Phonological system

1. General characteristics.

2. The system of vowels.

3. Changes in the system of vowels.

4. The system of consonants.

5. Changes in the system of consonants.

General characteristics.

Before discussing Old English phonological system it is indispensable to oust some discrepancies in terminology: the English use the word ‘phonetics’ for modern фонетика and ‘phonology’ for историческая фонетика.

Old English is a dead language, entirely different from Modern English. We learn its phonological system from old manuscripts, glosses, for they used to write as they heard it. On melody and stress of Old English we judge taking into account Old English poetry. Old English word stress was ‘dynamic’ or ‘force’ stress. In disyllabic and polysyllabic words the stress fell on the first or sometimes the second syllable. It was fixed. In polysyllabic words the stress might be secondary and primary: e.g. 'norþ"monna. In compound words two stresses were used: 'norþ"weard. As we learn from manuscripts Old English differed from other Germanic dialects in phonological aspect. The changes had taken place in the pre-writing period leading to separation and formation of Anglo-Saxon.

The system of vowels.

The following vowel monophthongs were presented in Old English:

ī i		y y		ū u		y y = ü - umlaut
	ē e	(œ œ)		ō o		œ œ = ö
	æ x			ā a

There were also rising diphthongs with an open wide second element:

ēa	ea
ēo	eo

The diphthongs īe and ie can hardly be considered separate phonemes; they may be substituted by ī or i. While short diphthongs were one diphthongal phoneme, long diphthongs were biphonemic (diphthongal combinations). Long diphthongs are of common Germanic origin.

Gothic	Old English
kīusan	cēosan
kāus	cēas

Short diphthongs are of English origin – they represent certain changes of short vowels in certain positions. (See Table p.12).

3. Changes in the system of vowels.

The following changes of vowels took place in Old English. Breaking or diphthongisation of short vowels before liquids and h + consonant.

a / æ	+	r, l, h + consonant (liquids and h); or h in final position	- ea	e.g.	earn, eald, seah, eahta
e			- eo		feoh, heorte, seolh

In Mercia it was not obligatory.

Table 1

Correlation of Old English and Gothic Vowels

OLD ENGLISH			GOTHIC
a	daZas	as Germ. [a] in Mann, bald	a	dagōs
ā	stān	as English [a:] in rather, drama	ai	stains
x	dxZ	as English a in man, hat	a	dags
x		same but long
x1	stxlon		ē	stēlum
x2	result of i-mutation of ā hxlan.		ā	hāljan
e1	helpan	as English e in end, well	i/e	hilpan
e2	result of i-mutation of a or x bendan		a	bandjan
ē	result of i-mutation of ō dēman	as Germ. e in nehmen	ō	dōmjan
i	bindan	as English i in bid, tip	i	bindan
y	variant of i/ie nyht, yfel, Zyfu	as Germ. ü in fünf		no stable correlation nahts, ubils, giba
ī	grīpan	as English ee in seed	ei	[J] greipan
y	variants of ī/īe hwy, hyran	as German ü in Stühle		no stable correlation hwē hausjan
o	stolen	as Germ. o in voll, Bonn.	u	stulans
ō	Zōd	as Germ. o in schon, Bohne	ō	gōþs
u	curon	as English u in put, bush	u	cusum
ū	hūs	as English oo in moon	ū	hūs

Contraction. Two vowels contracted into one if they were separated by ‘h’:

ah + vowel →	ēa	e.g.	* slahan →	slēah (slay)
eh + vowel →	ēo		* sehan →	sēon (see)
			* tehan →	tēon (Germ. zien)

I-mutation. The root-vowel narrowed under the influence of i/j in the suffix:

e.g.	*fōti –	fēt	(o – e)
	*fuljan –	fyllan	(u – y)
	*taljan –	tellan	(a – e)
	*saljan –	sellan
	*wopjan –	wepan

i/j in the suffix disappeared after i-mutation took place.

Lengthening. Short vowels lengthened before homorganic groups nd, ld, mb:

e.g. bīndan, cīld, wīld, clīmban, fīndan.

Lengthening did not take place if the homorganic group was followed by a consonant: e.g. cildru.

Palatalization. Front vowels diphthongized after ‘Z’, ‘c’; and all vowels after ‘sc’.

e.g.	*Zefan	Ziefan	(e – ie)
	*Zeldan	Zieldan
	*scacan	sceacan	(a – ea)
	*cxster	ceaster	(x – ea)
	*scort	sceort	(o – eo)