1. CG !

late OE sound changes

Common Germanic → West Germanic
Consonant Gemination: [C] → [C:] / V[short] — [j] (except [r])

e.g. CG *saljan, *sitjan, *kunja(m) → WG *salljan, *sittjan, *kunnja

West Germanic → Old English

Diphthongs

Preh.OE [aɪ] → OE [ɑ:] <a> e.g. Preh.OE *stain → OE stān

Preh.OE [aʊ] → OE [æ:ə] <ea> Preh.OE *dauþ → OE dēaþ
Preh.OE [ɪʊ] → OE [e:ə] <eo> Preh.OE *biun → OE bēon
Preh.OE [εʊ] → OE [e:ə] <eo> Preh.OE *deur → OE dēor

Vowels (this sound-change is parallel to the previous, i.e. it applies at the same time)

Fronting or Anglo-Frisian Brightening

a. Preh.OE [a] → OE [æ] / — C# WG *dag → OE dæġ (Germ Tag Dutch dag)
/ — CC WG *rask(uz) → OE ræsċ (Germ rasch Dutch ras)
/ — CV[+front] WG *fadar → OE fæder (Germ Vater Dutch vader)
Exceptions
Preh.OE [a] → OE [ɒ] / — Nas. irregular; esp. in Sth. and West-Midlands; spelling
Preh.OE [a] → OE [ɑ] / — CV[+back] ! morphophonemic variation
Preh.OE [a] → Anglian [ɑ] / — [l, r, x] + C ! dialectal divergence: WS ~ Angl.

b. Preh.OE [a:] → OE [æ:] → Mercian [ε:] e.g. *slāp, *dād, *strāt, *kāsi

Consonants
Loss of nasal consonants: [NAS] → Ø / V — [Vl. Fric.] with compensatory lengthening of short vowels

e.g. Preh.OE *fimf → OE fīf Preh.OE *gons → OE gōs (cf. German; Dutch)

Palatalization: velar consonants are palatalized when adjacent to and in the same syllable as a front vowel or [j]

Preh.OE [k] → OE [ʧ] *kaup(o), *kukina, *ik, *kāsi, *kaster, *kald

[ɣ] → OE [j] *sagde, *dag, -es, -e, -as, -a, -um, *ge an, *weg, *gestran
[kk] → OE [ʧ] *wrakjan, *strakjan
[ɣɣ] → OE [ʤ] *agj(o), *sagja, *brugj(o)
[sk] → OE [ʃ] everywhere except /V—V[+ back]: *fisk, *askaþ, *waske, *skutjan
*skutil, *-isk, *skuldr, *skurti
Voicing of medial fricatives: Voiceless fricatives become voiced when surrounded by voiced segments
(except in /Vd# — Vd, i.e. morpheme initial fricatives)

Preh. OE [f, θ, s, x] → OE [v, ð, h/ɣ, z] / Vd — Vd e.g. hæfde, *brōþor, *wīsdōm

! merger of existing [ß] and new [v]
Loss of medial [h] (often with compensatory lengthening of the preceding vowel)
Preh.OE [h] → OE Ø / Vd — Vd e.g. *feohes, *seolhes, *teohan, *seohan

Devoicing of final fricatives: Voiced fricatives lose voicing in final position

Preh.OE [ß, ɣ] → OE [f, x]/ — # e.g. *burg, *stæß

! morphophonemic variation: e.g. Preh.OE [bb] ~ [ß] ~ [ß] ~ [ß] → OE [bb] ~ [f] ~ [v] ~ [v]
! OE hebban, hof, hofon, hafen (“heave”)
Stopping of voiced velar fricative

Preh.OE [ɣ] → OE [g] / # — ! new /g/; [ɣ] becomes allophone of /x/

Vowel mutation or i-umlaut: Vowels harmonize to an [i] or [j] following them in the same word. This caused all back
vowels to front and all short front vowels (except, naturally, [i]) and diphthongs to raise
when an [i] or [j] followed in the next syllable.

