Qualitative vowel changes in early middle english

Development of Monophthongs.

As compared with quantitative changes, qualitative vowel changes in Early ME were less important. They affected several mono­phthongs and displayed considerable dialectal diversity. On the whole they were independent of phonetic environment.

The OE close labialised vowels [y] and [y:] disappeared in Early ME, merging with various sounds in different dialectal areas. The treatment of [y] and [y:] in ME can be regarded as evidence of growing dialectal divergence. At the same time it is a relatively rare instance of similar alterations of a short and a long vowel.

Development of Old English [y] and [y:] in Middle English dialects

Examples

OE	ME		NE
fyllan	Kentish	fellen ['fell∂n]	fill
	West Midland and	fullen ['fyll∂n,
	South Western	'full∂n]
	East Midland and Northern	fillen [‘fill∂n]

In Early ME the long OE [a:] was narrowed to [ב:]. This was an early instance of the growing tendency of all long monophthongs to become closer; the tendency was intensified in Late ME when all long vowels changed in that direction, [a:] became [ב:] in all the dialects except the Northern group.

OE	ME		NE
stān	Northern	stan(e) [‘sta:n∂]	stone
	Other dialects	stoon, stone ['stב:n(∂)]

The short OE [æ] was replaced in ME by the back vowel [a]. In OE [æ] was either a separate phoneme or one of a group of allophones distinguished in writing [æ, a, ã, ea]. All these sounds were reflected in ME as [a], except the nasalised [ã] which became [o] in the West Midlands (and thus merged with a different phoneme lo] or [ב].

OE þæt > ME that [θat] (NE that)

earm > arm [arm] (NE arm)

blacu > blak [blak] (NE black)

The development of OE [as] to ME [a] is viewed with suspicion by some scholars, because the history of this sound includes several reversals, which is hardly probable: PG [a] > OE [æ] > ME [a] > NE [æ]. Perhaps, it was a graphic replacement and the ME letter a stood for two allophones, [æ] and [a].

Development of Diphthongs.

One of the most important sound changes in the Early ME period was the loss of OE diphthongs:

Table 3

Development of Old English Diphthongs in Early Middle English

Change illustrated	Examples
OE ME	OE	ME	NE
ea: ε: Cf. æ: ε:	ēast rēad stræt	eest [ε:st] reed [rε:d] street [strε:t]	east red street
eo: e: Cf. e: e:	dēop cēosan hē	deep [de:p] chesen ['t∫e:z ∂n] he [he:]	deep choose he
ie: i: e: Cf. i: i: e: e:	līehtan hīeran rīsan cēpan	lighten [li:x't∂n] heren ['he:r∂n] risen ['ri:z∂n] kepen ['ke:p∂n]	lighten hear rise keep
ea a Cf. æ a	Earm bæc	arm [arm] back [bak]	arm back
eo e Cf. e e	heorte bedd	herte ['hert∂] bed [bed]	heart bed
ie i e Cf. i i e e	nieht, niht hierde, hyrde hit (see bedd above)	night [nix't] herd [herd] it [it]	night 'shepherd' it

In Early ME the sounds [j] and [γ] between and after vowels changed into [i] and [u] and formed diphthongs together with the preceding vowels, e.g. OE dæ3>ME day [dai]. These changes gave rise to 2 sets of diphthongs: with i-glides and u-glides. The same types of diphthongs appeared also from other sources:

Table 4

Growth of New Diphthongs in Middle English

Change illustrated	Examples
OE ME	OE	ME	NE
e+j ei e:+j ei æ+j ai a+γ au o+γ ou a:+w ou a:+x au + x	we3 3rē3 mae5 la3u bo3a cnāwan brāhte	wey [wei] grey [grei] may [mai] lawe ['lau∂] bowe ['bou∂] knowen ['knou∂n] braughte ['brauxt∂]	way grey may law bow know brought

The formation of new diphthongs in ME was an important event in the history of the language. By that time the OE diphthongs had been contracted into monophthongs; the newly formed ME diphthongs differed from the OE in structure: they had an open nucleus and a closer glide; they were arranged in a system consisting of two sets (with i-glides and u-glides) but were not contrasted through quantity as long to short.

System of Vowels in Late Middle English.

Table 5

Middle English Vowels (the Age of Chaucer, Late 14th c.)

Monophthongs		Diphthongs
Short	i e a o u	ei ai oi au ou
Long	i: e: ε: a: ב : o: u:

As seen from the table, the system of vowels in Late ME was no longer symmetrical. The OE balance of long and short vowels had been disrupted and was never restored again.

