3. Other changes of stressed vowels

   1. The changes [a] > [æ], [u] > []

Two short monophthongs changed their quality in NE (17^th c.), the monophthong [a] becoming [æ] and the monophthong [u] becoming [], e.g.

ME NE

[a] > [æ] that that

[u] > [] cut cut

However, these processes depended to a certain extent upon the preceding sound. When the sound [a] was preceded by [w] it changed into []. Compare:

ME NE

[a] > [æ] that that

[a] > [] was was

(but: wax [wæks]).

Where the sound [u] was preceded by the consonants [p], [b] or [f],the change of [u] into [] generally did not take place, hence: bull, butcher, pull, push, full, etc.

But sometimes even the preceding consonant did not prevent the change, for instance:

ME NE

[u] > [] but [but] but [bt]

2. Changes of diphthongs

Two out of the four ME diphthongs changed in NE: the diphthong [ai] became [ei] and the diphthong [au] contracted to [:], e.g.

ME NE

[ai] > [ei] dai day

[au] > [:] lawe law

3. Rise of long [a:], [:], [ə:]

The vowel was lengthened when it was followed by the consonant [r]. Short vowels followed by the consonant [r] became long after the disappearance of the given consonant at the end of the word or before another consonant:

ME NE

[a] > [a:] farm farm

[o] > [:] hors horse

When the consonant [r] stood after the vowels [e], [i], [u], the resulting vowel was different from the initial vowel not only in quantity but also in quality. Compare:

Her

Fir [:]

Fur

The sonorant [r] began to produce a certain influence upon the preceding vowels in Late ME, long before it showed any signs of vocalisation. [r] made the preceding vowel more open and retracted: the cluster [er] changed to [ar], e.g. OE deorc became Early ME derk [derk] due to the contraction of the OE diphthong [eo] to [e], and changed to dark [dark] in Late ME (NE dark); likewise OE clerec, which after the loss of the unstressed vowel became ME clerk [klerk], changed to [klark] (NE clerk); OE heorte developed into ME herte ['hert], and Late ME [hart] (NE heart). The three examples are also interesting in that they show different reflections of one and the same change in the written form of the word: in dark the change of [er] to [ar] was shown in the spelling; in clerk the spelling points to the preceding stage, when the sequence sounded as [er]; the spelling of heart seems to bear traces of both stages or perhaps shows another attempt to record the transition of [e] to [a] with the help of the digraph ea. Although the change of [er] to [ar] was fairly common, it did not affect all the words with the given sounds: cf. ME serven ['servn], person ['persn].

4. Lengthening and shortening of vowels

In addition to the main sources of long monophthongs and diphthongs in Early NE, such as the Great Vowel Shift and the vocalisation of the sonorant [r], there were a few other instances of the growth of long vowels from short ones in some phonetic conditions. These lengthenings resemble Early ME quantitative vowel changes before consonant groups; only this time the consonant sequences which brought about the lengthening were different: [ss], [ft] and [nt]; the sequences mainly affected the vowel [a], e.g. ME plant [plant] > NE plant, ME after ['aftər]>NE after, ME mass [mass]>NE mass.

The reverse change – shortening of vowels – occurred in Early NE before single dental and velar consonants [, d. t, k]. The long vowels subjected to this shortening – [e:] and [u:] – were changing, or had already changed under the Great Vowel Shift, e.g. ME breeth with an open [:] became [bre:] and was shortened to NE breath [bre]; likewise, ME deed [d:d] > [de:d] > [ded], NE dead. The digraph ea was introduced to show the open quality of the long [:] prior to the changes.

The long [u:], which became short before [k], and sometimes also before [t], was a product of the shift; this is evidenced by the spelling of such words as book, foot, where long ME [o:] was shown with the help of double o; in these words [o:] became [u:] and was shortened to [u].