Wuolah Free Historia Unit 5 PHONETIC

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Historia de la Lengua Inglesa II
3º Doble Grado en Estudios Ingleses y Filología Hispánica
Facultad de Humanidades
Universidad de Huelva
Reservados todos los derechos.

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UNIT 5: PHONETICS
Historia de la Lengua Inglesa II
1. SHORT VOWELS IN THE HISTORY OF ENGLISH
1.1 Present Day English and Late Modern
During this period, there are 5 letter vowels <a, e, i, o, u> and 12
monophthongs in RP English. In this system, there are 7 short
vowels: /æ/, /e/, /ɪ/, /ɒ/, /ʊ/, /ʌ/, /ǝ/. They are different from long
vowels in length and quality. The doubling of letters was equal
to length, the preceding vowel would be short if the prior is not
doubled: “dinner vs diner”, “bitter vs biter”.
a. /æ/
Sometimes <a> fluctuates between /æ/ and /a/ in the different varieties of English.
This fluctuation might be inherited from EModE times. In PDE-RP it is realised as
/æ/ as in “cat, hat, sad”. There are fewer words in this /æ/ set in RP and in southern
British English dialects than in EModE. In LModE (south): “bath, castle”
b. /e/
The PDE sound /e/ in words is spelt <e, ea, a> and even . These spellings are
based on EModE ones; often etymologically based, at times written form derived
from an older pronunciation, different from the one that has become standard eg
bury /beri/.
c. /ɪ/
There is historical stability in words spelt with (OE fisc, ME fish, EMod fish,
PDE fish, Anglo-Saxon structure- origin). /ɪ/ sound is linked to the spelling but
also there are others forms spelt with <u, ui, e, o> (“busy, build, pretty, women”).
These words have different etymological origin; for instance, the word “busy” has
an on its spelling because the western was used but they kept the northern
pronunciation with /ɪ/.
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Reservados todos los derechos. No se permite la explotación económica ni la transformación de esta obra. Queda permitida la impresión en su totalidad.
d. /ɒ/
PDE sound /ɒ/ is spelt with either <a> or <o>. This difference in spelling is
explained by different etymological origins; for instance “pot, wand”.
e. /ʊ/
It is found in <u, o, oo> spellings: “put, cushion, woman, look, boot, foot, cook”.
This means that not all double o spellings are long. Same in the EModE period.
f. /ʌ/
PDE sound /ʌ/ has its spelling as <u, o, oo>: “put, sun, love, london, son, blood”
Some of these used to be a in OE but the have many origins. For instance,
“sun” and “son” were written the same in early periods, even in ME “son” had
different spellings “sun(n)(e)”. Nowadays spelling is inherited from EModE times,
There is association between the letter and the sound /ʌ/ in English, even in
foreign words like “curry”. PDE has conservative writing system, in standard
English there is not distinction between “cut” and “put”. It is the reflection of an
older pronunciation, variation in England in these and similar words. In PDE
northern dialects, the vowels in “cut” and “put” are not different, they are as “in
older times”.
g. /ǝ/
It is used in unstressed syllables for almost every written vowel. These are more
commonly found in weak syllables.
1.2 Early Modern English
a. /æ/
The pronunciation /æ/ is found in words such as “cat, sad, hat”. It is the result of
the raising of ME /a/. There was regional fluctuation between the allophones /æ/
and /a/, they have two different origins. The number of words including this
sound is much larger in EModE than in RP and southern British English dialects
today; in the south /æ/ was lengthened and backend to /ɑ:/ in Late Modern English.
b. /e/
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Emode /e/ is mostly the result of raising of the low mid ME vowel /ɛ/ in words like
“bed” or “set” (one possible origin). This left room for /a/ to raise to /ae/ by the mid
17th c (second possible origin). This sound occurs in words spelt with <e, ea, a*>
and even . These different spellings indicate different etymological origins:
“bed, weapon, again, bury”
c. /ɪ/
This sound is used in words spelt with <i, u, ui, uy, e>: “fish, busy, build, pretty”.
The pronunciation shows continuity in pronunciation with the eastern and
northern ME. Spellings in can be traced back to western ME.
d. /ɒ/
EModE the result of the lowering of the ME low-mid vowel /ǝ/. In american
dialects, it was unrounded to /a/ in late 17 or 18 century, and now it has lengthen
to /ɑ:/, like “pot, cod”. Another source for EMODE /ɒ/ is ME /a/. Then, it was
backened, raised and rounded by assimilation with the preceding /W/ sound.
Gradual spread of this rounded pronunciation, starting with weak words like was
what, variation i
e. /ʊ/ and incipient /ʌ/
The early modern words with etymological short /ʊ/ (OE sunne > PDE sun) became
more rounded, and were lowered and centralised to /ʌ/ in the beginning of the
17th century.
EMod /ʌ/ first appeared in the south due to the shortening and lowering of the OE
/u:/ (OE būtan) and the shortening and raising of ME /o:/ (ME blode > OE blōd). The
new sound spelling’s were <u, o, oo> (“but, love, come, blood”). The spelling was
relatively fixed by the middle of the 17th century, some writers deviated from the
incipient norm in print in private letters (“sum, becum”).
Some AN and OF words use this sound, like “cousin, country, stomach, trouble,
double, punish, rush). The quality of EModE /ʊ/ is maintained in some english
words with etymological short /ʊ/, in those with labial onsets in the syllable /p, b, f,
w/ which could inhibit the unrounding “bull, push, pull full vs but, butter”. The
appearance of /ʌ/ helped distinguish minimal paris like “book, buck / look, luck”.
f. Unstressed syllables
The vowels that are more commonly found in unstressed syllables are /ʊ, ɪ, i, ə/.
Since EMod times, different pronunciations of the “-ed” ending” of past, past
participles and adjectives participles (“aged, beloved, blessed, cursed” “-ɪd”).
1.3 Middle English
Except for the OE <æ> and <y>, the short vowels of OE stressed syllables that remained
short were unchanged in most ME speech.
OE man>ME man OE helpan>ME help(e)(n) OE sittan>ME sitten OE hoppian>ME hoppen

