Historical Phonology History of Sound Developments

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Historical PhonologyHistory of Sound Developments
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PDE pronunciation and spelling
Very different from all other Western European
languages!!!
time ltigt moonboots, fool ltoogt surfen, feet
lteegt computer name ltagt but ltugt man ltagt
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Nine PDE ways of spelling /?/
key, keep, leap, Caesar, lever, perceive,
retrieve, oblique, city
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Five PDE ways of spelling /ei/
gay, name, Morgan La Fey, brae, gauge
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PDE Placenames
Greenwich, Harwich, Hawick, Alnwick Gloucester,
Worcester, Leicester, Leominster
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If you want to know why this is so, you need to
study Historical Phonology!!!
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Six important rules responsible for the
dramatic change of pronunciation from OE gt PDE

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1) linear reduction of unstressed syllables
English lexical stress / \ ? OE
hlaf-weard-as gt lord-s
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unstressed vowels
i u æ ?
i u a
linear reduction
e o
?
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2) Loss of length correlation of consonants (OE gt
ME) and vowels (EModE gt PDE)
OE difference of quality AND quantity gt PDE
difference in quality only, i.e. length is not
distinctive
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OE vowel systemmonophthongs in stressed
syllables
closed
/?/ /?/ /?/ /?/
/ø??/ /?/ ? ???
front/ palatal
back/ velar
open
two diphthongs /?o/ and /?a/
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ME vowel system in the stressed syllable

/i/ long /u/ /e/ /??/
/?/ /??/ /a/
/i/ short /u/ /e/ /o/ /a/
Monophthongs
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Diphthongs
ai au oi ou -- eu -- iu
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Vowels in American English
Front Central Back (Rounded)
i beet ? roses boot u ?
bit put u e bait ?
Rosas boat o E bet ?
but bought ? æ bat a
father pot
(Tense) (Lax) (Tense) (Lax)
High Mid Low
The Simple Vowel
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Diphthongs in American English
?y boy
ay aw buy cow
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system of PDE vowels in stressed syllables
pit put pet pert putt port
pat part pot
/?/ /?/ /e/ /d/
/?/ /o/ /æ/ /a/ /?/
9 monophthongs
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system of PDE vowels in stressed syllables
/ii/ /ui/ /uu/ /ei/ /oi/ /ou/
/ai/ -- /au/
peat buoy Pooh pate boy Poe kite pout
8 diphthongs
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schwa-diphthongs and triphthongs
peer /i?/ pear /e?/ pore /o(?)/ poor /u?/ layer /ei?/ pyre /ai?/ lower /ou?/ power /au?/
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3) Lengthening of vowels before homorganic
consonant clusters (ME)
OE ME PDE cf. Gm. gold gold gold
/gould/ Gold milde mild(e) mild /ai/ mild findan
find(e) find /ai/ finden wilde wild(e)
wild /ai/ wild haldan h??ld(e) hold /ou/
halten feld feeld /??/ field /?/
Feld climban climb(e) claim /klaim/ klimmen
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lengthening consonant clusters
OE short vowels were lengthened in front of
certain lengthening consonant clusters which
contain resonant consonants /mb/, /nd/,
/ng/?g, /ld/, /rd/, /rl/, /rn/, /rð/, /rz/
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4) ME syllable type/shape type rule
C CC V VC VCC Vu VuC VuCC VV
VVC VVCC
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ME syllable type/shape types
V short vowel Vu long vowel VV
diphthong C single consonant Cu long
consonant (very early ME only) CC
consonant cluster.
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monosyllabic combinations in matrix presentation
C CC V VC VCC Vu VuC VuCC VV
VVC VVCC
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Examples
1. -VC man 2. -VuC great
/gr?t/ "great" 3. -VVC noise
/nois/ "noise" 4. -VCC forþ "forth" 5.
-VuCC feeld /feld/ "field" 6. -VVCC seynt
/saint/ "saint"
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di-syllabic words complementary distribution of
syllable types
- V??CV faJdir, neJdy, huJses (gen.sg./pl.)
- VLCCV ?ónger, cástel, húswif (compound)
exception /i/ CV sone /sun?/, living /u/
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tri-syllabic words

• VLCCVCV
• géderide "gathered",
• quýkened "quickened",
• párished "perished".

