Abai Kazahk National Pedagogical University

Institute of philology

SIW
Theme:. The Evolution of the English Phonetic System

Performed by: Uktamova Dinora 303

Checked by:Suleymenova S
Like many other languages, English has wide variation in pronunciation, both historically and from
dialect to dialect. In general, however, the regional dialects of English share a largely similar (but not
identical) phonological system. Among other things, most dialects have vowel reduction in unstressed
syllables and a complex set of phonological features that distinguish fortis and lenis consonants (stops,
affricates, and fricatives).

This article describes the development of the phonology of English over time, starting from its roots in
proto-Germanic to diverse changes in different dialects of modern English.

Changes by time period

This section summarizes the changes occurring within distinct time periods, covering the last 2,000 years
or so. Within each subsection, changes are in approximate chronological order.

The time periods for some of the early stages are quite short due to the extensive population
movements occurring during the Migration Period (early AD), which resulted in rapid dialect
fragmentation.

Late Proto-Germanic period

See also: Proto-Germanic language § Late Proto-Germanic

This period includes changes in late Proto-Germanic, up to about the 1st century. Only a general
overview of the more important changes is given here; for a full list, see the Proto-Germanic article.

Unstressed word-final /a/ and /e/ were lost. Early PGmc *barta > late PGmc *bart "you carried (sg)".

Word-final /m/ became /n/.

Word-final /n/ was then lost after unstressed syllables with nasalization of the preceding vowel. Hence
Pre-PGmc *dʰogʰom > early PGmc *dagam > late PGmc *dagą > Old English dæġ "day (acc. sg.)". The
nasalisation was retained at least into the earliest history of Old English.

Word-final /t/ was lost after an unstressed syllable. This followed the loss of word-final /n/, because it
remained before /t/: PrePGmc *bʰr̥n̥t > early PGmc *burunt > late PGmc *burun "they carried".

/e/ was raised to /i/ in unstressed syllables.

The original vowel remained when followed by /r/, and was later lowered to /ɑ/.

Early i-mutation: /e/ was raised to /i/ when an /i/ or /j/ followed in the next syllable.

This occurred before deletion of word-final /i/; hence PIE *upéri > early PGmc *uberi > late PGmc *ubiri
> German über "over". Compare PIE *upér > early PGmc *uber > late PGmc *ubar > German ober
"over".

But it occurred after the raising of unstressed /e/ to /i/: PIE *bʰérete > PGmc *berid > *birid "you carry
(pl)".

This also affected the diphthong /eu/, which became /iu/.

As a consequence of this change, /ei/ > /iː/. The Elder Futhark of the Proto-Norse language still
contained different symbols for the two sounds.

z-umlaut: /e/ is raised to /i/ before /z/.

Early PGmc *mez "me, dative" > late PGmc *miz > Old High German mir, Old Saxon mi, Old Norse mér
(with general lowering and lengthening of i before r).
This change was only sporadic at best because there were barely any words in which it could have
occurred at all, since /e/ remained only in stressed syllables. The umlauting effect of /z/ remained,
however, and in Old West Norse it was extended to other vowels as well. Hence OEN glaʀ, hrauʀ, OWN
gler, hreyrr.

Pre-nasal raising: /e/ > /i/ before nasal + consonant. Pre-PGmc *bʰendʰonom > PGmc *bendaną >
*bindaną > OE bindan > ModE bind (Latin of-fendō).

This was later extended in Pre-Old English times to vowels before all nasals; hence Old English niman
"take" but Old High German neman.

Loss of /n/ before /x/, with nasalization and compensatory lengthening of the preceding vowel.

The nasalization was eventually lost, but remained through the Ingvaeonic period.

Hence Pre-PGmc *tongjonom > PGmc *þankijaną > OE þencan > ModE think, but PrePG *tonktos >
PGmc *þanhtaz > *þą̄htaz > OE þōht > ModE thought.

This change followed the raising of /e/ before a nasal: PGmc *þenhaną > *þinhaną > *þį ̄haną > Gothic
þeihan.

