3. Spelling Changes in Middle English. Rules of Reading

The most conspicuous feature of Late Middle English texts in comparison with Old English texts is the difference in spelling. The written forms of the words in Late Middle English texts resemble their modern forms, though the pronunciation of the words was different. In the course of Middle English many new devices were introduced into the system of spelling. Some of them reflected the sound changes which had been completed or were still in progress in Middle English. Others were graphic replacements of Old English letters by new letters and diagraphs. In Middle English runic letters passed put of use. "Thorn" – þ- and the crossed d – (đ, ð) were replaced by the diagraph th, which retained the same sound value [ð], [ ]. The rune "wynn" was displaced by double "u" – "w". The ligature æ and œ fell into disuse.

After the period of Anglo-Norman dominance (11^th – 13^th centuries) English regained its prestige as the language of writing, though for a long time writing was in the hands of those who had a good knowledge of French. Therefore many innovations in Middle English spelling reveal an influence of the French scribal tradition. The digraphs ou, ie, ch, which occurred in many French borrowings and were regularly used in Anglo-Norman texts were adopted as new ways of indicating the sounds [u:], [e:], [t ]. The letters j, k, v, q were probably first used in imitation of French manuscripts. The two-fold use of g and c, which has survived today, owes its origin to French. These letters usually stood for [d ] and [s] before front vowels and for [g] and [k] before back vowels. Other alterations in spelling cannot be traced directly to French influence though they testify to a similar tendency – a wider use of digraphs.

In addition to ch, ou, ie and th Late Middle English notaries introduced sh (ssh, sch) to indicate the new sibilant [ ], dg to indicate [d ] alongside j and g. The digraph wh replaced the Old English sequence of letters hw. Long sounds were shown by double letters, though with vowels this practice was not very regular, for example, long [e:] could be indicated by ie and ee, and also by e: Middle English thief [ e:f], feet [fe:t], meten [me:ten]. The introduction of the digraph gh for [x] and [x'] helped to distinguish between the fricatives [x, x'], which were preserved in some positions, and the aspirate [h]: Middle English knight [knix't] and Middle English he [he:]. In Old English both words were spelt with h: Old English cnieht, hē.

Some replacements were probably made to avoid confusion of resembling letters. Thus o was employed not only for [o], but also to indicate short [u] alongside the letter u. It happened when u stood close to n, m, v, for they were all made up of down strokes and were hard to distinguish in a hand-written text. That is how Old English munuc became Middle English monk, though it was pronounced as [m nk] and Old English lufu became Middle English love ['luv ]. This replacement was facilitated, if not caused, by the similar use of the letter o in Anglo-Norman. The letter y came to be used as an equivalent of i and was evidently preferred when i could be confused with surrounding letters m, n and others. Probably y acquired the new sound value [i, i:] when the Old English vowels [y, y:] shown by this letter had changed into [i, i:]. Sometimes y as well as w were put at the end of a word for purely ornamental reasons, so as to finish the word with a curve: Middle English nyne ['ni:n ], very ['veri], my [mi:]. The letter w was interchangeable with u in the digraphs ou, au: Middle English doun, down [du:n] and was often preferred fimally: Middle English how [hu:], now [nu:], lawe [lau ].

For letters indicating two sounds the rules are as follows: g and c stand for [d ] 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 New English: Middle English yet [jet], knight [knix't], also veyne or veine ['vein ]. The letters th and s indicate voiced sounds between vowels, and voiceless sounds – initially, finally and next to other voiceless consonants: Middle English worthy ['wurði], esy [' :zi], thing [θiŋ], sorwe ['sorw ]. In Middle English, unlike Old English 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: Middle English feet [fe:t], vayn [vein]. The letter 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]: Middle English some ['sum ], and mone ['mo:n ].To determine the sound value of o one can look up the origin of the sound in Old English or the pronunciation of the word in New English. The sound [u] did not change in the transition from Old English to Middle English (the Old English for some was sum). In New English it changed to [ ] today, otherwise it indicates [o]: some ['sum ], not [not].

The digraphs ou and ow were interchangeable. Their sound value can be determined either by tracing the words to Old English prototype or by taking into account the modern pronunciation. They indicate [u:] in the words which contained [u:] in old English since the Old English [u:] had not changed, and which have [au] in New English: Old English hūs → Middle English hous [hu:s] → New English house. If the modern word has [ou], the corresponding Middle English word should be pronounced with the same diphthong [ou]: Middle English snow [snou], New English snow, as Middle English [ou] has not changed.

Long sounds in Middle English 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 syllable often contain long vowels, while close 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: maken ['ma:k n], lat [la:t], lok [l k], bihynden [bi'hi:nd n], bisetten [bi'sett n].