Sibilants and Affricates
The Development of Consonant System in Middle English and New English
Lecture 12
Short Vowels
New English
New Diphthongs
Long Vowels
Short Vowels
· [y] changed to [i] e.g. OE hyll – ME hill (hill);
· [æ] changed to [a] e.g. OE w æ s – ME was (was).
As a result:
i | e | a | o | u |
· [ỹ] changed to [ī];
· [ǽ] fell together with [έ];
· [ā] changed to [ō] e.g. OE st ā n – ME sto[o:]ne(stone).
As a result:
close | open | ||||
ī | ū | ē | ō | έ | ǿ |
OE diphthongs turned into monophthongs:
OE Diphth. | ME Sounds | OE | ME |
ĭě/īē à | i | l īe htan | l i ghten (lighten) |
ĕŏ/ēō à | e | h eo rte | h e rte (heart) |
ĕă/ēā à | æ | ēa st | ee st (east) |
New diphthongs appeared due to vocalisation of [j], [γ] and [w]. These consonants turned into vowels ([i], [u] and [u] respectively) and became the glides of the new diphthongs:
i-glides | OE | ME | u-glides | OE | ME |
[ei] | weζ [j ] | wey [i ] (way) | [iu] | - | - |
[ai] | m æ ζ [j] | may [i ] (may) | [au] | la ζ[ γ ] u | law [u] e [‘lauə] (low) |
[oi](in French loan-words) | boy, toy | [ou] | cnāw [w] an | know [u] en [‘knouən] (know) |
Great Vowel Shift – the change that happened in the 14th – 16th c. and affected all long monophthongs + diphthong [au]. As a result these vowels were:
· diphthongized;
· narrowed (became more closed);
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· both diphthongized and narrowed.
ME Sounds | NE Sounds | ME | NE |
[i:] à | [ai] | time [‘ti:mə] | time [taim] |
[e:] à | [i:] | kepen [‘ke:pən] | keep [ki:p] |
[a:] à | [ei] | maken [‘ma:kən] | make [meik] |
[o:] à à | [ou] [u:] | stone [‘sto:nə] moon [mo:n] | stone [stoun] moon [mu:n] |
[u:] à | [au] | mous [mu:s] | mouse [maus] |
[au] à | [o:] | cause [‘kauzə] | cause [ko:z] |
This shift was not followed by spelling changes, i.e. it was not reflected in written form. Thus the Great Vowel Shift explains many modern rules of reading.
ME Sounds | NE Sounds | ME | NE |
[a] à à | [æ] [o]after [w]!! | that [qat] man [man] was [was] water [‘watə] | that [ðæt] man [mæn] was [woz] water [‘wotə] |
[u] à | [Λ] | hut [hut] comen [cumen] | hut [hΛt] come [cΛm] |
There were exceptions though, e.g. put, pull, etc.
Vocalisation of [r]
It occurred in the 16th – 17th c. Sound [r] became vocalised (changed to [ə] (schwa)) when stood after vowels at the end of the word.
Consequences:
· new diphthongs appeared: [εə], [iə], [uə];
· the vowels before [r] were lengthened (e.g. arm [a:m], for [fo:], etc.);
· triphthongs appeared: [aiə], [auə] (e.g. shower [‘∫auə], shire [‘∫aiə]).
H/w:
1. Ex. 4-6 on p. 218 in “История английского языка” by Т.А. Расторгуева (copies).
English consonants proved to be more stable than vowels. Nevertheless, new sets of consonants started to appear.
Sibilants – a type of fricatives, narrower and sharper than all other fricatives ([f, v, q, ð, h]) – [s, z, ∫, ζ].
Affricates – sounds consisting of a plosive immediately followed by a fricative – [t∫, dζ].
In OE there were only 2 sibilants – [s, z]. [∫] appeared in ME and [ζ] – in NE.
Affricates [t∫, dζ] appeared both in ME and in NE.
New consonants developed from palatal plosives [k’], [g’] and the cluster [sk’]:
OE Sounds | ME Sounds | In Writing | OE | ME |
[k’] à | [t∫] | tch, ch | cild [k’il’d] | child [t∫ild] |
[g’] à | [dζ] | g, dg | ecge [‘egg’ə] | edge [‘edζə] |
[sk’] à | [∫] | sh, ssh, sch | fisc [fisk’] | fish [fi∫] |