Final-syllable short vowels were generally deleted in words of three syllables or more. PGmc *biridi >
Goth baíriþ /beriθ/ "(he) carries" (see above), and also PGmc *-maz, *-miz > *-mz (dative and
instrumental plural ending of nouns, 1st person plural ending of verbs, as on the Stentoften Runestone).

Northwest Germanic period

This was the period that existed after the East Germanic languages had split off. Changes during this
time were shared with the North Germanic dialects, i.e. Proto-Norse. Many of the changes that occurred
were areal, and took time to propagate throughout a dialect continuum that was already diversifying.
Thus, the ordering of the changes is sometimes ambiguous, and can differ between dialects.

Allophonic i-mutation/Germanic umlaut: Short back vowels were fronted when followed in the next
syllable by /i/ or /j/, by i-mutation: /ɑ/ > [æ], /o/ > [ø], /u/ > [y]

In this initial stage, the mutated vowels were still allophonically conditioned, and were not yet distinct as
phonemes. Only later, when the /i/ and /j/ were modified or lost, were the new sounds phonemicized.

i-mutation affected all the Germanic languages except for Gothic, although with a great deal of
variation. It appears to have occurred earliest, and to be most pronounced, in the Schleswig-Holstein
area (the home of the Anglo-Saxons), and from there to have spread north and south. However, it is
possible that this change already occurred in Proto-Germanic proper, in which case the phenomenon
would have remained merely allophonic for quite some time. If that is the case, that would be the stage
reflected in Gothic, where there is no orthographic evidence of i-mutation at all.

Long vowels and diphthongs were affected only later, probably analogically, and not in all areas.
Notably, they were not mutated in most (western) Dutch dialects, whereas short vowels were.

a-mutation: /u/ is lowered to /o/ when a non-high vowel follows in the next syllable.

This is blocked when followed by a nasal followed by a consonant, or by a cluster with /j/ in it. Hence PG
*gulþą > OE/ModE gold, but PG *guldijaną > OE gyldan > ModE gild.

This produces a new phoneme /o/, due to inconsistent application and later loss of word-final vowels.

Final-syllable long vowels were shortened.

Final /ɔː/ becomes /o/, later raised to /u/. PG *sagō ("saw (tool)") > OE sagu, ON sǫg.

Final /ɛː/ becomes /e/ in ON (later raised to /i/), /ɑ/ in West Germanic. PG *hailidē ("he/she/it healed")
> ON heilði, but OE hǣlde, OHG heilta.

The final long diphthong /ɔːi/ loses its final element and usually develops the same as /ɔː/ from that
point on. PG *gebōi ("gift", dative singular) > NWG *gebō > ON gjǫf, OHG gebu, OE giefe (an apparent
irregular development).

"Overlong" vowels were shortened to regular long vowels.

PG /ɛː/ (maybe already /æː/ by late PG) becomes /ɑː/. This preceded final shortening in West Germanic,
but postdated it in North Germanic.

Unstressed diphthongs were monophthongized. /ɑi/ > /eː/, /ɑu/ > /oː/. The latter merged with ō from
shortened overlong ô. PG *sunauz ("son", genitive singular) > NWG *sunōz > ON sonar, OE suna, OHG
suno; PG *nemai ("he/she/it take", subjunctive) > NWG *nemē > ON nemi, OE nime, OHG neme; PG
*stainai ("stone", dative singular) > NWG *stainē > ON steini, OE stāne, OHG steine.

West Germanic period

This period occurred around the 2nd to 4th centuries. It is unclear if there was ever a distinct "Proto-
West Germanic", as most changes in this period were areal, and likely spread throughout a dialect
continuum that was already diversifying further. Thus, this "period" may not have been a real timespan,
but may simply cover certain areal changes that did not reach into North Germanic. This period ends
with the further diversification of West Germanic into several groups before and during the Migration
Period: Ingvaeonic, Istvaeonic (Old Frankish) and Irminonic (Upper German).

Loss of word-final /z/.

This change occurred before rhotacization, as original word-final /r/ was not lost.

But it must have occurred after the Northwest Germanic split, since word-final /z/ was not eliminated in
Old Norse, instead merging with /r/.

