1. Monophtongisation of Old English diphtongs.

b)At the beginning of the Middle English period (end of XI the beginning of XII-th) all the Old English diphtongs became monophthongs.

x) ē –denotes a long closed /e/; ē denoted a long open /e/

2. The change of the short /ae/ in the XII-th century the short /ae/ was changes into /a/ O.E. p+b (b) /ae/ was changed into /a/

O.E.	Þaet	M.E.	that
O.E.	Waes	M.E.	was

Now, where did the modern /ae/ come from? It probably originated anew, because there are no permanent correlation between the Old English and the New English /ae/.

c) The change of the long āē.

The O.E.

āē

mid. E.

Ē

O.E.

sāē

Mid.E.

sē

Thus a new sound originated in Middle English which was absent in Old English /e/; an open, long /e/.

d) The change of ā at the end of the XII-th century.

ā-ō

O.E.

stān

Mid. E.

stōn

So that a new sound appeared in the Middle English period /ō/ a long open / ō/.

e) The development of the Old English /y/. The Old English sound /y/ disappeared in Middle English. For example:

Mid. E. West-fullen

O.E.	fyllan	North-fillen	New English	to fill
		South East-fellen

Mid. E. West-busy

O.E.	bysig	North-bisy	New English	busy
		South East-besy

In this case the literary language adopted the pronounciation of the northeastern dialects and the spelling of the Western ones.

g) The change of the Old English nasal /å/ (was found only before nasals). In Middle English his sound disappeared. In most dialects /å a/ in some western dialects /å/ /o/.

In the literary language forms with ‘a’ were adopted, but before ng usually /o/ developed.

O.E.	Lånd	Mid. E.	land
O.E.	Lang	Mid. E.	long

4.)Middle English Consonants

1. Growth of sibiliants and africates

In Early OE there were no affricates and sibilants, except [s,z]. The consonants (k’, g, sk’) turned into sibilants at the close of Old English at the beginning of the Middle English period.

O.E. /k’/ Mid.E. /t∫/ O.E. /g’/ Mid. E. /dʒ/

O.E. /sk’/ Mid. E. /∫/

As a result of this alteration new consonants sibilants -appeared in the English language. (See table 16, p. 9). They are: t∫, ∫, dʒ.

Examples OE cin Mid.E. chin

OE eog Mid.E. edge;