OE hungrig [‘huŋgrij] > ME hungry [huŋgri] (merging of the final vowel and semivowel).
a. [ɑ]
OE <æ> [æ] fell together with short [ɑ] and became to be ME <a> [ɑ]. However,
there was regional and social variability: <a> ranging from [ɑ] to [æ]. The ME
period is not different from EmodE in the pronunciation, like “sad” as [æ].
However, the spelling <e> for [æ] was found in West Midlands and Kent. The
digraph stopped being used. In nasal contexts, <a> [ɑ] rounded in most parts of
England. But until the late ME period, West Midlands used <o>, probably
indicating [ɔ]. This distinction was inherited from OE West Saxon <a> and Anglian
<o>.
b. [ɛ]
It has 8 different etymological origins.
-Continuation from the OE short [ɛ] ME belt > OE belt
-The OE shortening before non-homorganic consonantal groups: PDE > hide > ME
hid(e) / OE hȳdde; PDE keep > ME kept(e) > OE cēpte; ME twenty > OE twēntig.
Considerable wavering in vowel length before <st>: “Christ, fist, ghost, lost, east”
(exceptions).
-Raising of OE <ǣ> [æ:] to [ɛ:] in monosyllabic words like “bread, thread, sweat”.
The vowel must have shortened to [ɛ] before the change to [i:] from [ɛ:]. Rivalry
between long and short forms was common until the 17th c.
-Raising and shortening of OE <ēa> [æ:a] to [ɛ:]. ME grēte > OE grēat
-Monopthongation of OE <eo> [eə] ME heuen > OE heofon
-Monopthongation of OE <ēo> [e:ə] ME trē > OE trēo
-Some nasal contexts developed [ɛ] “me, any, men”
-Reflex of OE [ü] in the East “bery”
c. [ɪ]
Words spelt with and pronounced with [ɪ] have been consistent since OE
times. and <y> were interchangeable, especially where contemporary
handwriting could be confusing: before or after <m, n, u>; all these letters could
be written using the “minim” stroke <lll, ll, ll>. This practice accounts PDE come
(cf. OE cuman) and love (cf. OE lufu); <o> or <w> spellings were used to
differentiate in similar environments.
Other origins for [ɪ] apart from the OE short vowel.
-Raising and shortening of OE <ēo> PDE wick OE wēoc.
-Reflex of OE <y> [ü] now . The great majority of lexical items with [ü] in OE
ended up as [ē], like “synn sin”.
-Reflex of OE [ü] now “busy”.
-Reflex of OE [ü] now <ui> “build”.
-In the North and East Midlands areas, OE <y> was unrounded to [ɪ] exactly as [ȳ]
[ü:] was unrounded to [i:]. In the southeast it became <e>, in west midlands and
southwest it remained as a rounded vowel [ü] written <y> until late ME (maybe
reinforced by the existence of the same vowels in French loans) when it was
unrounded.
d. [ɔ]
There are various sources for PDE and EModE [ɔ].
-Same vowel since OE times “God”.
-OE [o:] shortened before non-homorganic consonantal group “sōfte”.
-OE <wa> + <wæ> merged. Then, they rounded in a slow process, probably started
in the 15th century as the study of rhyming words suggests “wand, was”.
e. [ʊ]
PDE and EModE /ʊ/ derive from ME and OE [ʊ]. PDE full > ME OE ful. ME [o:] will
suffer a process of shortening and raising that begins in EModE, PDE book > ME
book boke > OE bōc
PDE and EModE /ʌ/ derive from ME and OE [o:]. PDE blood > ME blōd > OE blōd.
OE [u:] merged into ME [ʊ] that underwent centralisation and unrounding in
EModE and PDE. PDE love > ME lou(e)(n) > OE lufian. PDE us > ME vs > EO ūs.
ME > OE [ü] underwent unrounding and centralisation in EModE and PDE. PDE
cut > ME cut(e)(n) > OE cyttan.
1.4 FINAL REMARKS
-The late OE lengthening before homorganic groups <mb, nd, ld, rd> did not maintain
itself, by the end of the ME period found only sometimes with and <o> before <mb,
nd, ld>. Reshortening subsequently occurred, as a result these pairs: “wind (noun) held,
send, friend” (no longer lengthening). “Wind (verb), field, fiend” (the lengthening
survives).
-Trisyllabic shortening. Long vowels shortened in the first syllable of trisyllabic words.
There appear to have been two phases: First, only two consonants followed the vowel in
question. Later also if one followed. Most of the clear examples are from the second
phase (prob 11th c). French loanwords were affected as well divine divinity, south
southern
-Shortening also occurred before two unstressed syllables, as in “wild/wilderness,