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This explains PDE alternations such as
sheep shepherdhouse husbandchild
childrenwife womannation national
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1) Linear reduction of unstressed syllables2)
Loss of length correlation of consonants (OE
gt ME) and vowels (EModE gt PDE)3) Lengthening
of vowels before homorganic consonant
clusters (ME)4) ME syllable type/shape type
rule
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5) Tudor Vowel Shift (EModE)
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Henry VII Tudor (1485-1509)
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Henry VIII Tudor (1509-1547)
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Mary I Tudor (1553-1558)
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Elisabeth I Tudor (1558 -1603)
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Tudor / Great Vowel Shift
/?i/ /ii/ /uu/ /?u/
/ai/ /ii/ /uu/ /au/ /ei/
/ou/
/i/ /u/ /??/ /??/   /?/
/??/ /a/
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short vowels
/i/ /u/ /?/ /e/ /o/ /æ/ /?/ /a/
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Long vowels
ME PDE i gt /ai/ lif life u
gt /au/ hus/hous house Exceptions u
remains /u/ after /w/ and before nasals ME roum,
PDE room ME wound, PDE wound
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Long vowels
ME PDE ?? gt /i/ deep
deep Exceptions accelerated development ME
?? gt Late ME i gt PDE /ai/ only in the following
words ME br??re, fr??re, qu??re, d??, ump??re,
contr??ve gt PDE briar, friar, choir, die,
umpire, contrive
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Long vowels
ME PDE ?? gt /u/ food food e?
gt /i/ clene clean heeth heath Exceptions
retarded development of the following
words ME bre?ke, gre?t, ste?ke gt PDE break,
great, steak
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Long vowels
ME PDE ?? gt /ou/ h??m home moone m
oan Exceptions accelerated development ME ??
gt Late ME ?? gt PDE /u/ in who, whom, two Also
irregular development of ME n??, n??thing, ??n
and br??de gt PDE none, nothing, one, broad

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Long vowels
a gt /?/ gt /??/ gt /ei/ ME name PDE
name flame flame plane plane pale
pale paste paste haste haste
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Diphthongs
ME PDE ai gt /ei/ tail, bait tail,
bait ou /ou/ bow /bou/ bow, low,
show au gt /?/ law, raw law,
raw Exceptions before nasals ME dauncen PDE
dance ME chaumbre PDE chamber
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Diphthongs
ME PDE ü?/iu/eu /ju/, /u/ new /niu/
new blue /bliu/ gt blue fewe /feu/
few, music oi oi noise noise vo
ice voice
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short vowels
/i/ /u/ /?/ /e/ /o/ /æ/ /?/ /a/
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ME Short Vowels
ME PDE i gt /?/ ship, sit, pit, hip e /e/ set,
hen, fen, shed, knell o gt /a/ gt /?/ pot, cock,
frock (Gm. Frack borrowed from English in
17th century) u gt /?/, /?/ cut, shut,
shun, bun a gt /æ/ cat, fat, tat, bat Exceptions
/a/ after /w/ gt /?/, what, wasp, warp,
wallet /u/ after labials unchanged in PDE
/?/ full, bull, butcher, pudding, bush
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6) Major Loss of Consonants (EModE gt PDE)
Initial consonant clusters knight, know, knife,
gnaw, gnat wrong, Wrangler, wretch, wring sword
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Initial consonant clusters
which, what, where, why, whether, when cf.
OE hrof gt roof, hr?fn gt raven, hlud gt loud,
hwylc gt which, hwa gt who /hu/
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Final consonant clusters
walk, talk, chalk, would, should, could fork,
ford, birch, heard, third, board, born taught,
caught, fought, fight, light, night strong, long,
wrong, throng, bang, slang lamb,
thumb indict receipt, indept, dept Lincoln
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Loss of final -r
bear, beer, bier, for, forty-four, lower, higher,
fire
RP is r-less, General American is r-full
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Medial consonant clusters
windmill, landlady, government almost
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Nota bene ?
singer ? finger, England
Hroþwulf gt Hroþulf gt Hrolf gt Rolf