Early Modern English Phonology

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TOPIC 12 (Abridged) EARLY MODERN ENGLISH PHONOLOGY AND SPELLING

1. INTRODUCTION
The 15th c., following the death of Chaucer, marks a turning point in the history of English, for during this period the language underwent greater and more important phonological changes than in any other century before or since. Despite these changes in pronunciation, the old spelling was maintained and stereotyped. Generally speaking, Caxton and the printers who followed him based their spelling not on the pronunciation current in their day, but on the usage of medieval manuscripts. This is the reason why spelling and pronunciation in ModE are so divergent, why the values of English vowel symbols differ so completely from the values of the same symbols on the Continent. For example, each of the ME long vowels had changed their value (i.e. ME /e:/> ModE /i:/), but no spelling changes were introduced to reflect the new phonological values (i.e. feet, see, three).Thus the normal free sound of the symbol in English is /ei/, as against the usual value, /a:/ or /a/, in other European languages. All in all, the influence of printers and of men of learning has been greater than any other on English spelling. While it is true that early printed words exhibit many inconsistencies, they are nevertheless quite orderly as compared to the everyday writing of their time. The transition trom ME to ModE is marked by a general change in the nature of all long vowels and some of the short vowels, which is generally indicated by the name of GREAT VOWEL SHIFT, which took place between the 14th c. and the 17th c. Written evidence of these vocalic shifts is offered by the analysis of poetic rhymes from the 15c to the 18th c. and of the commentaries of the first phoneticians, grammarians, and lexicographers. A number of questions arise: • Is there a connection or causal relationship between the changes? • What is the nature of such connection? • Do the changes in the quality of the vowels have a certain common feature? • What is this common feature? • Is it possible to assign the changes to one or more causes?

2. THE DEVELOPMENT OF LONG VOWELS (GREAT VOWEL SHIFT)
The Great Vowel Shift has to be viewed as an organic whole, i.e., the vowel changes were part of a correlated movement. The various changes are not unconnected. This can be seen if we look at the general tendency of the shifts, especially in long vowels: ME /u:/ /i:/ /o:/ /e:/ /ε:/
/ɔ:/

15 /uu/ /Ii/ /ε:/-/i:/
/ɔ:/

16

Centuries 17 /əU/ /əi/ /u:/ /i:/ /i:/
/ɔ:/-/o:/

18 /Λu/ /Λi/

19 /au/ /ai/

ME mous myn foot feet seed broken breken name /mu:s/ /mi:n/ /fo:t/ /fe:t/ /sε:d/ /brɔ:kən/ /brε:kən/ /na:m/

ModE mouse mine foot feet seed broken break name /maus/ /main/ /fu:t/ /fi:t/ /si:d/ /brouken/ /breik/ /neim/

/ou/ /e:/ /ei/

/ε:/ /a:/

/ε:/-/e:/ /æ:/‐/ε:/

/ε:/-/e:/

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The shaded and unshaded files in the group the vowel mutations according to a clear parallelism in the evolution of velar and palatal vowels sharing the same high as can be seen in the table above. However, the following exceptions must be taken into account to the long vowel mutation of the Great Vowel Shift:  Blocking of /u:/ > /au/ mutation. /u:/ did not change when: a) followed by bilabial consonants /m/ and /p/: — OE rūm > ME rume /roum /ru:m/ > ModE room /ru:m/ - /rum/ — OE stupian > ME stupen / stoupe(n) > ModE stoop /stu:p/ — ON drūpan > ME drupen / droupe(n) > ModE droop /dru:p/ — OF-AN tumbe > ME tumbe / toumbe > ModE tomb /tu:m/ b) /u:/ did not change when preceded by the semivowels /w/ and /j/: — OE wund/wundian > ME (PCL) wūnd/wūnden > ModE wound [wu:nd]1 — OE iuguþ > ME ʒuʒeþe/ʒuweþe > youthe > ModE youth /ju:θ/. — ME you and your, /ju:/ and /ju:r/, are also preserved undiphthongized in ModE, which may be explained from weak stress. However, this explanation does not hold for youth.  Shortenings in the /o:/ > /u:/ mutation: o The /u:/ resulting from the mutation of /o:/ shortened before certain consonants in the 16th c. (especially dentals) and subsequenty delabialized or unrounded to /Λ/ in the 17th-18th cc, thus coalescing with the main ModE reflex of ME /u/ (see 3. DEVELOPMENT OF SHORT VOWELS below): OE /o:/ flōda blōd gedōn mōnan dæg mōst glōf (dēst) (dēþ) ME /o:/ flood blood idone monenday moste, moost glove dost dos 15th /u:/ eModE Centuries 16th /u/ flood blood done Monday must glove dost does

