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The Historical Overview of the Development of English Pronunciation.

I.ANCIENT SOURCES OF ALPHABET

The development of Futhark

The earliest form of German writing is commonly believed to be connected to the

early Germanic runes. Old English was first written in the runic alphabet which was called
FUTHARK. It was named after the first six letters. The reason for the unique sequences of
characters in the futhark is unknown. It is proposed that this sequence was the result of some
mnemonic device which is no longer retrievable, but which may have left some slight echo in
the runic poems preserved in the medieval manuscripts. The Old Germanic runic alphabet
consisted of twenty-four letters. In England at least thirty runes were used to reflect the old
English phonological changes. It can be written both horizontally in either direction. The
arrangement of runic characters differs greatly from the order of letters in all other European
alphabets.
The name of each rune was associated with a certain word in the Old English
language. Therefore the runes can stand for these words. Besides, each rune could stand for
the initial sound of the corresponding word. Thus if we read only initial letters in the words
for which the runes stand in the above mentioned six stanzas, we get Futhark.
This alphabet was used in northern Europe – in Scandinavia, present-day Germany,
and the British Isles – and it has been preserved in about 4,000 inscriptions and in a few
manuscripts. It dates from around the 3rd century AD. No one knows exactly where the
alphabet came from, but it seems to be a development of one of the alphabets of southern
Europe, probably by the Roman, which runes resemble closely.
The runic alphabet is a specifically Germanic alphabet, not to be found in the
languages of other groups. The letters are angular; straight lines are preferred, curved lines
avoided; this is due to the fact that the runic inscriptions were cut in hard material: stone,
wood or bone. The shapes of some letters resemble to those of Greek or Latin, others have not
been traced to any known alphabet, and the order of the runes is certainly original.
An early offshoot of Futhark was employed by Goths, and so it is known as Gothic
Runes. It was used until 500 CE when it was replaced by the Greek-based Gothic alphabet.
One theory concerning the origin of Futhark states that the Goths were the inventors of
Futhark, but there is insufficient supporting evidence to prove this theory. In England, the
Anglo-Saxons brought Futhark from continental Europe in the 5th century CE and modified it
into the thirty-three-letter Futharc to accommodate sound changes that were occurring in Old
English, the language spoken by the Anglo-Saxons. Even the name ‘Futhorc’ is evidence to a
phonological change where the long [a] vowel in Old English evolved into a later [o] vowel.
Even though Futhark continued to thrive as a writing system, it started to decline with
the spread of the Latin alphabet. In England, Anglo-Saxon Futhark started to be replaced by
the Latin alphabet by the 9th century, and did not survive much more past the Norman
Conquest of 1066. Futhark continued to be used in Scandinavia for centuries longer, but by
1600 CE, it had become nothing more than curiosities among scholars.
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II. OLD ENGLISH PERIOD

1.Old English System of Sounds and Letters

Old English vowels were monofunctional (1 letter corresponded to 1 sound). There were 15
vowels- monophthongs long and short: æ, a, o, u, i, e, y, å (in 1 variant).
There were 3 diphthongs: ea, eo, ie.
There were 16 consonants, which represented 23 sounds: b, c, d, f, ȝ -[g’]-[g]-[ɣ]-[j], h-[h’]-[h], l,
m, n [n]-[ŋ], p, r, s [s]-[z], t, þ [θ]-[ð], w, x.

Note. The following characters can be found in Middle English text, direct holdovers
from the Old English Latin alphabet.
Æ æ Ash [æ] Ash may still be used as a variant of the digraph <ae> in many English
words of Greek or Latin origin; and may be found in brand names or loan words.
Ð ð Eth [ð] Eth falls out of use during the 13th century and is replaced by thorn.
Ȝ ȝ Yogh [ɡ], [ɣ], [j] or [dʒ] Yogh lingers in some Scottish names as ⟨z⟩, as in
McKenzie with a z pronounced /j/. Yogh became indistinguishable from cursive z in Middle
Scots and printers tended to use ⟨z⟩ when yogh wasn't available in their fonts.
Þ þ Thorn[θ] Thorn mostly falls out of use during the 14th century, and is replaced
by th by 1400. It lingers on in archaic Early Modern English usage, where it was often
approximated with ⟨y⟩, hence the archaic variant spelling of the as ye.
Ƿ ƿ Wynn [w] (the group ⟨hƿ⟩ represents [w]). Wynn represented the Germanic /w/
phoneme, which had no correspondence in Vulgar Latin phonology (where classical /w/ had
become /β/). It mostly falls out of use, being replaced by ⟨w⟩, during the 13th century. Due
to its similarity to the letter ⟨p⟩, it is mostly represented by ⟨w⟩ in modern editions of Old
and Middle English texts even when the manuscript has wynn.

