3.5.2.3. Monophthongization of Old English Diphthongs

All OE diphthongs were monophthongized as early as the XI c., losing their second elements. As the result of this change, the vowel sysem lost two sets of diphthongs, long and short.

1. As OE short ea represented something like [æə], it developed into a, e.g. OE eald > ME ald (old).

2. OE long ēa was reduced to , e.g. OE ēast > ME eest (east).

3. OE short eo changed into e, e.g.

OE heorte > ME herte (heart), OE steorra > ME sterre (star).

4. OE ēo > ME long closed (often spellt ee), e.g.

OE cēosan > ME ch sen, OE dēop > ME deep, OE dēor > ME deer.

3.5.2.4. Rise of New Diphthongs

As the result of the vocalization of [j], [] and [w] (that is, their change into vowels) five new diphthongs were formed whose second element was either [ı] (written i, y) or [u] (mostly written w). These diphthongs developed as the result of the following processes: (1) The palatal fricative ʒ [j] developed into [i], (2) The velar fricative ʒ [] first developed into [w] and then into [u], (3) The bilabial [w] developed into [u].

The palatal consonant yielded diphthongs in -i, the velar one – diphthongs in -w.

(1) Diphthongs in -i include:

[ai < æʒ] (written ai, ay), e.g.

OE dæʒ > ME dai, day;

[ei < eʒ, ēʒ] (written ei, ey), e.g.

OE weʒ > ME wei, wey, OE ʒrēʒ > ME grei, grey

(2) Diphthongs in -w include:

[au < aʒ] (written aw), e.g.

OE laʒu > ME lawe;

[ou < āʒ] (written ow, ou), e.g.

OE āʒen > ME own, OE þōhte > ME thoughte;

[eu < ēow, ēaw] (written ew), e.g.

OE cnēow > ME knew, OE fēawe > ME fewe.

Note 1. The diphthong [au] occurred also in some French borrowings (sometimes before a nasal, in imitation to Anglo-Norman pronunciation), e.g. cause, pause, faute, straunge.

Note 2. After a vowel followed by the voiceless spirant h a glide developed between them, and the diphthong [ou] arose: brōhte > broughte, dāh > dough.

Note 3. Some linguists are of the opinion that the French long [ū] was replaced by the diphthong [eu] in those areas where OE y [ü] was not preserved, i.e. everywhere but the South-West, e.g.

fruit was pronounced [freut] in ME, due – [deu]. This is the reason why ME trewe < OE trēowe has come to be written true and the pronunciation of dew and due is the same.

Besides the above-mentioned diphthongs it is necessary to mention the diphthong [oi], mostly found in French borrowings like point (point), vois (voice), poison.

3.6. Evolution of Consonants in Middle English

In ME, the opposition of velar consonants to palatal (k – k΄ g – g΄) disappeared. From OE palatal plosives k΄, g΄ (which had split from the corresponding velar plosives k and g in Early OE) and the consonant cluster «sc» three new phonemes arose: [t, ʤ, ]. Under the influence of the French tradition they began to be indicated by special letters, digraphs and trigraphs: ch, tch, g, dg, sh, ssh, sch.

OE palatal [k΄] developed into the affricate [t] initially before front vowels, medially before i and finally after i, e.g.

OE cild > ME child, OE cirice > ME chirche (church), OE ic > ME ich.

Variants with velar «k» also survived: (a) in the Northern dialects and in the Northern Midlands (presumably due to Scandinavian influence in those areas), e.g. kirk (church), birk (birch), ik (I). (b) The preservation of velar k in the verbs sēken (seek) (< OE sēcan), thinken (< OE þyncan) and thenken (think) < OE þencan may be due to to the influence of the short forms of the second and third persons, sg, present, indicative: sēcst, sēcþ, þēncst, þyncþ where the consonant was followed by another consonant.

The OE cluster sc changed into [ ], e.g.

OE scip > ME ship, OE sceal > ME shal.

The OE long consonant [g΄] denoted by cʒdeveloped into the voiced affricate [ʤ], e.g.

OE brycʒ > ME bridge, OE ecʒ > ME edge.

The affricates [t], [ʤ] also came from a different source: they entered the English language in loanwords from French, e.g.

charme [tarm], gentil [ʤentil] in Anglo-Norman pronunciation.

Some consonants were lost in consonant clusters, e.g.

the initial [h] was lost before r, l, n, e.g.

OE hlāford > ME lord, OE hnutu > ME nute, OE hrinʒ > ME ring.

Before [w] the sound [h] remained longer, especially in the North where OE [hw] came to be written quh or qwh. In the South [h] was dropped before [w] in Late ME, and the combination wh was substituted for hw, e.g.

OE hwæt > ME quhat [xwat] – in the North, what [wat] – in the South. You can still hear the pronunciation [xw] in Northern dialects.

Final «n» was often lost in unstressed syllables, eg.

OE brinʒan > ME bringe(n) (bring)

Medial [v] was often dropped before consonants, e.g.

OE hæfde > ME had

In the forms of the past tense and past participle, the verb māken lost the sound [k], e.g.

ME mākede – mākde – made, ME māked – mākd – mad.