Week 5

Question 1

Loss of a consonant sound:
Positions: 3

Answer 1

Initial: apheresis
Medial: syncope
Final: apocope

Question 2

Merger is

Answer 2

‘the collapse of two or more sounds into one’.

Question 3

Merger in unstressed syllables:
Esp. in

Answer 3

inflectional endings.

Question 4

Merger in unstressed syllables:
Consequence: 3

Answer 4

metanalysis, juncture, metathesis of juncture: instability of final -n > shifts in boundaries&raquo_space; reinterpretation of etymology; e.g. OF a naperon > Eng. an apron

Question 5

Addition of a consonant (intrusion); esp. to

Answer 5

ease articulation.

Question 6

Metathesis =

Answer 6

‘reversal or reordering of two sounds’.

Question 7

Metathesis: esp.

Answer 7

liquids and vowels, or fricatives and stops.

Question 8

Assimilation is typically motivated by

Answer 8

ease of articulation.

Question 9

Voicing =

Answer 9

the addition of vocal cord vibration to a voiceless sound.

Question 10

Vocalisation =

Answer 10

‘a phonological process in which a consonant becomes a semivowel or vowel’.

Question 11

Excrescent (t) →

Answer 11

at end of word (it is a simple addition of the sound).

Question 12

Assimilation =

Answer 12

an articulatory change in which a sound becomes similar or identical to an adjacent sound in voicing, manner of articulation or place of articulation.

Question 13

Types of assimilation and dissimilation:

Answer 13

partial vs complete; progressive vs regressive

Question 14

Dissimilation is typically motivated by

Answer 14

the need for perceptual clarity.

Question 15

Vowel reduction =

Answer 15

MOSTLY ABOUT SCHWA. In unstressed syllables.

Question 16

Vowel changes
Two types of changes:

Answer 16

• Qualitative changes: changes in the place of articulation.
• Quantitative changes: changes in length.

Question 17

Lengthening:

Answer 17

homorganice, OSL.

Question 18

Shortening:

Answer 18

of unstressed long vowels, pre-cluster, trisyllabic.

Question 19

DIPHTHONGS ARE IN OLD ENGLISH BUT NOT

Answer 19

IN MIDDLE ENGLISH, ALL DIPHTHONGS BECOME
MONOTHONGS.

Question 20

Short vowels (a, o, u, o) are all reduced to

Answer 20

schwa.

Question 21

Monophthongisation and merger →

Answer 21

the 2 long OE diphthongs disappear.

Question 22

This reduction of all unstressed vowels to schwa or I was

Answer 22

one factor in the ultimate loss of most English
inflections.

Question 23

Vowel reduction: examples

Answer 23

(11th C.): spelling or sound.

Question 24

CAUTION: simplification of a cluster vs.

Answer 24

loss of a sound.

Question 25

Sound (h) remains in the language but

Answer 25

disappears in these clusters > reflection in spelling.

Question 26

Loss of a consonant sound: esp.

Answer 26

due to ease of articulation.

Question 27

Other qualitative changes:
Long vowels 4

Answer 27

• Unrounding of (y:) to (i:) and subsequent merger. The same applies to the corresponding short vowels (i, y).
• NO PHONOLOGICAL CHANGES, JUST ORTHOGRAPHIC CHANGES
• Shift (a: ) > (c: ) (long, open o) by backing and rounding. Happens south of river Humber.
• CONSEQUENCES: loss of (a: ) and 2 types of long ‘o’ sounds