wise/wisdom, holy/holiday”.
-Words usually without stress within the sentence were subject to vowel shortening: “an”
(OE a-n one), “but” (OE bu-tan), “not” (OE na-wiht)
-Levelling of unstressed vowels, falling together of an “a, o, u” with “e” in unstressed

syllables, all ultimately becoming a schwa. The spelling <e> for the merged vowel
became the most common in ME.
-Loss of schwa in final syllables. The levelled final <e> [ǝ] gradually lost: North (13th c);
Midlands and south somewhat later. The process was complete in the 14th c in speech (it
continued in writing). Final <e> also a marker of length of the previous vowel. For
instance: “book”. During OE times, it was bōc. In Me, we can find it as either “book” or
“boke”, that “-e” ending is not etymological but it indicates that the vowel is long since
the mark is no longer there..
-Many words continued with “-e”, even when no longer pronounced. Other words
acquired by analogy an optional unhistorical “-e” in both spelling and pronunciation.
-There was also a scribal “-e”, it was not pronounced but merely added to the spelling for
various reasons, such as filling out a short line (before english orthography was
standardised).
2. LONG VOWELS IN THE HISTORY OF ENGLISH
2.1 PDE - Late Modern English
There are 5 long vowels in current english: /a:/ /i:/ /ɔ:/ /u:/ /ɜ:/
Some varieties of English now tend to pronounce /u:/, where the u sound is
following a palatal /j/: duty, Tuesday, new.
At the beginning of EModE period, words like “bird, verb, turn” pronounced as:
/’bɪrd/ /’vɜrb/ /tʊrn/. “But” starting in the north and east in the 15th c and reaching
the capital in the 17th c. The i e u sounds in those contexts were no longer distinct
with + /r/ in final position or before another consonant, they all centred and
merged as a mid central vowel /ɜ:/.
A number of “er” words such as “clerk, mercy, person, serve” did not follow this
pattern in EModE. Instead, they were lowered to /ar/. Queen Elizabeth (1533-1603)
spelt these forms with “ar”.
The Great Vowel Shift: a process that took a long time (from ME to EMod) that only
affected long vowels, they were raised and if they couldn’t be more raised they
would break into diphthong.
a. ME <ee> [ɛ] came generally to be written <ea> in the course of the 16th c: “meat”.
“Meat” in OE was “mete”, meaning food [‘mete].ME spelling could be either “mete”
or o “meet(e)”. The doubled consonant in “meet” was used in a two vowel word
ending in another vowel, to show length.
b. ME <ee> [e:] was retained alongside <ie> and less frequently <ei> spellings, “green,
field, seize”. Their vowels merged into /i:/ in the south around the 1700s.
Green: OE <grēne> [‘gre:ne] ME <grene> o <green> [’gre:n(ǝ)] (final schwa is