/z/ was not lost in single-syllable words in southern and central German. Compare PG *miz > OS mi, OE
me vs. OHG mir.

The OE nominative plural -as (ME -s), OS nominative plural -ōs may be from original accusative plural *-
ans, due to the Ingvaeonic Nasal-Spirant law, rather than original nominative plural *-ōz, which would
be expected to become *-a (OHG -a, compare ON -ar).

Rhotacization: /z/ > /r/.

This change also affected Proto-Norse, but only much later. /z/ and /r/ were still distinct in the Danish
and Swedish dialect of Old Norse, as is testified by distinct runes. (/z/ is normally assumed to be a rhotic
fricative in this language, but there is no actual evidence of this.)

PG *deuzą > Goth dius; OE dēor > ModE deer

West Germanic gemination: single consonants followed by /j/ except /r/ became double (geminate).
This only affected consonants preceded by a short vowel, because those preceded by a long vowel or by
another consonant were never followed by /j/ due to Sievers' law.

PG *bidjaną, *habjaną > OE biddan, habban > ModE bid, have

Ingvaeonic and Anglo-Frisian period

This period is estimated to have lasted only a century or so, the 4th to 5th; the time during which the
Franks started to spread south into Gaul (France) and the various coastal people began colonising
Britain. Changes in this period affected the Ingvaeonic languages, but not the more southerly Central
and Upper German languages. The Ingvaeonic group was probably never homogeneous, but was divided
further into Old Saxon and Anglo-Frisian. Old Frankish (and later Old Dutch) was not in the core group,
but was affected by the spread of several areal changes from the Ingvaeonic area.

The Anglo-Frisian languages shared several unique changes that were not found in the other West
Germanic languages. The migration to Britain caused a further split into early Old English and early Old
Frisian.

Ingvaeonic nasal spirant law: Loss of nasals before fricatives, with nasalization and compensatory
lengthening of the preceding vowel. Hence PG *munþaz became ModG Mund but in Ingvaeonic dialects
first became *mų̄þa. Old English then denasalised the vowels, giving OE mūþ > ModE "mouth".

Following this /ɑ̃ ː/ > /õː/. PrePG *donts > PG *tanþs > *tą̄þ > *tǭþ > OE tōþ > ModE "tooth". (ModG
Zahn < OHG zant.) This also applied to /ɑ̃ ː/ arising earlier in Proto-Germanic: PG *þanhtǭ > Late PG
*þą̄htǭ > OE þōhte > ModE "(I) thought".

Anglo-Frisian brightening:

Fronting of /ɑ/ to /æ/[1] (unless followed by a geminate, by a back vowel in the next syllable,[2] or in
certain other cases). Hence OE dæġ /dæj/ "day", plural dagas /dɑɣɑs/ "days" (dialectal ModE "dawes";
compare ModE "dawn" < OE dagung /dɑɣuŋɡ/).

This does not affect nasal /ɑ̃ /. And since this is a back vowel, /ɑ/ in a preceding syllable was prevented
from being fronted as well. This created an alternation between the infinitive in *-aną and strong past
participle in *-ana (< PG *anaz), where the former became -an in OE but the latter became *-ænæ > -en.

Fronting of /ɑː/ to /æː/ (generally, unless /w/ followed).[3]

Final-syllable /æ/, /ɑ/ and /ɑ̃ / are lost.[citation needed]

No attested West Germanic languages show any reflexes of these vowels. However, the way it affected
the fronting of /ɑ/ as described above shows that at least /ɑ̃ / was retained into the separate history of
Anglo-Frisian.

Old English period

Main article: Phonological history of Old English

This period is estimated to be c. AD 475–900. This includes changes from the split between Old English
and Old Frisian (c. AD 475) up through historic early West Saxon of AD 900:

Breaking of front vowels.[4]

Most generally, before /x, w/, and /r, l/ + consonant (assumed to be velarized [rˠ, ɫ] in these
circumstances), but exact conditioning factors vary from vowel to vowel.
Initial result was a falling diphthong ending in /u/, but this was followed by diphthong height
harmonization, producing short /æ̆ ɑ̆ /, /ĕŏ/, /ĭŭ/ from short /æ/, /e/, /i/, long /æɑ/, /eo/, /iu/ from
long /æː/, /eː/, /iː/.

