6.The oe vowel system,major changes during the period.

This vowel system belongs to the year 900&reflects the Wessex dialects(helpan-help,stan-stone).Both groups of vowels underwent numerous positional changes due to assimilation(palatal mutation).All English stressed root-vowels changed into back or more narrow vowels under the influence of i/j the next syllables(sandian-sendan-send).All irregular verbs changed because of the imutation(foti-fet-feet) in the 9^thcent.Vowels length were entered before the clusters:cild-child,bindan-bind.In Mid Engl the vowels were:the short-i,e,a,o,u;the long-i:,e:,o:, :,u:, :.Changes:rediction&lost of final –e,shortening,long vowels became short before consonant clusters: nd,ld,mb,sb,st (husbonda-husband).

7.Word order in oe.

Any part of the sentence could occupy any place in it.Towards the end of the OE period,we can observe a fixing word order with preference for the subject to be placed at the head of simple sentence&main clauses.The most common word order in late OE were S-P-O(subject,predicate,object).SPO-non-dependent clauses(And heo sealed him pone mete-And she sold him that food);SOP-occurred when the object was pronoun or independent clause(Ic pe secre-I to you say);PSO-occurred chiefly in questions.

8.the great vowel shift.

Between 14-17^thcent 7 long vowels came into motion&were involved in highly systematic change.Its the process of 2 stages:1^st-[i:]&[u:]became diphthongs,2^nd-ei-ai;au=eu.The changes can be defined as”independent”as they were not caused by any apparent phonetic conditions.The GVS didn’t add any new sounds to the vowel system.It wasn’t followed by any regular spelling changes.During the GVS some names of eng letters were changed:

ME NE

i: ai:

e: i:

a: ei:

o: u:

9.Major conson.Changes in the hist of Engl

Dated in the pre-written period&are referred to as”west Germanic”as they are shared by all the lang.of the WG subgroups.All the con-s were subdivided into plosive&fricative.The most universal distinctive feature in the con-t system was the difference in length.Long con-s are believed to have been opposed to short ones on a phonetic level,they were mostly distinguished in intervocal position.Single&germinated are found in identical phonetic conditions.In all WG languages most cons-s were lengthened after a short vowel before[j]-process-gemination(doubling)(fuljan-fyllan OE-feel NE).Nasal sonorant were regularly lost before fricative cons-s.

Ex: p-p: b-b: f-f: m-m: t-t: d-d: n-n: k-ks x-x: j k-k: g-g: x:-(h)

10.I-mutation&its traces in mod Engl

Engl long vowels have tended to become more closer or narrow while short vowels became more open.Moreover long vowels were more changeable than short ones.Besides both groups of vowels have shown numerous position changes due to assimilation.The most important was I-mutation or palatal mutation.Mutation-a change of vowels sound brought about by a sound in the following syllable.This is the mutation of open vowels to a front one&the influence of the following.Length was a distinctive feature&chronological one(go-god-good).Irregular verbs(rise-rose-risan).The change of sounds under the influence of sounds in the following syllables was quite at phenomenal(assimilation).