Vowels
th
1. Palatal Mutation (6 cent).
It is a kind of regressive assimilation caused by the palatal sounds - /i/, /j/.They influenced
the preceding back vowels and turned them into front ones. Later sounds /i/,/j/ were lost.
[o], [a]-[e] PG. anglise – OE. englise – NE. english.
[ū]- [y]-[i] PG. kuning –OE. cyninĝ – NE. king.

The traces of palatal mutation explains why do we have in Mod E. such words: full-fill, food-
feed, long-length, goose-geese, tooth- teeth, man-women.

2. The Lengthening of Short Vowels.

Homorganic consonant combinations are consonant plasters which are formed at the same place
at the same organ of speech. They are /m-b/(labial), /n-d/, /l-d/(dental). Before /m-b/, /n-d/, /l-d/
of these homorganic consonant short vowels were lengthened, if there was no 3rd sound
(consonant). This phenomenon started in the 6th cent. and all the vowels were lengthened till the
9th century. But there was no change in spelling. OE. cild [kild] – cild [tŞi:ld] – NE. child.
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But in OE cildrn – NE. children [i] was not lengthened in plural form because of the following
3 consonants.
In this period long vowels were gradually shortened. All diphthongs became monophthongs.

Consonants
1. The Palatalization of Velar Consonants (softening).
In the 5th cent. as a result of palatalization of velar consonants /k/, /g/ and consonant plaster
/sc/ new sounds were developed- sibilants. But there was no spelling changes.
[k]-[k’]-[tŞ] : OE cild- child.
[g]-[g’]-[dz] : OE brieȝe- bridge.
[sk]-[sk’]-[Ş]: OE scip- ship, fisc-fish.

2. The Voicing of Fricatives.

Fricatives [f, θ, h] were voiced between 2 vowels(so-called intervocal position) or between a
vowel and a voiced consonant but the spelling didn’t change.
OE wulf [wulf]- wulfas [wulvaz] – NE wolf-wolves
OE bæþ [bæþ] - batian [bæðian] – NE bath-bathe.

III. MIDDLE ENGLISH PERIOD

1. Spelling changes. Most of them were caused by French influence:

4 Old English letters fell out of use: æ, ȝ, þ, ð.
5 new letters were introduced: g, j, k, q, v, z.
8 new diagraphs(2 letters) appeared: ch[tŞ], sh[Ş], kh[k], gh[x], ph[f], ch[k], dg[dz],
qu[kv].
Some vowels were introduced: [e:]- ee,ei, ie.
[o:]- oo.
[u:] – ou, ow.

OE niht, cwēn ȝod cepan þef hus hu

ME night queen good keepan thiefan house how.

2.The Simplification of Some Consonant Groups.

Initial [h] was dropped before /r/,/n/, /l/. [hr,hn,hl]-[r,n,l].

PG hring hlorder hnute
ME ring lord nut.

3.The Vocalization of [j] and [w] after other vowels.

[j]- [i]
[w]-[u].
This process brought the appearance of the new diphthongs.
5 new diphthongs appeared as a result of vocalization.
[ei] -wey(weȝ)
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[au]-saw (saȝu)
[eu]- dew (deaw)
[ai] - day (dæȝ)
[ou]- bow (boȝa).
1 diphthong was borrowed from French [oi]- voice, poison.

4. Vowel Change.
The borrowings of vowels continued. Most unstressed vowels leveled and reduced to a sound
[ə] type.
OE standan sunu
ME standen sone
NE stand son.