Written ea, eo, io, where length is not distinguished graphically.

Result in some dialects, for example Anglian, was back vowels rather than diphthongs. West Saxon
ceald; but Anglian cald > ModE cold.

Diphthong height harmonization: The height of one element of each diphthong is adjusted to match that
of the other.

/ɑi/ > /ɑː/ through this change,[5] possibly through an intermediate stage /ɑæ/. PG *stainaz > OE stān >
ModE stone.

/ɑu/ was first fronted to /æu/ and then harmonized to /æɑ/. PG *draumaz > OE drēam "joy" (cf. ModE
dream, ModG Traum). PG *dauþuz > OE dēaþ > ModE death (Goth dáuþus, ModG Tod). PG *augō > OE
ēage > ModE eye (Goth áugo, ModG Auge).

/eu/ is harmonized to /eo/.

A-restoration: Short /æ/ is backed to /ɑ/ when a back vowel follows in the next syllable.[1]

This produces alternations such as OE dæġ "day", pl. dagas (cf. dialectal dawes "days").

Palatalization of velar consonants: /k, ɡ, ɣ, sk/ were palatalized to /tʃ, dʒ, ʝ, ʃ/ in certain complex
circumstances. A similar palatalization happened in Frisian, but by this point the languages had split up;
the Old English palatalization must be ordered after Old-English-specific changes such as a-restoration.

Generally, the velar stops /k, ɡ/ were palatalized before /i(ː)/ or /j/; after /i(ː)/ when not before a vowel;
and /k/ was palatalized at the beginning of a word before front vowels. (At this point, there was no
word-initial /ɡ/.)

/ɣ/ was palatalized in somewhat broader circumstances: By any following front vowel, as well as by a
preceding front vowel when a vowel did not immediately follow the /ɣ/.

/ʝ/ later becomes /j/, but not before the loss of older /j/ below.

/sk/ is palatalized in almost all circumstances. PG *skipaz > ModE ship (cf. skipper < Dutch schipper,
where no such change happened), but West Frisian skip. PG *skurtijaz > OE scyrte > ModE shirt, but >
ON skyrt > ModE skirt.[6] An example of retained /sk/ is PG *aiskōną > OE ascian > ModE ask; there is
evidence that OE ascian was sometimes rendered metathetized to acsian, which is the presumed origin
of ModE ask.

Palatal diphthongization: Initial palatal /j/, /tʃ/, /ʃ/ trigger spelling changes of a > ea, e > ie.[7] It is
disputed whether this represents an actual sound change[8][9] or merely a spelling convention[10]
indicating the palatal nature of the preceding consonant (written g, c, sc were ambiguous in OE as to
palatal /j/, /tʃ/, /ʃ/ and velar /ɡ/ or /ɣ/, /k/, /sk/, respectively).

Similar changes of o > eo, u > eo are generally recognized to be merely a spelling convention. Hence
WG /juŋɡ/ > OE geong /juŋɡ/ > ModE "young"; if geong literally indicated an /ɛ̆ɔ/̆ diphthong, the
modern result would be *yeng.

It is disputed whether there is Middle English evidence of the reality of this change in Old English.

i-mutation: The most important change in the Old English period. All back vowels were fronted before
a /i, j/ in the next syllable, and front vowels were raised.
/ɑ(ː)/ > /æ(ː)/ (but /ɑ/ > /e/ before /m/ or /n/);

/o(ː)/ > /ø(ː)/ > /e(ː)/;

/u(ː)/ > /y(ː)/;

/æa/, /eo/ > /iy/ > /yː/; this also applied to the equivalent short diphthongs.

Short /e/ > /i/ by an earlier pan-Germanic change under the same circumstances; often conflated with
this change.