17th- 18th / Λ/



o The ME vowel /u:/ shortened in ModE to /u/ before the plosives /k/, /d/ and /t/. This shortening must have taken place after the opening and loss of lip-rounding of ME /u/, i.e., after the above mentioned change /u/ to /Λ/2 was over, which accounts for PDE /u/ pronunciation of book, hook, took; foot, soot; good, hood, stood < ME /o:/ < OE /o:/. Special case: o ModE /əu/ in Rome is comparatively recent and due to French or Italian influence. ME Rome, with /o:/ (in imitation of Italian) develops into /ru:m/, which was the normal pronunciation in Elizabethan times. Hence the pun in Shakespeare, Julius Caesar, I 2 155: "Now is it Rome indeed and room enough / When there is in it but one only man."

1 2

However, the Pple of wind is wound /waund/. see 3. DEVELOPMENT OF SHORT VOWELS below.

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

Other developments of /ε:/: o Apart from the mutations /ε:/ > /i:/ and /ε:/ > /ei/, ME /ε:/ shortened to /e/ before dental consonants, /t/ and /d/ in the 15th and 16th cc. OE ME ModE /æ:/ /ε:/ /e/ dread, breath, wet, thread, drāēdan, brāēþ, wāēt, þrāēd dred, breth, wet, thred /e:a/ /ε:/ /e/ shed, bred, ded, death shed, bred, dead, death sċēadan, brēad, dēad, dēaþe

3.THE DEVELOPMENT OF SHORT VOWELS
The short vowels were more stable than the long ones, a fact which is generally observed in other languages as well and which make them less prone to change than long vowels. Nonetheless, short vowels in English were also subject to a certain change. These changes took place about a century later than those affecting the long vowels. They do coincide with the changes of the open vowels /ε:/ and /ɔ:/and with the monophthongization of the diphthongs /ai/ and /au/ (see Section 5 below THE DEVELOPMENT OF ME DIPHTHONGS). These changes took place in the 16th c., though the changes in the short vowels do not seem to have taken place simultaneously. The short vowels that changed somewhow in ModE are the following: ME /a/ /o/ /u/  /u/ /u/ 15 /a/ /a/ /a/-/au/ 16 /a/-/æ/ /a/-/a:/ /a/-/ɔ:/ /ou/ /Λ/ Centuries 17 18 19 /æ/ /a:/
/ɔ:/

20

Word hat cast all God folk hunger ful

ME

ModE

/o/

/o/ = [ɔ] /əu/

/hat/ /hæt/ /kast/ /ka:st/ /ɔ:l/ /al/ /god/ /god/ /folk/ /fəuk/ /hungər/ /hΛngə/ /ful/ /ful/

/a/ mutations. The regular mutation of /a/ is /æ/. The other mutations are conditioned as follows: o When the ME /a/ was followed by the voiceless fricatives /f/, /s/ and /θ/ + another consonant, it was lengthened to /a:/: staff, raft, pass, past, ask, path ... Perharps the change was not so straightforward, but rather something like: /a/ > /æ/ > /æ:/ > /a:/. In fact, the /æ/ pronunciation is still used in some English dialects and in American English, for this was the pronunciation that English settlers took with them when they migrated to America in the 17th and 18th cc. o /a/ > /a/-/au/ > /a/-/ɔ:/ > /ɔ:/ mutation: in the context /a/ + [ł/]3 (+ a second consonant) a /u/-glide developed between the vowel and the velar or dark consonant [ł/], the result being /au/. This epenthetic vowel appeared by 1400, or at any rate before ME /au/ became /ɔ:/ in the 16th and 17th cc., or at least before 1650, for both of them coalesce in their later development: all /al/ > /aul/ > /ɔ:l/ walk > /walk/ > /wauk/ > /wɔ:k/

3

Velar /l/.

