letters indicating consonants
a [a] y as well as i [i] o [o] or [u] ee [e:] or [:] ie [e:] oo [o:] or [:] ou [u:] or [ou] ow [u:] or [ou]	c [s] or [k] f [f] g [] or [g] j [] k [k] s [s] or [z] v (often spelt as u) [v] y [j] ch, tch [] dg [] gh [x] or [x’] qu [kw] th [θ] or [ð] sh, sch, ssh [] wh [hw]

For letters indicating two sounds the rules of reading are as follows.

G and c stand for [] and [s] before front vowels and for [g] and [k] before back vowels respectively.

Y stands for [j] at the beginning of words, otherwise it is an equivalent of the letter i, as in NE, e.g. ME yet [jet] ‘yet’, knyght [knix't] ‘knight’, also veyne or veine ['veinə] ‘vein’.

The letters th and s indicate voiced sounds between vowels, and voiceless sounds – initially, finally and next to other voiceless consonants: ME worthy ['wurði] ‘worthy’, esy [':zi] ‘easy’, thyng [i] ‘thing’, sorwe ['srwə] ‘sorrow’. Note that in ME – unlike OE – this rule does not apply to the letter f: it stands for the voiceless [f] while the voiced [v] is shown by v or u; cf. ME feet [fe:t] ‘feet’ and vayn [vein] ‘vain’.

As stated above, o usually stands for [u] next to letters whose shape resembles the shape of the letter u, though sometimes even in the same environment it can indicate [o], cf. ME some ['sumə] ‘some’ and mone ['mo:ne] ^‘moon’. To determine the sound value of o one can look up the origin of the sound in OE or the pronunciation of the word in NE: the sound [u] did not change in the transition from OE to ME (the OE for some was sum); in NE it changed to []. It follows that the letter o stood for [u] in those ME words which contain [] today, otherwise it indicates [o]. Cf., e.g. ME some ['sumə] ‘some’, not [nOt] ‘not’.

The digraphs ou and ow were interchangeable. Their sound value can be determined either by tracing the words to OE prototypes or by taking into account the modern pronunciation. They indicate [u:] in the words which contained [u:] in OE, since the OE [u:] had not changed and which have [au] in NE, e.g. OE hs > ME hous [hu:s] > NE house. If the modern word has [ou], the corresponding ME word should be pronounced with the same diphthong [ou], e.g. ME snow [snou], NE snow, as ME [ou] has not altered.

Long sounds in ME texts are often shown by double letters or digraphs. The length of the vowel can sometimes be inferred from the nature of the syllable; open syllables often contain long vowels, while closed syllables may contain both short and long vowels. The succeeding consonant groups can also serve as indicators: vowels are long before a sonorant plus a plosive consonant and short before other consonant sequences, eg. ME maken ['ma:kən] ‘make’, lat [la:t] ‘late’, lok [lk] ‘lock’ bihynden [bi'hi:ndən] ‘behind’, bisetten [bi'settən] ‘beset’.

In reading ME texts there is no need to observe the distinctions of sound length but these distinctions are most important for a proper understanding of ME and Early NE sound changes.

The opening stanzas of the Prologue to the CANTERBURY TALES by G. Chaucer (late 14th c.) are given below with transcription and translation; the word stress is shown as required by the iambic meter of the poem and is therefore marked both in monosyllabic and polysyllabic words.

1. Whan that Aprille with his shoures soote

[xwan 'at ap'rillə 'wi his 'u:rəs 'so:tə]

2. The droghte of March hath perced to the roote,

[ə 'druxt of 'mar ha 'persəd 'to: ə 'ro:tə]

3. And bathed every veyne in swich licour,

[and 'ba:ðəd 'evri 'vein in 'swi li'ku:r]

(4) Of which vertu engendred is the flour;

[of 'xwi ver'tju: en'endrəd 'is ə 'flu:r]

When April with his sweet showers

The draught of March has pierced to the root,

And bathed every vein in such liquor,

Of which (whose) virtue (power) engendered is the flower.