Middle English: Phonology Flashcards
Vowels in Old English (Monophthongs)
Vowels in Middle English (Monophthongs)
The Phoneme Inventory - Vowels
The Phoneme Inventory - Vowels Südhumbrische Versumpfung
> took place during ME in the area south of the river Humber (areas controlled by the Danelaw - Eastern Midlands)
Diphthong /eɪ/ in ModE is indication for ME /ɑː/
BUT: words in ME with /ɑː/ - why no change to /ɔː/?
- French words with similar vowel quality
> ME “blame” from French “blâmer” (ModE. to blame)
> ME “lac” from French “lac” (ModE. lake) - OE /ɑ/ was lengthened to /ɑː/:
> OE bacan - ME baken
> OE lana - ME lane
> OE nama - ME name
> OE tacan - ME taken
Homorganic Sounds
> Changes from OE to ME
Vowel change caused by surrounding sounds
From the 9th century onwards: lengthening of short unstressed vowels
But only if certain consonants followed
Short vowel was followed by liquid or nasal + homorganic sound
Lengthening did not take place if a third consonant followed: in ‘childrene’ the two homorganic sounds /ld/ are followed by /r/
Homorganic sounds = same place of articulation
> e.g. liquid: /l/ and /d/
nasal: /m/ and /b/, /n/ and /d/
The Phoneme Inventory - Consonants
changes towards OE to ME
Spelling and Pronunciation
> Spelling became fixed from 15th century onwards
Important influence: printing press
Since 15th century: hardly any change in the spelling
From ME onwards: major changes in the pronunciation
Spelling and Pronunciation
- ModE
> Knowledge of historical, diachronic changes helps to understand ModE
ModE spelling represents pronunciation of ME
- What does the term “südhumbrische Verdumpfung” mean?
- Explain the change of
- What are homorganic sounds? What happened to the vowels occurring before these sounds?
- Does OD have the phonemes /v/ and /z/? What about ME?
