1.

Vowels

DEPENDENT CHANGES
IN LATE OLD ENGLISH AND MIDDLE ENGLISH

1.1. LENGTHENING OF SHORT VOWELS FOLLOWED BY LIQUID OR NASAL PLUS A HOMORGANIC CONSONANT
(FIRST PHASE OF LENGTHENING)

Some short vowels were lengthened in late Old English when they were followed by a liquid
or a nasal plus a homorganic consonant (Two consonants are homorganic when they share
the same point of articulation).
The lengthening did NOT take place - if there was a third consonant (child/children).
- in words that do not bear sentence stress (and, under)
Lengthening groups: [ld, mb, nd, rd, r, ng].
OE [ + l + d] > l.OE [:]
OE [e + l + d] > l.OE [e:]
OE [i + l + d] > l.OE [i:] etc.

Towards the close of the 14th century LENGTHENING was maintained only before
[mb] (for [i:] and [o:]),
[nd] (for [i:] and [u:])
[ld] (for all vowels)
OE <ild>
[tild] > lOE [ti:ld] > ME [ti:ld] > ModE [taild] > PdE [tald] <child>
Lengthening because there is a
homorganic group (l + d) (Lengthening remains in ME)

GVS

OE <wolde>
[wolde] > lOE [wo:lde] > ME [wo:ld()] > eModE [wu:ld] >17th [wud] >
PdE [wd] <would>
Lengthening of short vowel due to the homorganic group (Lengthening remains in ME)
Weakening and loss of ending
Great Vowel Shi
Shortening due to grammatical word
Loss of [-l-] (grammatical word)

1.2. OPEN SYLLABLE LENGTHENING (13th century) (SECOND PHASE OF LENGTHENING)

This dependent change aected short vowels in disyllables when the first syllable is open (that
is, the first syllable is terminated by a vowel). These vowels were lengthened and opened or
lowered. For the vowels [i] and [u], lengthening took place later and was less general.

OE [i] > ME / [e:]

<wicu>
OE [wiku] > ME [we:k]1, 2 > eModE [wi:k] 3 > PdE [wi:k] <week>
1. Open Syllable Lengthening.
2. Weakening and Loss of Ending. 3. Great Vowel ShiI

OE [e] > ME / [:]

<mete>
OE [mete] > ME [m:t]1, 2 > eModE [me:t] 3 > [mi:t] 3 > PdE [mi:t] <meat>
1. Open Syllable Lengthening.
2. Weakening and Loss of Ending. 3. Great Vowel ShiI

OE [] > ME / [a:]

<makian>
OE [mkian] > ME [ma:k(n)]1, 2 > eModE [m:k]3 > 17th [m:k]3 > 18th [me:k]3 > 19th [meik]4 > PdE [mek] <make>
1. Open Syllable Lengthening.
2. Weakening and Loss of Ending. 3. Great Vowel ShiI

4. DiphthongizaNon

OE [o] > ME / [:]

<hol>
OE [holum] >
(Oblique case)

ME [h:l(n)]1, 2

> ModE [ho:l] 3 > 18th [houl] 4 > 19th [hl]5 > PdE [hl] <hole>

1. Open Syllable Lengthening.

2. Weakening and Loss of Ending. 3. Great Vowel ShiI 4. DiphthongizaNon 5. CentralizaNon of the 1st element of the





diphthong

OE [u] > ME / [o:]

<wudu>
OE [wudu] > ME [wo:d()]1, 2

> ModE [wu:d] 3 > Aer 1640 [wd]4 > PdE [wd] <wood>

1. Open Syllable Lengthening.

2. Weakening and Loss of Ending. 3. Great Vowel ShiI 4. Late shortening

1.3. SHORTENING

Long accented vowels are shortened in closed syllables before consonant groups (except for
the groups which caused lengthening, see )
OE <se> [so:e] > ME [so] (the consonant group was part of the root)
OE <cpte> [ke:pte] > ME [kept] (the consonant group was the result of inflexion)
1.4. L-GLIDING

When [] + [l]+ consonant in late OE [] +[w] + [l]

