4.The appearance of new diphthongs in Middle English.

Development of Old English Diphthongs in Early Middle English

Change illustrated					Examples
OE	ME	OE		ME		NE
ea: æ:	ε: ε:	ēast rēad strǽt		eest [ε:st] reed [rε:d] street [strε:t]		eastredstreet
eo: e:	e: e:	dēop cēosan hē		deep [de:p]  chesen ['tЅe:zən]  he [he:]		deepchoosehe
ea æ	a a	earm bæc		arm [arm]  back [bak]		armback

Growth of New Diphthongs in Middle English

Change	illustrated		Examples
OE	ME	OE	ME	NE
e+j	ei	we3	wey [wei]	way
e:+j	ei	Згē3	grey [grei]	greу
æ+j	ai	mæ3	may [mai]	may
a+ γ	au	1а3и	lawe ['1аuə]	law
o+γ.	ou	bо3а	bowe I'bouə]	bow
a:+w  a: +x	ou	cnāwan	knowen ['кnоuən]	know
	au+x	brāhte	braughte ['brauxte]	brought

5.Spelling changes in Middle English.

French graphic habits were introduced, and marking the sounds became more European in form, no alien letters hampered reading because all the letters were exclusively Latin. Specifically English sounds, earlier marked by letters specific only for the English language were replaced by digraphs. з, d and wynn were replaced by Latin letters.

3-g (зod – god)

3-y (зreз – grey; зear — year)

(In some cases phonetic changes led to the use of other letters, the folзian -folwen is due to sound, and not purely spelling change; the same is true of the letter - x— it fell into disuse because the very sound developed into some other sounds).

The sound dз marked by сз was also rendered by g or dg - singe, bridge. In French borrowings the same sound was marked according to the French tradition by j - judge, June.

The letter v was introduced to mark voiced fricative (it was its allograph u first, hence the name of the letter w).

The letter q always accompanied by u is introduced to denote either the consonant k or the cluster kw - quarter, queen.

Spelling habits affected unambiguous cases.

Long u was replaced by digraph ou, in the French tradition: hus - hous, mus - mous, ut - out; it was found in French words: trouble, couch; in final position, and occasionally in medial it was ow: hu- how; cu- cow, dun - down.

In some cases the sound u came to be represented by o, especially when it stood neighboring the letters with many vertical lines lufu - loue; cumen - comen etc.

Long sound o is now rendered by oo: fot, --> foot.

Long Old English e was marked either by a digraph ee or by simple e, and mute e was added at the end of the word: metan - mete, meete (to meet) or turned into ie; feld – field.

The consonant d gave way to digraph th —» doet, du, dreo —» that, thou, three;

The sibilant [tf] formerly rendered by c before or after front vowels was replaced by a digraph ch: cild, hwilc —> child which

The sound [d3] of various origin is marked by the letters j, g, dg -courage, joy, bridge.

The sound [s], formerly rendered by sc is rendered by the combinations sh and sch: scip, fisc,—> ship, fish.

The sound [k] formerly c before consonants is rendered by k -cnawan - knowen; cniht - knight.