dropped) EMod <green> /’gre:n/ to /’gri:n/ PDE <green> /’gri:n/.
Field: OE <feld> [‘feld] ME <’feld(e)>, <[feeld> [‘fe:ld] EModE field /’fe:ld/ PDE field
/’fi:ld/. Originally, in OE it was a short [e], but the homorganic group makes lengths
it, and it has survived into PDE.
c. Late Middle English <oo> for the long rounded vowel [ɔː] coming from OE <ā> [a:].
This spelling was also used for the continuation of OE <ō> [o:]. They were written
with identical vowels symbols in EMod, but they evolved into a dipthong in PDE
/əʊ/ or /u:/ respectively.
Coming from OE long a Road. OE <’rād> [‘ra:d] ME <rode> [‘rɔ:d] EMod <rood>
/‘ro:d/ /’rəʊd/ (GWS) PDE <road> /’rəʊd/
Coming from OE long o Rood: OE <rōd> [‘ro:d] ME <rode, rood> [‘rɔ:d] EMod
<rood> /’ro:d/ /’ru:d/ PDE <rood> /’rud/
Stone: OE <stān> [‘sta:n] ME north was written as <stane> or <staan>, the rest of
the country spelled it as <stone> or <stoon> [‘stɔ:n(ǝ)] EMod <stone> /’sto:n/ /st’əʊn/
(GWS, long vowel that diphthongs) PDE <stone> /st’əʊn/
d. The raising of /e:/ and /o:/ became /i:/ and /u:/. It began in the 15th c, in parallel to
the diphthongization of /i:/ and /u:/. It is not clear which one started before, the
two forms coexisted for a while and marked a social difference until the 18th c.
2.3 Middle English
ME used doubled letters in writing to indicate length. Final unstressed <e> following a
single consonant also indicated vowel length in ME. For instance: fode food, fede feed.
This silent <-e> of PDE in case bite rule
In the north of England, frequently was used after a vowel to indicate length, a
practice responsible for such modern spelling as “raid” (literally a “riding” from the OE
noun <rād>, and Scots used the from “guid” for “good”.
a. Middle English Open Syllable Lengthening (MEOSL): the short vowels [a, ɛ, ɔ] were
lengthened in open syllables of disyllabic words. It developed as the unstressed
vowels began to lose weight, around the 13th century or even earlier in the north.
b. Lowering and lenghtening of [ɪ, ʊ] to [e:] and [o:] started in the 14th c in the south
OE <wicu>, <wudu> ME <wēke>, <wōde>
c. Lengthening before homorganic consonantal groups in transition from OE to ME.