OE <eall>
[ll]> late OE [ll]1 > [wll]2 > ME [wl]3 > ME [ul]4 > ModE.18th [:l]5 > PdE [:l] <all>

1. MonophthongizaNon 2. L-gliding 3. SimplicaNon

of geminates

4. VocalizaNon 5.MonophthongizaNon

1.5. H-GLIDING

This dependent change took place in ME. In mid-word or word final position, when
followed by a consonant, [] /[] <h> provoked a gliding. If <h> [] followed a ont vowel,
the gliding was [j]. If <h> [] followeda back vowel, the gliding was [w]. Later, the [j] and
the [w] were vocalized to [i] and [u], respectively and joined the previous vowel to form a
long vowel or a diphthong.
ME [i + + t] >
[i + j + + t] > [i + i + + t] > [i: + + t]
ME [e + + t] > [i + + t] > [i + j + + t] > [i + i + + t] > [i: + + t]
Palatal
Umlaut

H-GLIDING

vocalization

OE <miht>
[mit]> ME [mijt] > [miit] > [mi:t]> eModE [mait] > 17th [mait] > PdE [mat] <might>
H-gliding
Vocalization
Assimilation
Great Vowel Shi
- + t >

ME [u+ + t] > [u + w + + t]> [u + u + + t] > [u:+ + t]

ME [o + + t] > [o + w + + t] > [o + u + + t] > [ou + + t] > 17th [:+ + t]

MonophthongizaNon
bc it is followed by [t]

<brht>
OE [bro:t] > ME [browt] > [brout] > 17th [br:t] > /br:t/ = PdE [br:t] <brought>
Shortening and h-gliding
Vocalization
Monophthongization
Loss of //


In the case of OE a, h-gliding took place at the end of the period, so that <h> [] developed
a [w] (and not a yod, as would have otherwise been the case, given that [a] in ME had a ont
place of articulation).
OE [] > lOE [ + + t] > [ + w + + t] > [ + w + + t] > [w+ + t]> ME [au + + t]
Long vowels in OE experienced the same process. When long diphthongs resulted,
equently, they were shortened because they were in close syllables.
1.6. CLOSING OF [e]

When followed by a nasal + velar consonant OE [e] became ME [i].

g]
g]
OE [e + n +
> ME [i+n+
k]
k]
OE <encan>
OE [enkan] > ME [ink(n)] > ModE. 17th [ik] > PdE [k] <think>
Cf. PdE <English> [gl]

2. Consonants

2.1. Dropping of w-
w [u] was lost in ME, in mid-word position, when next to a back vowel in an unstressed
syllable or in weakly stressed monosyllables.
ME cons + w + back vowel = ME cons + back vowel
OE <sw>
[sw:] > ME su [su:]1,2 > [s:]3 > ModE [so:]4 > 18th [sou]5 > 19th [su]6 > PdE [s] <so>
Free Change
Vocalization
Loss of [u] because
it is close to a back vowel
G.V.S.
Diphthongization
Centralization of the
first element of the diphthong

Compare OE <sw> & OE <tw>

OE <tw>
[tw:] > ME [tu:]1,2 > [tuo:]3 > ME [to:]4 > ModE [tu:]5 > PdE [tu:] <two>
Free Change: South
Vocalization
Closing of the Loss of [u] because
G.V. S.
vowel due to w it is close to a back vowel

2.2. Dropping of h-
[h-] was lost when in word initial position followed by a consonant.
OE [h-] + consonant = ME + consonant
OE <hlf>
[hl:f ] > ME [l:f ]> ModE [lo:f ] > 18th [louf ] > 19th [luf ] > PdE [lf ]
[h-] also becomes silent before a vowel in the personal pronoun [it]< OE [hit]

2.3. Dropping of [-l-]

[l] drops in ME, before or aer [t].
OE [l] + [t] > ME + [t]
OE [t] + [l] > ME [t] +
OE <l >
PdE <each>
[:lt] > ME [:lt] > [:t] > ModE [e:t] > [i:t] > PdE [i:t]
((The Northern dialect retains such forms as ilk, swilk, quilk, mikel))
2.4. Dropping of inecUonal [-n]