History of the English Language - FaHCE UNLP Tutorials 2020

HANDOUT #5
Phonological Change
Set reading: SCHENDL, Herbert. Historical Linguistics. OUP (2003). Ch. 5.

(A) DEFINING THE TERMS

TASK 1: discuss the following questions.
• How can you define a phonological change, phonemic change, phonetic change?
• What kind of change includes: lenition, deletion, assimilation, dissimilation?
• What is phonemic merger and phonemic split?
• What is meant by chain shifts?
• Which sounds have been, both synchronically and diachronically, more important in terms
of functional load? How is that evidenced in the two texts below?

Text A
Scntsts thnk th hv dtctd wtr n th Mn. Sddnl, vsns f ppl lvng n lnr clns tht stp ff t rfl n th w t Mrs r lss
fr-ftchd. ftr tw yrs f crfl nlss, scntsts sd ystrd tht rdr sgnls frm n mrcn spccrft ndctd th mn ws nt bn-
dr. Th spccrft’s rdr sgntrs sggstd th prsnc f wtr c n th prmnntl cld shdws f dp bsn nr th lnr sth pl.

Text B
iei i ey ae eee ae o e oo. uey, iio o eoe ii i ua ooie a o o o eue o e ay o a ae e a-ee. Ae o ea o aeu aayi,
iei ai eeay a aa ia o a Aeia aea iiae e oo a o oe-y. e aea aa iaue uee e eee o ae ie i e eaey o ao o a ee ai
ea e ua ou oe.

(B) VOWEL CHANGES

TASK 2:
• What phonetic changes have English vowels undergone? Provide an example for at least
one change. Think about diachronic and synchronic changes.
• What phonemic changes have English vowels undergone? Provide an example for at least
one change. Think about diachronic and synchronic changes.
 History of the English Language - FaHCE UNLP Tutorials 2020

THE GVS
• What is the time span of the GVS?
• What kind of vowels did the GVS affect?
• Why is the GVS a chain shift? What kind of chain change is it?

TASK 3a: how can you account for the difference in the pronunciation of the following
words?:

sane/sanity, vain/vanity, grain/granary, humane/humanity, clean/cleanliness, malign/malignant,

crime/criminal, sign/signify.

TASK 3b: listen to the following passage. Which words have not yet undergone the GVS?

Shakespeare – Richard II
I have been studying how I may compare
This prison where I live unto the world:
And for because the world is populous
And here is not a creature but myself,
I cannot do it; yet I'll hammer it out.
My brain I'll prove the female to my soul,
My soul the father; and these two beget
A generation of still-breeding thoughts,
And these same thoughts people this little world,
In humours like the people of this world,
For no thought is contented.
(V, v)

http://youtube.com/watch?v=GO_IDKle7TM
 History of the English Language - FaHCE UNLP Tutorials 2020

TASK 3c: complete the diagram of the GVS below

TASK 3d: look at these words, which are pronounced /ei/ and which are pronounced /i:/?
How can you account for the difference?

steak, sea, neat, great, clean, fear, read, break, Yeats, teach, leave, yea, Seamus, eat, weak,
meaning, meat, Reagan

(C) CONSONANT CHANGES

TASK 4:
• Why is it assumed that consonants have been diachronically more stable than vowels?
• What phonetic changes have consonants undergone?
• What phonemic changes have consonants undergone?

(D) EPENTHESIS & METATHESIS

→ Epenthesis: the addition of sounds (vowels or consonants) to words.

→ Metathesis: the reversal of the linear sequences of sounds in a word. It can involve
consonants or a consonant and a vowel.
 History of the English Language - FaHCE UNLP Tutorials 2020

TASK 5a: the following words are related to epenthesis. What sound is added at the end of
words ending in a nasal or fricative in Modern English?
ME agains →
ME amyddes →
ME nightigale →
ME messager →

Metathesis is common and is attested widely for Old English. There are many instances
involving the clusters /sk/ and /sp/.

TASK 5b: look at these OE words, which have undergone a process of metathesis, and
identify their Modern English versions.

OE acsian: OE gars:
OE irn: OE hros:

(E) THE INFLUENCE OF SOUND CHANGES ON SPELLING

TASK 6: how could you best describe the change that occurs between:
• Old English hlaf and loaf?
• German brennen and English burn?
• Old English thurgh and Modern English through?
• Old English heofod and Modern English head?
• Early Modern English mine and Present Day English my?