OE [‘feld] ME [‘fe:ld] Emode /’fi:ld/ PDE /’fi:ld/
d. ME <ee> for [ɛ] and [e:]. ME [e:] to EModE /i:/. It also happens with some OE <eo->,
for example “tree, friend, thief” (notice reshortening in friend*)
OE <treō> [‘tre:ǝ] (the diphthong becomes a monophthong), ME <tree> [‘tre:],
EModE <tree> /’tri:/ (GVS)., PDE /tri:/
e. The French spelling <ou> came to be used generally in the 14th century to
represent English <ū> [u:] ME <hous> OE <hūs>.
f. In some contexts, the of the digraph <ou> (+ vowel) may be mistaken as
representing [v] for which the same symbol was used: ME Vue (=grapes, uve), <v>
initially for u, medially for u and v; <v> for v late ME. was doubled in this
position, that is, <uu> later <w>. This use of <w> would have been unnecessary if
 and <v> had been differentiated as they are now. <W> came to be used
instead of in final position.
g. In LME, there is a tendency to write <y> for <i-> in final position.
2.4 FINAL REMARKS
1. PDE spelling is largely etymological, with often no sound-letter correspondence. In

contrast, ME and OE spellings were more or less phonemic. Inconsistent or innovative
spellings were pronunciation variantes.
2. From the 18th century on, how English should be was in the hands of prescriptive
grammars, dictionaries, textbooks and usage guides. Treatises and textbooks on spelling
and monolingual dictionaries in the 17th century. The English language was not codified
by a language academy. But the Royal Academy, a national scientific society (1662)
created a special committee (with John Dryden and other men of letters) with the aim of
improving the English language, they failed to present concrete results, Swift (1712) also
wrote a proposal for improving the language.
3. The regularisation of spelling: a long process more or less completed by the end of
the 17th century. It had started in the 15th century after the introduction of the printing
press. It continued in the 16th century with various proposals for spelling forms. On the
one hand, advocates of more phonemic spellings like John Hart and William Bullokar,
failed to gain general acceptance. On the other hand, Richard Mulcaster and others, who
rejected this trend arguing there was too much variation in speech, concluded that
pronunciation could not be the basis for orthography and preferred a more etymological
orientation. In EmodE, the language underwent important changes in pronunciation, but
10
the old spelling was generally kept by printers and men of learning greatly influenced
English spelling. Learned men preferred archaic etymological spellings. Printers helped
by normalising older scribal practices. Despite early inconsistencies, less than in
manuscripts of the time.
4. In ME, manuscripts showed regional, local and individual variation in spelling,

also scribes working in a particular area, monks from the same scriptorium or copyist
producing. Chancery documents in London could show some regularity. LME texts show
fewer and fewer local features. Some regularisations were spread all over England
making texts more difficult or impossible to localise by the end of the period.
5. Some long vowels in PDE are the result of monophthong of ME diphthongs or of

the GVS, a series of local phonological developments that affected long vowels. The GVS
began in the 15th century and came to completion in the 18th century and it profoundly
altered the way English words were pronounced between 1500 and 1700. In the northern
dialects it affected the front vowels but not all back vowels. It did not affect all the words
that contained a sound qualifies for a change. Some exceptions due to dialect contact.
6. The process that probably set the shift in motion was the diphthongization of the
high vowels /i:/ and /u:/ which left space for high vowels unoccupied, which was in turn
filled by vowels that were rising. There was probably a mixture of a push chain and a
drag chain. The raising of the mid vowels pushed up the high vowels, and dragged up the
lower vowels to fill the empty positions.
3. DIPHTHONGS IN THE HISTORY OF ENGLISH
3.1 PDE - Late Modern English
a. The glide /ju:/ is close to diphthongal quality in some