The Great Vowel Shift.

Early NE witnessed the greatest event in the history of Eng­lish vowels — the Great Vowel Shift, — which involved the change of all ME long monophthongs, and probably some of the diphthongs. The changes can be defined as “independent”, as they were not caused by any apparent phonetic conditions in the syllable or in the word, but affected regularly every stressed long vowel in any position.

The changes included in the Great Vowel Shift are shown in Table 6 with some intermediate stages and examples. (It seems reasonable to add to this list the development of the ME diphthong [au] which was narrowed and contracted to [ב:] during the same period, though it is not usually included in the Shift.)

Table 6

The Great Vowel Shift

Change illustrated			Examples
ME	(inter-mediate stage)	NE	ME	NE
i: ai e: i: ε: e: i: a: ei ב: o: ou o: u: u: au au ב:			time ['ti:m∂] finden ['fi:nd∂n] kepen ['ke:p∂n] field ['fe:ld] street [strε:t] east [ε:st] stelen ['stε:l∂n] maken ['ma:k∂n] table ['ta:ble] stone ['sto:n] open ['o:p∂n] soo [so:] moon [mo:n] goos [go:s] mous [mu:s] founden ['fu:nd∂n] now [nu:] cause ['kauz(∂)] drawen ['drauon]	time find keep field street east steal make table stone open so moon goose mouse found now cause draw

As seen from the table all the vowels became closer and some of the vowels occupied the place of the next vowel in the column: thus [e:]> [i:], while the more open [ε: ] took the place of [e:l, and later moved one step further in the same direction and merged with the former [e: ] in [i:]. Likewise, the long [o:] was shifted one step, to become [u:], while ME [u:] changed to [au]. Some long vowels— [u:], [i:] and [a:] — broke into diphthongs, the first element being contrasted to the second as a more open sound: [au], [ai] and [ei], respectively.

It should be obvious that the Great Vowel Shift did not add any new sounds to the vowel system; in fact, every vowel which developed under the Shift can be found in Late ME. And nevertheless the Great Vowel Shift was the most profound and comprehensive change in the history of English vowels: every long vowel, as well as some diphthongs, was “shifted”, and the pronunciation of all the words with these sounds was altered.

It is important to note that the Great Vowel Shift (unlike most of the earlier phonetic changes) was not followed by any regular spelling changes: as seen from the examples the modification in the pronunciation of words was not reflected in their written forms.

During the shift even the names of some English letters were changed, for they contained long vowels.

Cf. the names of some English letters before and after the shift:

ME: A [a:], E [e:], 0 [o:], I [i:], B [be:], K [ka:].

NE: A [ei], E [i:], 0 [ou], I [ai], B [bi:], K [kei].

(By comparing the names of Mod E letters A, 0, E, and I with the familiar Latin names of the same letters one can easily form an idea of the shift (only three more changes [u:]> [au:], [o:]> [u:] and [au] > [ב:] have to be added).

It is also easy to deduce the changes from comparing the written and spoken forms of many modern words, e.g. time [‘ti:m∂] becomes [taim], make [‘ma:k∂] becomes [meik].)

The Great Vowel Shift has attracted the attention of many linguists (K. Luick, O: Jespersen, F. Mosse, A. Martinet, B. Trnka, V. Plotkin and others), but the problem of the Great Vowel Shift remains unresolved. If we take into account not only the development of vowels in Standard English, but also the vowel changes in the local British dialects, it will appear that the consistency of the changes has been somewhat exaggerated. In many dialects some vowels were not subjected to the Great Vowel Shift or were modified differently. Since the system of Standard English has absorbed various dialectal features at all levels, we may surmise that the Great Vowel Shift, which chronologically coincides with the formation of the nation-wide Standard, was to a certain extent merely a final choice from dialectal variants in pronunciation accepted in literary English and recognised as correct by grammarians and phoneticians. This choice was conditioned not only by intralinguistic systemic factors but also by the linguistic situation, especially the relationship between the coexisting varieties of the language, which they represented.

Changes of Short Vowels in Early New English.

As compared to the Great Vowel Shift other vowel changes of the NE period seem few and insignificant. Yet, like all the sound changes of that time, they account for the modern system of vowels and clarify certain points in modern spelling.

The short vowels in Early NE were on the whole more stable than the long vowels: only two short vowels out of five underwent certain alterations: [a] and [u].

