3. Stressed Vowels

The changes vowels underwent during the ME period may be divided into qualitative and quantitative. Quantitative changes affected only the length of a vowel, while qualitative changes altered the nature of the sound.

1. Quantitative Changes

Beginning with the 9^th c. there occurred a series of quantitative changes which influenced greatly the rhythm of the English language.

1. Short vowels were lengthened in the 9^th c. before the combinations [ld, nd, mb], unless followed by a third consonant: cild > cīld.

2. Before all other combinations of consonants long vowels were shortened in the 11^th c.

OE dūst, cēpte > ME dust, kepte

But OE wīs, cēpan > ME wīs, kēpen

3. In the 13^th c. short vowels (chiefly [a, o, e]) were lengthened in open stressed syllables of disyllabic words:

OE talu >		ME tāle >		ModE tale
	open >		ōpen >		open
	etan >		ētan >		eat

Sometimes [i] and [u] were also lengthened in the same position, but they also changed in quality: [i] > [ē], [u] > [ō]:

OE wike >		ME wēke >		ModE week
	dure >		dōre >		door
	wude >		wōde >		wood

As a result of these changes too long syllables became shorter, while too short syllables became longer, so that the rhythm of English speech became more measured.

2. Qualitative Changes

Both monophthongs and diphthongs underwent some radical changes during the Middle English period.

1. Monophthongs

O E [a, o, ō, u, ū e, ē, i, ī,] remained more or less unchanged in Middle English, while OE [ā, æ, ǣ, y, ӯ] changed radically.

1. OE [ā] > ME [ō] (everywhere but in the northern dialects).

OE bāt, nā > ME boot, no (> ModE boat, no).

But OE gōd > good

2. O E[ǣ] > ME [ē] (rather open).

OE sǣ, mǣl > ME se, meel (> ModE sea, meal)

Note: In Middle English manuscripts a single letter ‘e’ was used in open syllables and a double ‘ee’ in closed ones.

3. OE [æ] > ME [a]

OE æt, þæt, dæg > ME at, that, day [dai].

		↗	became i, ī in the North-East
OE y, ӯ →			remained unchanged in the South-West (written u, ui)
		↘	became e, ē in the South-East (Kent)
				↗	hill, fir (hill, fire)
	E.g. OE hyll,fӯr →				hull, fuir
				↘	hell, fēr

Note: In the majority of cases Modern English has forms with [ī], But sometimes

the influence of other dialects is felt.

In the word “busy” the spelling reflects the influence of the Western dialects. The same is true about the verb “to build”. The pronunciation of the verb “to bury” is due to the South-East dialects, while the spelling is of Western origin.

1. Old Diphthongs

All the Old English diphthongs were monophthongized as early as the 11^th century, losing their second elements:

OE	ME
ēā [ε:]	ē	OE ēāst, strēām >	ME eest, streem (east, stream)
ea	a	OE earm, heard >	ME arm, hard
ēō [e:]	ē	OE dēōp, sēōn >	ME deep, see (deep, see)
eo	e	OE feor, deorc > OE heorte >	ME fer, derk (far, dark) ME herte (heart)
īe	i [i:] e	OE līehtan > OE hierde >	ME lighten [li:x’tən] (lighten) ME herd (shepherd)