varieties of PDE, including RP. Some varieties
pronounce /u:/ when following a palatal /j/
monophthongs, in “duty, Tuesday, new”. t + j + u =
/tʃu:/
b. Multiple spelling variants for the same PDE
diphthongs reflect different origins.
11
c. Diphthongs are “long” vocalic sounds, equivalent to long pure vowels, subject to
the same allophonic variation; eg “plays” [ple:ɪz], “place” [ple:ɪs].
d. Dipthongs in PDE may come from EModE dipt or EModE long vowels (great vowel
shift)
a. EModE great vowel shift changes from the 13h to the 17th c. Not all changes
happen at the same time, and not the same in all dialects.
b. RP’s diphthongs [aɪ] [ɔi] [ǝʊ] [aʊ] [ju:] were in the 17th century something like [ǝi]
[oi] [ɔw] [ǝu] (intermediate stage).
c. PDE centralised diphthongs /iǝ/ /ʊǝ/ /eǝ/ were long monophthongs followed by /r/:
“weird, pure, rare” They are called centralised bc they have schwa.
d. The spellings of the diphthongs were quite similar to the spellings in PDE,
although there were some words that could show alternative spellings. PDE /ɔi/
has been quite stable in the history of English.
3.3 Middle English
Processes of vowel lengthening have to be considered when tracing back the evolution of
a diphthong. The most relevant ones to be considered are: the processes of homorganic
lengthening that took place at the end of OE period, the MEOSL (middle English open
syllable lengthening).
a. /ɪe/
PDE <weird> /’wɪed/ EMod <weird> /’wi:rd/ ME <werde> <wirde> [we:rde]

[‘wɛ:rde] [‘wi:rde] OE <wyrd> <weord> [‘würd] [‘weǝrd]
PDE <near> /’nɪe/ Emod <near> /’ni:r ME <ner(e)> [nɛ:r]
b. /eɪ/
PDE <make> /’meɪk/ EMod <make> /`mɛ:k/ ME <maken> (open syllable

lengthening) [‘ma:kǝn] OE macan [‘makan]
PDE <great> /’greɪt/ EMod <great> /’ge:t/ (GVS) ME <grete> [‘gre:tǝ] (lenthening) OE
<grēat> [‘græ:at]
12

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Historia de la Lengua Inglesa II

3º Doble Grado en Estudios Ingleses y Filología Hispánica

Reservados todos los derechos.

1. SHORT VOWELS IN THE HISTORY OF ENGLISH

1.1 Present Day English and Late Modern

1.2 Early Modern English

e. /ʊ/ and incipient /ʌ/

1.3 Middle English

OE man>ME man OE helpan>ME help(e)(n) OE sittan>ME sitten OE hoppian>ME hoppen

It has 8 different etymological origins.

-Continuation from the OE short [ɛ] ME belt > OE belt

-Raising and shortening of OE <ēa> [æ:a] to [ɛ:]. ME grēte > OE grēat

-Monopthongation of OE <eo> [eə] ME heuen > OE heofon

-Monopthongation of OE <ēo> [e:ə] ME trē > OE trēo

-Some nasal contexts developed [ɛ] “me, any, men”

-Reflex of OE [ü] in the East “bery”

-Raising and shortening of OE <ēo> PDE wick OE wēoc.

-Reflex of OE [ü] now <u> “busy”.

-Reflex of OE [ü] now <ui> “build”.

There are various sources for PDE and EModE [ɔ].

-Same vowel since OE times “God”.

-OE [o:] shortened before non-homorganic consonantal group “sōfte”.

1.4 FINAL REMARKS

-Shortening also occurred before two unstressed syllables, as in “wild/wilderness,

-Levelling of unstressed vowels, falling together of an “a, o, u” with “e” in unstressed

2. LONG VOWELS IN THE HISTORY OF ENGLISH

2.1 PDE - Late Modern English

2.2 Early Modern English

Green: OE <grēne> [‘gre:ne] ME <grene> o <green> [’gre:n(ǝ)] (final schwa is

2.3 Middle English

c. Lengthening before homorganic consonantal groups in transition from OE to ME.

2.4 FINAL REMARKS

1. PDE spelling is largely etymological, with often no sound-letter correspondence. In

4. In ME, manuscripts showed regional, local and individual variation in spelling,

5. Some long vowels in PDE are the result of monophthong of ME diphthongs or of

3. DIPHTHONGS IN THE HISTORY OF ENGLISH

3.1 PDE - Late Modern English

a. The glide /ju:/ is close to diphthongal quality in some

3.2 Early Modern English

3.3 Middle English

PDE <weird> /’wɪed/ EMod <weird> /’wi:rd/ ME <werde> <wirde> [we:rde]

PDE <near> /’nɪe/ Emod <near> /’ni:r ME <ner(e)> [nɛ:r]

PDE <make> /’meɪk/ EMod <make> /`mɛ:k/ ME <maken> (open syllable

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