- •II.Lectures Lecture 1
- •I. Origin of English
- •II. Problem of division into periods.
- •III. Early History of British Isles
- •IV. Traces of the Roman Rule in Britain
- •V. The Anglo-Saxon Conquest of Britain
- •VI. Scandinavian conquerors
- •VII. Norman conquest of England
- •Chronological List
- •1. Origin of English.
- •4. Traces of the Roman rule in Britain.
- •Middle English Dialects
- •Vocabulary of Middle English Period.
- •Rising of London dialect.
- •Book printing.
- •Forming national language (15-17 c.)
- •Spreading of English outside England. English in Scotland
- •Phonetic changes. Oe Fracture (Breaking),
- •Borrowings of oe period.
- •I. Middle English Alphabet.
- •II. Changes in Spelling Habits .
- •III. Changes in Consonants.
- •IV. Phonetic Changes. Vowels.
- •V. Types of me Literary Documents
- •I. Spreading of London dialect in the 15th century.
- •II. Phonetic changes
- •1. The Vowel Shift
- •2. Influence of "r"
- •3. Special cases
- •4. Other changes
- •III. Phonetic Changes. Consonants.
- •1. Development of [h]
- •2. Loss of [l] before [k,m,f,V]
- •3. [J] Merged with Preceding Consonant.
- •I. Old English period. Nouns.
- •1. Preliminary remarks
- •2. The categories of oe nouns
- •3. The category of declension
- •4. The System of Cases in oe period and types of Declension
- •II. Middle English Nouns
- •III. Case system in New English period
- •I.Strong Verbs.
- •II. Weak Verbs
- •IV. Categories of verbs in oe.
- •Conjugation of Verbs [kon’dzugei ∫ n]
- •VI. Me Verbs.
- •I. Oe Pronouns.
- •III. Oe Adjectives. Declension.
- •IV. Degrees of Comparison.
- •III. Seminars
- •Origin of English
- •1. Origin of English
- •Scandinavian Conquerors.
- •Additional information The Scandinavian Influence
- •IV. Oe Vocabulary oe vocabulary for
- •V. Tests
- •Variant II.
- •Variant III.
- •Variant IV.
- •VI. List of the examination questions in the English Language History
- •I. Theoretical problems.
- •Origin of English.
- •II. Practical problems.
- •Card № 1
- •Origin of English.
2. Influence of "r"
When the long vowel was followed by the consonant [r], the results of the shift were somewhat different. Articulation of [r] favours a broader pronunciation of the preceding vowel, and that's why "R" conflicted with the tendency of the shift. The following table shows the specific features of the shift before [r], in comparison with other consonants.
Spelling ME MnE Spelling ME MnE
1. fate fa: t feit fare fa: r feər
2. (a) beat be: t bi: t fear fe: r fiər
(b) bear be: r beər
3. steep ste: p sti: p steer ste: r stie r
4. time ti: m taim tire ti: r taiər
5. boat bo: t bout boar bo: r bo: r
6. moon mo: n mu: n moor mo: r muər
7. house hu: s haus power 'pu: ər pauər
Trip thongs arising in words like tire and power eventually became diphthongs or even monophthongs:
[tarə←taər ← ta: r]; [pauər←paər←pa: r].
As a result of these changes new phonemes [iə], [εə] and [uə] came into being.
3. Special cases
Some words have sounds which do not correspond to the general law of the vowel shift.
Thus, long [u:] remained unchanged when followed by a labial consonant, for example, in droop (ME droupen), room (ME roum). Here the oo spelling was introduced to denote the vowel [u:]. In the words group and soup the [u:] is probably due to the fact that the words have been borrowed from French after the change [u:→au] was over (when the process of G.W.Sh.was completed). Compare also: accoutre, coup [ku:]. [u:] has also remained unchanged in the substantive and verb wound.
[i:] has remained unchanged in words borrowed from French when the change [i: → ai] was over, as in machine, police, chemise. [a:] has remained unchanged in words borrowed after the change [a →ei], as in vase, charade, etc.
ME long open [έ] did not always changed into [e: → i:]. In some words it was shortened to [e] before the narrowing had begun. This shortening is mainly found before [d] and [ө], as in bread, death; also before [t] in fret, let, ate, sweat, get. The vowel was also shortened before [s] in less and before [f] in deaf. ME [e:] was shortened in friend.
However, there was no shortening before the same consonants in other words; compare: knead, lead (v), plead, read, heath, sheath, wreath, beneath, underneath.
In two words long [i:] was shortened to [i]: breeches, sick (ME sēke).
4. Other changes
The change [a] → [æ]
At the same time short [a] changed into [æ]. This change affected all words containing [a ] except those where it was preceded by [w]. Thus the vowel [æ] appeared again in the words hat, cat, ladder, and others. OE [æ] changed into [a] in ME, and in N.E. this [a] changed again into [æ].
When the [a] was preceded by [w], it remained unchanged, and eventually developed into [o].