This had dramatic effects in inflectional and derivational morphology, e.g. in noun paradigms (fōt "foot",
pl. fēt "feet"); verb paradigms (bacan "to bake", bæcþ "he bakes"); nominal derivatives from adjectives
(strang "strong", strengþ(u) "strength"), from verbs (cuman "to come", cyme "coming"), and from other
nouns (fox "fox", fyxenn "vixen"); verbal derivatives (fōda "food", fēdan "to feed"); comparative
adjectives (eald "old", ieldra "older, elder"). Many echoes of i-mutation are still present in the modern
language.

Close-vowel loss: Loss of word-final /i/ and /u/ (also from earlier /oː/) except when following a short
syllable (i.e. one with a short vowel followed by a single consonant.) For example, PIE *sunus > PG
*sunuz > OE sunu "son (nom. sing.)", PIE *peḱu > PG *fehu > OE feohu "cattle (nom. sing.)", PIE *wenis >
PG *winiz > OE ƿine "friend (nom. sing.)", but PrePG *pōdes > PG *fōtiz > WG *fø̄ ti > OE fēt "foot (nom.
pl.)".

Loss of /j/ and /ij/ following a long syllable.

A similar change happened in the other West Germanic languages, although after the earliest records of
those languages.

This did not affect the new /j/ (< /ʝ/) formed from palatalisation of PG */ɣ/, suggesting that it was still a
palatal fricative at the time of the change. For example, PG *wrōgijanan > early OE *wrøːʝijan > OE
ƿrēġan (/wreːjan/).

Following this, PG */j/ occurred only word-initially and after /r/ (which was the only consonant that was
not geminated by /j/ and hence retained a short syllable).

H-loss: Proto-Germanic /x/ is lost between vowels, and between /l, r/ and a vowel.[11] The preceding
vowel is lengthened.[12]

This leads to alternations such as eoh "horse", pl. ēos, and ƿealh "foreigner", pl. ƿēalas.

Vowel assimilation: Two vowels in hiatus merge into a long vowel.[13]

Some examples come from h-loss. Others come from loss of /j/ or /w/ between vowels, e.g. PG frijōndz
> OE frīond > frēond "friend"; PG saiwimiz "sea (dat. pl.)" > *sǣƿum > OE sǣm.

Back mutation: Short e, i and (in Mercian only) a are sometimes broken to short eo, io, and ea when a
back vowel follows in the next syllable.[14]

Hence seofon "seven" < PG *sebun, mioluc, meoluc "milk" < PG *meluks.

Palatal umlaut: Short e, eo, io become i (occasionally ie) before hs, ht.

Hence riht "right" (cf. German recht), siex "six" (cf. German sechs).

Vowel reductions in unstressed syllables:

/oː/ became /ɑ/ in final syllables, but usually appears as o in medial syllables (although a and u both
appear).
/æ/ and /i/ (if not deleted by high-vowel loss) became /e/ in final syllables.

/u/ normally became /o/ in a final syllable except when absolutely word-final.[15]

In medial syllables, short /æ, a, e/ are deleted;[16] short /i, u/ are deleted following a long syllable but
usually remain following a short syllable (except in some present-tense verb forms), merging to /e/ in
the process; and long vowels are shortened.

/ø, øː/ are unrounded to /e, eː/, respectively. This occurred within the literary period.

Some Old English dialects retained the rounded vowels, however.

Early pre-cluster shortening: Vowels were shortened when falling immediately before either three
consonances or the combination of two consonants and two additional syllables in the word.

Thus, OE gāst > ModE ghost, but OE găstliċ > ModE ghastly (ā > ă) and OE crīst > ModE Christ, but OE
crĭstesmæsse > ModE Christmas (ī > ĭ).

Probably occurred in the seventh century as evidenced by eighth century Anglo-Saxon missionaries'
translation into Old Low German, "Gospel" as Gotspel, lit. "God news" not expected *Guotspel, "Good
news" due to gōdspell > gŏdspell.

/ĭŭ/ and /iu/ were lowered to /ĕŏ/ and /eo/ between 800 and 900 AD.

Initial /ɣ/ became /ɡ/ in late Old English. This occurred within the literary period, as evidenced by
shifting patterns in alliterative verse.