3. Phonetic changes. Oe Fracture (Breaking),

Palatalization and Back Mutation as sources of

forming new diphthongs.

OE Fracture is diphthongization of short vowel before the following consonant cluster: r+consonant; l+consonant; h+consonant., and before final “h”. It’s the vowel “æ” and “o” that underwent fracture;

æ>ea e>eo

ærm>earm-arm herte>heorte-heart

æld>eald-old melcan>meolcan-milk

æhta>eaht-eight selh>seolh-seal

sæh>seah-saw feh>feoh-cattle

P alatalization OE vowels changed under the influence of the initial palatal consonants “ ”, “c” and cluster “sc”. “ ” and “c” influenced only front vowels (i, e) while “sc” influenced all vowels. As a result of palatalization the vowel diphthongized.

e>ie efan> iefan - give

æ>ea æf> eaf - gave

a>ea scacan>sceacan - shake

o>eo scort>sceort - short

Back or Velar Mutation is the kind of mutation caused by back vowels of the following syllable

i >io hira>hiora - their

e >eo herot>heort - hart

a >ea saru>searu

caru>cearu - care

I Mutation or Umlaut. By i-mutation we mean the change of a vowel caused by an “i” (or “y”) of the following syllable.

In OE i-mutation affects practically all vowels. Only short “e” and “i” didn’t deal with it. A list of i-mutation processes in OE is this.

Monophthongs

a>e framian>fremman “petform”

sandian>sendan “sendan”

æ>e lællian>tellan “tell”

sællian>sellan “give”

ā>æ lārian>læran “leach”

o>e ofstian>efstan “hurry”

ō>ē dōmian>dēman “judgi”

u>y fullian>fyllan “fill”

ū>y cūБian>cyБan -announce

Diphthongs

ea>ie earmiБu>iermБu “poverty”

ea>ie zelēāfian>zelifan “believe”

eo>ie afeorria>affierran “removed”

ē ō>īē etreow > etrieure “true”

The i-mutation was significant for phonetic structure of OE. As a result of it the new phoneme arose which was different from the original one.

3. Borrowings of oe period.

Loan-Words

Old English has only words from two sources- from Latin and Celtic languages. Some words taken over from Latin had been borrowed by Latin from Greek.

Latin

Latin borrowings may be classified into two layers: (1) the oldest layer of words was taken over either directly from the Romans before the Anglo-Saxons settled in Britain, or from the Celtic inhabitants of Britain, (2) the second layer: words concerning religion and the church, taken over after introduction of Christianity, which began in 597; these words belong to the 7th century.

First Layer

Here belong, on the one hand, names of objects of material culture, and on the other, names of products which the Anglo-Saxons bought from Roman merchants. The first group is represented by the words: stræt ‘street’, from Latin strāta (via) ‘paved road’; weall ‘wall’ from Latin vallum; cycene ‘kitchen’ from Latin coquina; myln ‘mill’ from Latin molinum; pipor ‘pepper’ from Latin piper; win ‘wine’ from Latin vīnum. The Latin substantive castra ‘camp’ made part of names of cities, which were camps in the Roman epoch: Chester, Manchester, Leicester; Latin colonia has been preserved in the city names Lioncoln, Latin portus ‘port’ in Portsmouth, Bridport, Latin strata in Stratford; Latin fossa ‘moat’ in Fosswau, Fosbroke.

Second Layer

The second layer consists of words which directly or indirectly belong to the sphere of religion and church. When Christianity was introduced in England, the Latin language came to be used as language of the church. At that time a certain number of Latin words were taken over into English: biscop ‘bishop’ from Latin episcopus, Greek episkopos; cleric ‘church man’ from Latin clericus, Greek klērikớs; apostol ‘apostle’ from Latin apostolus, Greek apostolos; deofol ‘devil’ from Latin diabolus, Greek diábolos; mæsse ‘mass’ from Latin missa; munuc ‘monk’ from Latin monachus, Greek monachos; māzister ‘teacher’ from Latin magister; scrifan ‘prescribe’ from Latin scrībere. Some Latin loan-words yielded derivatives: biscophād ‘bishopric’, biscepunz ‘becoming a bishop’, scrift ‘shrift’.

Under Latin influence some native English words acquired new meanings: thus, the substantive ēastron, which originally denoted a heathen spring holiday, acquired the meaning “Easter”.

Seminar 3

1. The first consonant shift. Grimm’s Law.

2. Verner’s law.

3. Anglo-Saxon Chronicle and Beowulf-works of OE

4. OE alphabet

5. OE vowels and consonants.

6. OE phonetic phenomena as the sources of forming diphthongs and new sounds.

7. OE borrowings.

Lecture 4

MIDDLE ENGLISH PHONETICS AND ORTHOGRAPHY.

Contents

I. Middle English Alphabet.

II. Changes in Spelling Habits.

III. Changes in Consonants.

IV. Phonetic changes. Vowels.

V. Types of M E literary documents