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Exceptions. However, this diphthongization into /au/ and subsequent monophthongization into /ɔ:/did not take place, so that ModE has /æ/ in the following cases (apparently because ME did not used or regularly used a velar [ł], in these circumstances: — in unstressed syllables: shall, salvation ... — when the [ł] was between vowels. — when the [ł] was followed by /f/ or /v/: Alfred, salve... — when the [ł] was followed by bilabial consonants (although there is inconsistency of usage): alms, calm, scalp, alb, Albin vs almost, almighty, albeit, Alban… o In French loan words containing + consonant, we generally find /a:/ and/or /o:/:
— /a:/ or /o:/: haunt, laundry, launch, staunch. — Only /a:/: aunt, branch, chance, dance, chant, grant. In AmE, we find /æ:/, and in some British dialects, /æ/ or /æ:/. — Only /o:/: taunt, daunt.

o Before /nd/ and /ng/, OE /a/ had lengthened to /a:/ (Pre-Cluster Lengthening). However, by the end of the ME period, the vowel in many of these words was shortened again, in analogy with the general tendency to shortening before any group of consonants. This is the reason for the double spelling in 15th c. London spelling. One spelling was more etymological and restored the pre-lengthening OE /a/ = , while the other spelling was , which was the result of the shortening of /ɔ:/ (from the long /a:/ before those consonant groups). This indecision persisted all through the Great Vowel Shift: band, bond. However, (>/æ /) was normally used before /nd/, while /o/ (> /o/) was used before /ng/: hand, stand; long, song, strong (but: sang).  /o/ mutations: o /o/ > /o/ = [ɔ] mutation. This phoneme remained in the main unaltered, but there is evidence that it was opener [ɔ] and less rounded in eModE than it is now. This variant is still found in Scots and in much AmE: top, tomb. Sometimes this unrounding in eModE went so far that the phoneme went over to ME /a/ and shared the development to /æ/:
OE stropp plot god ME strop, strap plot, plat god, egad, Gadshill

o

Special development before voiceless fricatives. Before the spirants /s/, /f/ and
/θ/, the ME /o/ was lengthened into /o:/ in the 17th c. This pronunciation can be

found in such words as cost, soft, froth, off, but is now considered old-fashioned. o /ou/ > /əu/ mutation. Special development before velar or dark [ł]. Before [ł], an epenthetic /u/ cropped us between /o/ and [ł], thus giving rise to an /ou/ diphthong. This may be gathered from the spelling , , which appears as of 1430 in words of this class. Just as in the case of diphthongization of /a/ before [ł], this change must have started in the 15th c., since /o/ before [ł] and the diphthong /ou/ coalesced, in later development, in such words as bolster, colt, holt, knoll, mold, molden ... Dipthongization does not always take place in words such as absolve, resolve, follow, holly, which have /o/ in PDE.  /u/ mutations: /u/ either continued to be /u/ or changed to /Λ/.

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o /u/ > /Λ/. The process by which ME /u/ became PDE is one of lowering and unrounding (delabialization). The intermediate stage was probably a kind of /o/. It is a process similar to that of /o/, although it took place later. Exceptions in dialectal English: Many dialects still preserve ME /u/. This divergence between the dialectal pronunciation with /u/ (for example, in Northern England) and the Standard English pronunciation with /Λ/ sometimes gives rise to such "hyper-correct" pronunciations as / 'bΛt∫ə/ > for butcher. Exceptions in Standard English: After the labial consonants /p/, /b/ /w/, and /f/, the ME vowel /u/ was either retained or restored in many words, especially in closed syllables ending in bilabial /m/ or dental alveolar /d/, /t/, /s/ /l/, or before /∫/: bull, bush, butcher, pull, put, push, fulfill, wulf Indecision: However, there are some examples of indecision, so that PDE words such as the following have /Λ/ in the same contexts: bud, but, bus, bulk, puddle, pus, putt, pulp, puttee. Contextual developments: The group ME /uld/ and /ult/ developed into late ME or eModE /old/. Then a glide must have arisen between /o/ and [ł]. In fact, the 15th c. spellings in /o/ have survived in most of these words. In the 18th c., grammarians give both /o/ and /ou/ in these words. In late 18th c., /o:/would be diphthongized in any case. ME late ME eModE shulder sholder sholder / shoulder OE sċuldor cultor colter colter / coulter AN cultor poltry poltry / poultry OF pouletrie pultrey bulten bolten bolt / boult OF bulter