The stressed vowels underwent quantitative(affected the length of the vowels: they became
longer or shorter) and qualitative (affected the nature of the sound: one sound became another
one) changes.
Short vowels were lengthened before homorganic combination (hm, nd, ld) unless they
were followed the 3rd consonant. Before all other combinations of consonants long vowels
were shortened. This happened in the middle of the 11th century.
OE dust[du:st], wisdom [wi:zdom]
ME dust[dust], wisdom [wizdom].
In the 13th century short vowels mainly [a], [o], [ə] were lengthened in the open stressed
syllable of disyllabic words.
OE talu etan
ME tale [ta:lə] (tale) etan[e:tan] (eat)
Due to the qualitative changes one vowel became another(the nature has been changed).
[æ]-[a]- cat
[æ:]-[e:]- se(the)
[å]-[o]- monk
[y]-[i]- hill
-[u]- dull
-[e]- hell.
!All old English diphthongs became monophthongs in the 11th century. In most cases they
became monophthongs by loosing their second element.
[ea;]-[e]-
[ea]-[a]-
[eo:, eo]-[e:,e].

5.The Rule of Vertical Lines.

According to this rule vowel /u/ in stressed position was substituted by the vowel /o/. But the
pronunciation remained the same.
OE sunu - ME sonu-sone-[sunə] - NE son.(love the same).
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IV.THE NEW ENGLISH PERIOD

There were 4 main groups of changes, which took place in spelling:

1.Changes connected with the loss of endings:

After the short vowels most of endings were lost.
OE hnutu- nute- nut
After the syllable with a long vowel the ending /e/ remained to show the pronunciation of the
previous vowel underlining that the previous vowel was long. Nevertheless this /e/ is very
misleading.
OE tacan- taken[ta:ken]- take.

2. Changes connected with doubling of consonants:

In many words double consonants preceding the final week /ə/ were simplified after the
loss of this /ə/.
ME dogge, lette, stoppe, sunne - dog, let, stop, sun.
But in some words doubled consonants remained. These doubled consonants were mostly: ss,
ff, ll.
ME kisse, pulle, stuffe – kiss, pull, stuff.
The same consonants were doubled in other words by the analogy.
ME glas, small, staf - glass, small, staff.
In the middle of the word all the consonants were doubled after a short vowel only to show
that this preceding vowel is short.
ME super, sumer, felow, bery – supper, summer, fellow, berry.

3. Changes connected with latinization of spelling:

A lot of words were borrowed from Latin.
ME debte, doute, scool + (lat debtium, dubitare, scolar)- debt, doubt, school.

4. Changes connected with the introduction of the new diagraphs /oa/, /ea/:
They were introduced in the 16th century.
ME rood, boot, se, deel- road, boat, sea, deal.

The NE Consonant Changes

1. The development of sound[x]:
Middle English sound [x] expressed by /gh/ has changed into [f] at the end of the words or it
has been lost in the middle if the words mostly before /t/. Short vowel /i/ preceding this [x]
was usually lengthened when this [x] was lost.
ME daughter [dauxter] - NE [do:tə]
ME laugh [laux]- [lauf]- NE [la:f]
ME eight [eixt]—NE [eit]
ME night [nixt]-[ni:xt]- NE [nait].

2. Simplification of consonant groups: wr[r], kn[n], gn[n], mb[m], ng[n].

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The spelling form of these consonant plasters remained the same but the pronunciation changed.
The first letter in the initial position and the second in the end of the word is not pronounced.
Wrong, know, sign, climb, sing.

3.The development of the new sibilants: The new sibilants were developed as a result of
combination of dental consonants [s,z,t,d,] + [j]. This process took place mostly after stressed
vowels. [tj]-[tŞ]- (culture, century. But: student.)
[sj]-[ Ş]- (Russian, Asia, nation. But: assume)
[zj[-[z]-(decision,usual, measure. But: resume)
[dj]-[dz]-(soldier. But: duty,induce).
Exceptions are characteristic features of oral speech.
4. The voicing of consonants: In the 15th century the sounds [f], [s], [θ], [t Ş], [ks] were
voiced in weekly-stressed words. This phenomenon is closely refers to Vener’s Law in English
(1875). Carl Verner investigated the nature of stress. He believed that when the voiceless stop
stood after the vowel originally stressed in the Indo-european language it was changed into a
fricative, but after the unstressed vowel the fricative became voiced.
Verner’s Law: at the time of free stress voiceless fricatives were voiced after unstressed
vowels. (exercise – voiceless /x/ after stressed –[ks])
(exact – voiced /x/ after unstressed- [gz]).
[f]-[v] - (of-active) [tŞ]-[dz]-(Greenwich- knowledge)
[s]-[z] - (is-his, comes) [ks]-[gz]- (excursion- exhibit).
[θ]-[ð] - ( with- they)
The NE Vowel Changes