Monophthongs: i y(:)  u(:) e.g. *cussjan, *mūsi

↑ examples lacking
e ɵ(:)  o(:) e.g. *fōti, *doht(e)ri, *broþ(e)ri
↑ e.g. *saljan, *wrakjan, *cāsi
æ(:)  ɑ(:) e.g. *manni, *sandjan; *daili, *taikjan
Diphthongs: <e> [e(:)]  [æ(:)ə] e.g. *hearjan, *ealdira
<ie> [i(:)ə]  [e(:)o] examples lacking
<io> [i(:)ə]  [i(:)o] e.g. *ciosiþ, *wiorsira
Except in WS, where all diphthongs i-mutated to [i(:)ə] = <ie>
! Paradigmatic variation: man / men, foot / feet, eald / eldra, -est, full / fill

Historical OE Sound Changes

The previous vocalic changes caused clustering of phonemes in the top-left corner of the vowel chart. This caused a series
of mergers resulting in a gradual monophtongisation process in West Saxon, as evidenced by spelling.

Early WS Merging: [i(:)o] and [e(:)o] ! [e(:)o] e.g. lioht/leoht, ceorl/ciorl

(9th-10th c.) [e(:)o] and [i(:)ə] ! [i(:)ə] e.g. heoran/hieran, sweoster/swiester, heo/hie
[i(:)ə] and [i(:), y(:)] ! [i(:), y(:)] e.g. hieran/hiran, riece/rice, wiersa/wyrsa

Pre-Cluster Lengthening: Short vowels are lengthened when followed by a liquid or nasal plus a homorganic C
(10thC) V → V: / — [mb, ld, rd, rl, rn, nd, ŋg] except if the sequence is followed by a third C.
e.g. ċild, feld, ald/eald, freond, feond, wind, lamb, comb, camb, climban

2. OE Sound-spelling correspondences

Late 10thC WS (classical OE):

<> [ ] <> [ ] <> [ ] <> [ ]

i = i:/ɪ p = p l = l/ɬ þ = θ/ð
e = e:/ɛ t = t ll = l: ð = θ/ð
æ = æ:/æ (k) = k r = r h = h/x/ç
a = ɑ:/ɑ c = k/ʧ m = m f = f/v
o = o:/ɒ b = b n = n/ŋ s = s/z
u = u:/ʊ d = d Ƿ = w sc = ʃ, sk
y = y:/y ʒ = g/ɣ/j
ea = æ:ə/æə cʒ = ʤ
eo = e:ə / eə
3. Old English morphology
Strong declension Weak declension Minor declensions
-a-stem -o-stem -n-stem -u-stem -r-stem root-const.
M N F M N F M/F M/N/F M/F
Sg short long short long
N stān scip horn talu lār nama ēare heorte sunu dohtor fōt
NOUNS

A stān scip horn tale lāre naman ēare heortan sunu dohtor fōt
G stānes scipes hornes tale lāre naman ēaran heortan suna dohtor fōtes
D stāne scipe horne tale lāre naman ēaran heortan suna dehter fēt
Pl
N/A stānas scipu horn tala/e lāra/e naman ēaran heortan suna dehter fēt
G stāna scipa horna tala lāra/ena namena ēarena heortena suna dohtra fōta
D stānum scipum hornum talum lārum namum ēarum heortum sunum dohtrum fōtum
Strong declension Weak declension Demonstrative of dist.
(Definite article)
short long
Sg
N M N F M N F M N F M N F
ADJECTIVES

