Early Modern English: Phonology Flashcards
(29 cards)
Great Vowel Shift
- massive change of long vowels
- during the Great Vowel Shift all the Middle English long vowels (7) were raised
- vowels moved from the open area of the mouth to the closed area
- the vowels that could not be raised any further became diphthongs and moved towards the center
> this happened SLOWLY over three phases
three Phases of the Great Vowel Shift
- time frame
- from 1400 - 1550
- from 1550 - 1700
- from 1700 - 1800
/i:/
- e.g. in fly, child, tide
- spelling in ModE: i,y,iCe
- C = any Consonant
- In Middle English: /i:/
- In Early Modern English:
1. from 1400 - 1550: /əi/
2. from 1550 - 1700: /ai/
3. from 1700 - 1800: - - In Modern English: /ai/
/e:/
- e.g. in meet, field
- spelling in ModE: ee, ie
- In Middle English: /e:/
- In Early Modern English:
1. from 1400 - 1550: /i:/
2. from 1550 - 1700: -
3. from 1700 - 1800: - - In Modern English: /i:/
/ɛː/
(meet - meat merger)
- e.g. in meat, complete
- spelling in ModE: ea, eCe
- C = any Consonant
- In Middle English: /ɛː/
- In Early Modern English:
1. from 1400 - 1550: /e:/
2. from 1550 - 1700: /i:/
3. from 1700 - 1800: - - In Modern English: /i:/
/a:/
- e.g. in make
- spelling in ModE: aCe
- C = any Consonant
- In Middle English: /a:/
- In Early Modern English:
1. from 1400 - 1550: /æ:/ to /ɛ:/
2. from 1550 - 1700: /e:/
3. from 1700 - 1800: /eɪ/ - In Modern English: /eɪ/
/ɔː/
- e.g. in boat, hope
- spelling in ModE: oa, oCe
- C = any Consonant
- In Middle English: /ɔ:/
- In Early Modern English:
1. from 1400 - 1550: /o:/
2. from 1550 - 1700: -
3. from 1700 - 1800: /əʊ/ - In Modern English: /əʊ/
/oː/
- e.g. in food, goose
- spelling in ModE: oo
- In Middle English: /o:/
- In Early Modern English:
1. from 1400 - 1550: /u:/
2. from 1550 - 1700: -
3. from 1700 - 1800: - - In Modern English: /u:/
/uː/
- e.g. in house, how
- spelling in ModE: ou, ow
- In Middle English: /u:/
- In Early Modern English:
1. from 1400 - 1550: /əʊ/
2. from 1550 - 1700: /aʊ/
3. from 1700 - 1800: - - In Modern English: /aʊ/
Potential Reasons for the Great Vowel Shift
1 Language-Inernal reasons
If vowel quality of one vowel changes, this has effects on neigbouring vowels
2 Hypothesises
- Push-Chain Reaction
- Drag-Chain Reaction
2 Language-External reasons
Sociolinguistics: Middle and Upper class wanted to distance themselves from the lower class by using a distinct pronunciation
Push-Chain Reaction
- Language-Internal Reason
- /e:/ and /o:/ pushed to the close area
- close vowels /i:/ and /u:/ were pushed away
Drag-Chain Reaction
- Language internal Reasons
- empty slot was occupied by /e:/ and /o:/
Phonology in Early Modern English
- massive changes concerning vowels
- minor changes concerning consonants
> the dicrepancy between spelling and pronuciation grows
Strut/but- vowel
- Other Vowel Changes (1)
- 17th century: ctrut/but vowel /ʌ/ developed
- Split: one phoneme /ʊ/ splits into two phonemes /ʊ/ and /ʌ/
> e.g. ModE: cut (but butcher) & blood (but book)
Why same spelling (u, oo) but different pronunciation? (1.source)
- 2 sources for /ʌ/
- Strut/but- vowel (/ʌ/)
- Other Vowel Changes (1)
ME /ʊ/ lost its rounding and was lowered to /ʌ/
e.g.: ME:cut /kʊt/ to EModE /kʌt/
BUT: Certain surroundings:
- not developement to /ʌ/
1. if /ʊ/ was followed by /l/: bull or pull
2. if /ʊ/ was followed by /w,p,b,f/: wolf, put, butcher, full
Why same spelling (u, oo) but different pronunciation? (2.source)
- 2 sources for /ʌ/
- Strut/but- vowel (/ʌ/)
- Other Vowel Changes (1)
Me /o:/ spelt frequently with oo
- during the Great Vowel Shift /o:/ is raised to /u:/
- /u:/ is sometimes shortened to /ʊ/
- Two time slots for the shortening:
> Early shortening: /ʊ/ was lowered to /ʌ/
> Late shortening: /ʊ/ did not change
> This explains todays discrepancies
Spelling: oo
/ʌ/ blood, flood
/ʊ/ book, good, foot, look
Pronunciation of fast in BrE and AmE
- Other Vowel Changes (2)
- Middle English /a:/ became /æ/
- e.g. hat fat, cat
18th century /æ/ became /ɑː/ in certain environments and only in British English - /æ/ in front of voiceless fricatives:
- e.g.: fast. past, staff, class, half
American English kept pronunciation with /æ/
BrE: fast /fɑːst/, staff /stɑːf/
AmE: fast /fæst/, staff /stæf/
Consonants were no longer pronounced
- voiceless palatal fricative /c̩/: bright or sigh
- voiceless velar fricative /x:/: taught or bought
> phonemes are no longer there - word-final /b/ and /g/: thumb, long
- /k/ und /g/ before /n/: knee or gnaw
- Lateral /l/ i some words: talk ord half
- /w/ in some words: sword, answer, write
> silent letters just in these particular words, phonemes still exist
Consonants that were pronounced differently
Voiceless, velar, ficative /x/ to /f/: enough, laugh
Vocalisation of /r/ after vowels and word-finally
- BrE: herb, birth, fur, here, there, poor
Two new consonant phonemes in EModE
- /ŋ/
- /ʒ/
- /ŋ/
- /ŋ/ already existed in Middle English but only as an allophone [ŋ]
- in EModE word-final /-g/ was lost
- /ŋ/ reaches phonemic status, distinguishes meaning
sing: /sɪŋ/ ans sin: /sɪn/ are minimal pairs
- /ʒ/
- /ʒ/ developed from /z/ + /j/ or /ɪ/
- Vluster /zj/ or /zi/ became palatalised in the 17th century
- Result: new phoneme /ʒ/
> Coalescence
Occurence:
- in Frechn loan words: rouge, prestige
- in cluster /zj/ or /zi/: measure, usual, occasion
Process is still active today
- ModE: different pronunciation for azure
- /ˈæzjʊə ˈæʒə ˈeɪʒə/ → development of /zj/to/ʒ/
1 Please briefly describe what happened during the Great Vowel Shift.
- massive change of long vowels
- during the Great Vowel Shift all the Middle English long vowels (7) were raised
- vowels moved from the open area of the mouth to the closed area
- the vowels that could not be raised any further became diphthongs and moved towards the center
> this happened SLOWLY over three phases