1. All long vowels changed in the NE period. This change is called “The Great Vowel
Shift”(began in the 15th cent.) 5 out of 7 vowels became closer in their articulation. The 2
closest sounds [e:] and [u:] were developed into diphthongs with an open first element.
[i:]-[ai] – bite[bi:tə]-[bait]
[a:]-[ei] – mate[ma:tə]-[meit]
[o:]-[u:] –boot[bo:t]-[bu:t]
[e:]-[i] – beat [be:t]-[bit]
[e:]-[i:] –beet [be:t]-[bi:t]
[u:]-[au] – out [u:t]-[aut]
[o:]-[ou] –bout[bo:t]-[bout].
Short vowels [a]>[æ] – (map, cat).
This change didn’t take place after [w]. [wa]-[wo] (want,was). But wag[wæg], wax[wæks].
Short [u] became [Λ] – (blood, flood). It is called dilabilization. In most cases
dilabilization didn’t take place after labial cosonants.
Pull, push, book-[u]. But: but, bus –[ Λ].

2. Development of diphthongs: [au]-[o:] – paw, law, cause, pause

[eu]-[iu]-[ju] – new, view, due
[oi, ou] – remained unchanged point, boy, snow, flow.
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3. The combinative changes of vowels: The change of a vowel under the influence of
consonants. There are 3 types:
- combinative changes with /r/.
In the 17th cent. sound /r/ became more liquid. It was vocalized and turned into the neutral
sound of [ə] type. In the middle of words this neutral sound and the preceding short vowel
formed a long vowel.
[ar]-[ æə]-[a:] –(park, dark, part, heart). But: clerk.
Short vowel + [ə] > long vowel. As a result of this process new long vowels appeared in NE.
[or]-[oə]-[o:]- port, form
[er, ir, ur]-[eə,iə,uə]-[ ɜː]- term, person, girl, bird, fur.
Long vowel + [ə] > diphthong. The neutral sound [ə] and the preceding long vowel changed
into diphthong.
[e:r]-[iə]- beer, here.
[e:r]-[eə]- bear, wear
[o:r]-[uə]- poor, moor
[a:r]-[eə]- hare, dare
[i:r]-[aiə]- fire.hire
[u:r]-[auə]- hour, our, flower

- combinative changes with /l/.

Before /l/ mostly after /r/ appeared so-called ύ-glide: [al]-[aύl]-[ol]- all, tall.
Before sounds /k/,/m/, /f/ sound /l/ was lost: talk, walk, half [to:k, wo:k, ha:f]

- combinative changes before voiceless fricatives:

Before voiceless fricatives short /a/ was lengthened [a]-[a:]. But there were some steps between
them: [a]- [æ] -[æ:]-[a:]- after, pass, bath, chance, dance, answer.

Note. Great Consonant Shift. (Grimm’s Law ) 1822.

The shift of consonants consisted of 3 main parts and took place at the same time:
1. [p, t, k] – [f, θ, h] : Indo-European voiceless stops became voiceless fricatives
because fricatives were absent.
2. [b, d, g] – [p, t, k] : Indo-European stops became voiceless.
3. [bh, dh, gh] –[ b, d, g] : Aspiration was lost. Voiced aspirated stops became
unaspirated. 3 new consonants fricatives appeared.

Exception to the 1st act of Grimm’s Law: It didn’t take place after the consonant /s/.
(stare, stand).
Exception to the 2nd act of Grimm’s Law: In a group of 2 consonants only 1st changed
according to the 1st act of Grimm’s Law. The second remained unchanged.