A cwic cwic cwicu gōd gōd gōd gōda gōde gōde se ðæt sēo
G cwicne cwic cwice gōdne gōd gōde gōdan gōde gōdan ðone ðæt ðā
D cwices cwices cwicre gōdes gōdes gōdre gōdan gōdan gōdan ðæs ðæs ðǣre
I cwicum cwicum cwicre gōdum gōdum gōdre gōdan gōdan gōdan ðǣm ðǣm ðǣre
Pl cwice cwice cwicre gōde gōde gōdre gōdan gōdan gōdan ðȳ ðȳ ðǣre
N/A
G cwice cwicu cwice/a gōde gōd gōde gōdan gōdan gōdan ðā ðā ðā
D cwicra cwicra cwicra gōdra gōdra gōdra gōdra/ena gōdra/ena gōdra/ena ðāra ðāra ðāra
cwicum cwicum cwicum gōdum gōdum gōdum gōdum gōdum gōdum ðǣm ðǣm ðǣm
Personal Interrogative Demonstrative of prox.
1st sg 1st dual 1st pl 3rd M 3rd N 3rd F 3rd pl M/F N M N F
iċ wit wē hē hit hēo hīe Sg hwā hwæt ðes ðis ðēos
N mēċ unċit ūsiċ hine hit hīe hīe N hwone hwæt ðisne ðis ðās
A ūre A
PRONOUNS

mīn unċer his him his hiere hiera hwæs hwæs ðisses ðisses ðisse
G mē unċ ūs him hiere him G hwǣm hwǣm ðissum ðissum ðisse
D D hwȳ hwȳ ðȳs ðȳs ðisse
I
2nd sg 2nd dual 2nd pl Pl
N
D/A ðū ġit ġē N/A
G ðē inċ ēow G ðās ðās ðās
ðīn inċer ēower D ðissa ðissa ðissa
ðissum ðissum ðissum
STRONG WEAK I WEAK II ‘TO BE’
Indicative Subjunctive Indicative Subjunctive Indicative Subjunctive Indicative Subjunctive
Present Sg
1 binde binde fremme fremme lufi(ġ)e lufi(ġ)e eom bēo sīe bēo
2 bindest/bintst binde fremest fremme lufast lufi(ġ)e eart bist sīe bēo
3 bindeð/bint binde fremeð fremme lufað lufi(ġ)e is bið sīe bēo
Pl bindað binden fremmað fremmen lufiað lufi(ġ)en sind(on) bēoð sien bēon
Preterite Sg
1 band bunde fremede fremede lufode lufode wæs wǣre
2 bunde bunde fremedest fremede lufodest lufode wǣre wǣre
3 band bunde fremede fremede lufode lufode wæs wǣre
Pl bundon bunden fremedon fremeden lufodon lufoden wǣron wǣren

Imperative Sg bind freme lufa wes bēo

Pl bindað fremmað lufað wesað bēoð
Infinitive bindan fremman lufian wesan bēon
Infl. inf. to + bindenne fremenne lufenne bēonne
Pres. ppl. bindende fremende lufende wesende bēonde
Past ppl. ġe -bunden -fremed -lufod
Strong verbs Weak III
Class Inf. 3 pres. ind. 1 pret. ind pret. pl. past ppl. Inf. 3 pres. ind. 1 pret. ind pret. pl. past ppl.
I scīnan scīnð scan scinon ġescinen hebban hæfð hæfde hæfdon ġehæfd
II crēopan crīepð crēap crupon ġecropen libban leofað leofode leofodon ġeleofod
III helpan hilpð healp hulpon ġeholpen secġan sæġð sæġde sæġdon ġesæġd
IV beran bi(e)rð bær bǣron ġeboren hycġan hogað hogode hogodon ġehogod
V sprecan spricð spræc sprǣcon ġesprocen Preterite-present verbs
VI faran færð fōr fōron ġefaren witan wāt wiste wiston ġewiten
VII wēpan wēpð wēop wēopon ġewōpen āgan āh āhte āhton ǣgen
Anomalous verbs cunnan can(n) cūðe cūðon ġecunnen
willan wil(l)e wolde woldon magan mæġ meahte meahton
nyllan nyle nolde noldon sculan sceal sceolde sceoldon
dōn dēð dyde dydon ġedōn mōtan mōt mōste mōston
gān gāð ēode ēodon ġegān ðurfan ðearf ðorfte ðorfton