Old English Sound System

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Old English Sound System

• HS History of the English Language
• WS 2005/2006
• Presentation by Michael Schultes
• and Martin Scheuß

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How does Old English sound?Let us listen to the
first few lines of the Beowulf, the oldest
surviving epic in British literature
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Old English pronunciation is fairly
straightforward !!!

• in comparision to ModE pronunciation and its
  relation to the spelling system
  tied - tide, paws pause
  ? homophones
• In Old English there are no silent letters.
  When pronouncing OE words
  pronounce every single letter!
  (except diphthongs)

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What happened to the lost sounds?

• tide, pause the final
  ltegt is rarely pronounced in ModE but it was
  always pronounced in OE e.g. hwylçre (wish)
• Trochaic foot stressed-unstressed

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Some more now silent letters

• final ltggt must be pronounced in ing words
  cyning (king)
• The initial ltcgt in cneow (knew) must be
  pronounced k (ModE homophones e.g.
  knows - nose)

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What else is different?OE Vowels

• Old English had seven short and
  seven long vowel phonemes.
• An extraordinary phoneme
  ltYgt is pronounced as y
  wyscan (to wish) - a rounded front
  vowel, long as in German Bühne, short as in fünf.
  The sound was made with the tongue position of
  i (long) or ? (short) but with the lips
  rounded as for u or U.

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How are diphthongs pronounced in OE?

• Diphthongs are distinct from those in ModE
  example Beowulf
  be.o.wUlf, but beo.wUlf
  ModE two monophthongs (two vowel
  sounds) OE one diphthong (one vowel
  sound)
• Pronounce them as a single syllable as you know
  it from ModE words like bear.

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Consonant Allophony

• ltfgt, ltsgt, ltþgt and lt?gt were realized as
• v, z and ? between voiced sounds
• lthæfdegt (had), ltleosangt (to lose), ltbro?orgt
  (brother)
• f, s and ? elsewhere
• ltlofgt (praise), ltsunugt (son), þorn (thorn),
  pæ? (path)
• ltcgt was realized as
• k next to a back vowel and before consonants
• ltbocgt (book), ltcumangt (to come),
  ltclimbangt (to climb)
• tS next to a front vowel
• ltcildgt (child)

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Consonant Allophony

• ltggt was realized as
• g before consonants, initially before back
  vowels, and in the letter combination ltnggt
• ltgosgt (goose), ltglædgt (glad), ltbringangt (to
  bring)
• j usually before or after a front vowel
• ltgecorengt (chosen), ltslægengt (slain)
• ? elsewhere
• ltdragangt (to draw), ltsorgiangt (sorrow)

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Conclusion

• But We have to be aware of some important
  differences between the OE and the ModE sound
  system
• Some sounds (like f and v) that are separate
  phonemes today, were allophones of one phoneme in
  OE
• Certain consonant sounds (e.g. x and ?) and
  vowel sounds (eg. ? and æ?) have disappeared

• The spelling of OE words helps us to determine
  how to pronounce them.
• There are no silent letters as in Modern English.
• The scribes usually tried to write words down to
  show the way they were spoken.

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Appendix

• lthgt was realized as
• x after back vowels
• ltbrohtegt (brought)
• ? after front vowels
• ltnihtgt (night)
• h syllable-initially
• ltheofongt (heaven), lthlafgt (loaf)
• ltcggt was realized as
• dZ
• ltecggt (edge)
• ltscgt was realized as
• S
• ltscipgt (ship)

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Appendix

• ltsgt was realized as
• s initially, finally or next to a voiceless
  consonant
• lthusgt (house)
• z elsewhere
• ltrisangt (rise)
• ltngt was realized as
• N before g and k
• ltbringangt (to bring)
• n elsewhere
• ltnihtgt (night)
• ltzgt was realized as
• ts
• ltmilzegt (mercy)

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Appendix

• The doubling of consonant symbols between vowels
  indicated length
• ltsittangt (to sit), ltfyllangt (to fill), this
  phenomenon can be illustrated with the following
  two Modern English words beekeeper vs
  bookkeeper
• Stress is on the first syllable of a word, not
  including any prefix (i.e. on the root syllable)

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Appendix

• An overview of the consonant sounds of Old English

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