The obvious change of the ME [a] came about when it was preceded by the semivowel [w]; probably under the influence of this labialised sound the vowel developed an allophone which finally merged with the phoneme [ב].

[a] > [ב]: OE wæs > ME was [was] > NE was

OE wæter > ME water ['water] > NE water

The other change in the set of short vowels was a case of de-labialisation: ME short [u] lost its labial character and became [۸], except in some dialectal forms or when preceded by some labials.

[u] > [۸]: ME hut [hut]>NE hut, ME comen ['kum∂n]>NE come,

but ME putten ['put∂n]>NE put; ME pullen ['pul∂n]>NE pull.

This development may have been tied up with the loss of ME [a] described above, as the new [۸] in a way filled the position of ME [a], which had shifted to [æ].

Growth of Long Monophthongs and Diphthongs in Early New English

due to Vocalisation of Consonants

The history of English vowels would be incomplete if we did not mention the development of new long monophthongs and diphthongs, resulting from the vocalisation of some consonants, though these changes pertain to the history of consonants no less than to that of vowels. We may recall that vocalisation of some fricative consonants led to the appearance of long monophthongs and of new diphthongs — with i-and u-glides during the Early ME period. Similar processes continued in later ages.

Two voiceless fricatives, [x] and [x']_, were vocalised towards the end of the ME period. The glide [u] had probably developed before the velar consonant [x] even before its vocalisation; it is regularly shown in ME spellings, e.g. ME taughte, braughte ['tauxt∂, ['brauxt∂]. Later [au] was contracted to [ב:] in accordance with regular vowel changes, and [x] was lost, which transformed the words into NE taught, brought.

The palatal fricative [x'] changed to [j] some time during the 15th c; it changed into the vowel [i] and together with the preceding [i] yielded a long monophthong [i:], which participated in the Great Vowel Shift. Thus, words like night, since the age of Chaucer have passed through the following stages: [nix't]>[nijt]>[ni:t]>[nait].

The most important instance of vocalisation is the development of [r], which accounts for the appearance of many new long monophthongs and diphthongs.

The sonorant [r] began to produce a certain influence upon the preceding vowels in Late ME, long before it showed any signs of vocalisation, [r] made the preceding vowel more open and retracted: the cluster [er] changed to [ar], e.g. OE deorc became Early ME derk [derk] due to the contraction of the OE diphthong [eo] to [e], and changed to dark [dark] in Late ME (NE dark); likewise OE clerec, which after the loss of the unstressed vowel became ME clerk [klerk], changed to [klark] (NE clerk); OE heorte developed into ME herte ['hert∂], and Late ME [hart] (NE heart).

The vocalisation of [r] took place in the 16th or 17th c. In ME [r] was a rolled or trilled sound more like the Russian or Ukrainian [r] than its Mod E descendant. The modification of [r] in the early 17th c. was noticed and commented upon by the contemporaries: Ben Jonson remarked that [r] began to sound “firm in the beginning of words and more liquid in the middle and ends”. The new variants of pronunciation gradually displaced the older ones.

In Early NE [r] was vocalised when it stood after vowels, either finally or followed by another consonant. Losing its consonantal character [r] changed into the neutral sound [∂], which was added to the preceding vowel as a glide thus forming a diphthong; e.g. ME there ['θε:re]> NE there. Sometimes the only trace left by the loss of [r] was the compensatory lengthening of the preceding vowel, e.g. ME arm [arm]>NE arm, ME for [for]>[fo∂]>[fo: ] (NE for). If [r] stood in the final unstressed syllable after [∂], the vocalisation of [rl to [9] resulted in the survival of the ending, e.g. ME rider(e) ['ri:d∂r∂];> ['ri:d∂r]>NE rider. If the neutral [a] produced by the vocalisation of [r] was preceded by a diphthong, it was added to the diphthong to form a sequence of sounds named "triphthong", e.g. ME shour [∫u:r], NE shower [‘∫au∂].

It is apparent that the vocalisation of [r] had a profound effect on the vowel system: there developed a new set of diphthongs, and also triphthongs, with ∂-glides: [i∂, ε∂, u∂, etc.]; there arose a new central long monophthong [∂:]; the new long [a:] filled a vacant position in the system, since ME [a:] had been diphthongised under the Great Vowel Shift, and the new [ב: ] merged with [ב: ] resulting from the contraction of ME [au] (e.g. drauen ['drau∂n]>NE draw).