Phonetic System in OE

1.Word stress
2. The consonant shift
3. The vowels

Word Stress
It was inherited from Common Germanic
In OE a syllable was made prominent by
an increase in the force of articulation
(force stress).
It fell on the first syllable or on the root
morpheme.
It was fixed because it didnt shift in
different grammatical forms and in wordbuilding either.

Examples
Hlforde [xlavorde]
Cyninge [kninge]
Dag [dej], dagas [daas]

Primary and Secondary Stress

Compounds had two stresses: chief and
secondary.
The main stress fell on the root
morpheme.
In words with prefixes the stress varied.
Verb prefixes were unaccented, while in
nouns and adjectives the stress was on
the prefix.

Examples
-risan -- (v.) to arise
or-eald -- (adj.) very old
mis-dd -- (n.) misdeed

The Function of the Stress

If the words were derived from the same
root, word stress served to distinguish the
noun from the verb:
E.g.: on-gin (n.) beginning

on- ginnan (v.) to begin

Common Germanic Consonant

Shift
At first sight it may appear that C.G.
consonants are similar to those of other IE
languages.
In fact, it is different. Lets compare:
Latin pater, Italian padre,
English father, German Vater
This alteration of the consonants is known
as the First Germanic consonant shift.

Jacob Grimm and His Law

I row IE p(ph), t(th), k(kh) CG f, , x.
IE voiceless plosive consonants became
voiceless fricatives in CG.
II row IE b, d, g CG p, t, k.
IE voiced plosive non aspirated
consonants are shifted to CG voiceless
plosive consonants.

III row
IE Bh, Dh, Gh CG v, ,
IE voiced plosive aspirated consonants are
reflected in Germanic as voiced fricative
consonants.
E. g.: [p] [f] (L) pater (E) father

[t] [] (L) tres (E) three

[k] [x] (L) canis (E) hound

[d] [t] (L) decem (E) ten

Voicing of Fricatives
The Danish scholar Carl Verner (in the 19th
century) noticed that the fricative consonants
became voiced depending on the position of the
stress.
His law: All the CG fricative consonants became
voiced between vowels if the preceding vowel
was unstressed and the immediately following
vowel bore the IE and ECG stress.
E.g.: OE fder NE father.

Qualitative Changes of Consonants

in OE
CG [] was hardened to [d].
E.g.: Gt. gos OE gd
Fricatives [v] and [] were hardened to [b]
and [g] initially.
E.g.: Gt. guma OE guma NE man

Rhotacism
CG [z] [g] [r]
E.g.: Gt. wasjan OE werian NE wear

Quantitative Changes of
Consonants in OE
Gemination: doubling of consonants (in
spelling) before [j].
It led to the appearance of many long
consonants.
Germination of consonants occurred only
after a short syllable.
E.g.: EOE fuljan OE fyllan (NE fill)
Before disappearing j had also caused
palatal mutation of the root vowel.

Loss of Consonants
This process affected not only the
consonants but also the neighbouring
vowels.
Nasal sonorant consonants were regularly
lost before fricative consonants, in the
process the preceding vowel was
lengthened.
E.g.: Gt. fimf OE ff NE five

OE Consonants
[p, p:, b, b:, t, t:, d, d:, k, k:, g:, k, k:, g, g:,
f, f:, , :, s, s:, x, x:, x, x:, v, , z, , m,
m:, n, n:, r, l, j]

OE Vowels
The OE vowel system (8th-10th centuries)
was the following:
Short [ I, e, , a, o, u, y]
Long [i:, e:, :, a:, o:, u:, y:]
There were two sets of vowels which were
symmetric and distinguished one from
another through length, it means that they
were contrasted though their quality.

The Splitting of [a] & [a:]

In EOE the CG short a split into 1) , 2)
o, a, 3) a.
E.g.: Gt. ata OE t

Mann(a) man
Long a became: 1) :, o:.
E.g.: OHG dar OE r (there)

OHG mano OE mona (moon)

Diphthongs
They were:
[ea, eo, ie] & [ea:, eo:, ie:]
They were not diphthongs but a sequence
of two separate phonemes in OE.
They behaved like diphthongs because
the second element of the vowel
combination behaved like a glide.

Diphthongs
The development of diphthongs was
caused by the influence of the succeeding
and preceding consonants on the EOE
monophthongs.
If a front vowel stood before a velar
consonant there developed a short glide
between them.
The glide together with the original
monophthong formed a diphthong.

Diphthongs

1) vowel + l + consonant
Gt. alls OE eall ( ea)
2) h or h + consonants
Gt. ahtau OE eahta (: ea:)
3) r + consonants: OHG arm OE earm
4) after sk & k: OHG scal OE sceal
5) j : OHG jar OE gear

Palatal Mutation
PM is the change of one vowel into
another through the influence of a vowel in
the succeeding syllable.
In OE it was the influence of [i] & [j] from
the suffixes upon the vowels from the
preceding syllables.
As a result of palatal mutation 2 new
vowels appeared: [y] & [y:].

[y] & [y:]

These vowels appeared from [u] & [u:].
E.g.: Gt. fulljan OE fyllan (fill)

Traces of PM can be found in NE:

mouse mice, foot feet

Unstressed OE vowels
They were: i, e, a, o, u.
They were found in final position.
E.g.: Gen. pl. stne (of the stone)

Dat. sg. stana (to the stone)

bron (bare)