4. THE DEVELOPMENT OF ME VOWELS BEFORE FINAL/R/ OR BEFORE /R/ + CONSONANT
ME /ɪr/ The following table illustrates the various developments: Short Vowels Examples PDE Examples ME fir, birth, bird, girl /ə:/ /ur/ fur, turn, nurse fur, turn, nurse /u:r/ fir, birth, bird, girl /i:r/ Long Vowels Examples fyr ure/oure, flour ʒure/youre murnen

PDE /aɪə/ /auə/ /uə/ /o:/-[ɔə] /aɪə/

Exampl fire our your mourn frier here tear, bear

/er/

kernel, person, her, early, beard, search

[εə]

kernel, person, her, early, beard, search

frere, freire /e:r/ here/heere

/ɪə/

clerk, sergeant, Derby /a:/ clerk, sergeant, Derby No /ε/ (open short e). arm, car, /ar/ /a:/ arm, car, carpenter carpenter /or/ /o:/ war, warm war, warm No /ɔ/ (open short o).

/ε:r/ /a:r/ /o:r/ /ɔ:r/

tere, beren hare floor i-boren /ε:ə/ /o://ɔə/

hare floor born

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It is clear that ME /r/ exerted widespread influence on the vowel immediately preceding it. In ME /r/ was a trill, which is still the way it is pronounced in Northern and Midland English dialects today. However, in the rest of England this /r/ developed differently.

5. THE DEVELOPMENT OF ME DIPHTHONGS
The evolution of ME diphthongs during the Great Vowel Shift is summarized in the following table: ME /aɪ/ /au/ /ou/ /ɔu/ /ɪu/ /εu/ /oɪ/ /uɪ/ 1500 16 /æɪ/-/εɪ/ /ɑu/-/ɒu/ /ɔu/ /ɪu/ /εu/-/ɪu/ /εu/-/eu/ /oɪ/-/ɔɪ/ /uɪ/ /ɔu/-/ɔ:/ /ɔu/-/ou/ /ɪu/-/ju/ /εu/-/ɪu/ 17 /εə/-/ε:/-/e:/ /ɔə/-/ɔ:/ /ɔə/-/oə//o:/ /ju:/ /ɪu/-/ju:/ /ɔɪ/ 18 /e:/ 19 /eɪ/ Example day(e) saw(e) bought blow(en) dewk/duke new dew joy point ME /daɪ/ /sau/ /bouxt/ /blɔu/ ModE /deɪ/ /sɔ:/ /bɔ:t/ /blou/

/ɔ:/

/o:/

/ou/

/ju:/

/ɔɪ/ /oɪ/-/Λɪ/ /Λɪ/-/əɪ/

/dju:k/ /dɪuk/ /nεu/ /nju:/ /dεu/ /dju:/ /dʒoɪ/ /puint/ /pɔɪnt/

6. DEVELOPMENT OF VOWELS IN UNSTRESSED SYLLABLES
The stress system of Primitive Germanic developed a strong stress, which triggered a divergent evolution for stressed and unstressed syllables. This strong stress usually fell upon the first syllable: fǽder, stánas, ándwyrde, in OE (unless the first syllable is a prefix which did not belong to the word: onsácan). The major consequence of this fixation of the stress upon the first syllable was the tendency of untressed syllables to shorten. After the 11th c. all the words of Old English and the vowels in word-final position enter a process of reduction towards = /ə/, so that stānas, sōna, gladost, and talu become stōnes, sones, glādest, and tāle in ME. During the ME period, this final = /ə/ gradually ceases to be pronounced, even if it is kept in the spelling. This final-schwa loss started in the Northern dialect and spread southwards into Midland and Southern dialects. However, as late as the end of the 14th c., this final /ə/ was still pronounced, as may be gathered from Chaucer’s rhymes. This apocope is thought to have started in function words such as comjunctions (þanne > þan > than; bote > bot > but). It then spread to bisyllabic lexical words with a short root vowel (OE sunu > ME sone > son), and then those with a long root vowel (OE talu > ME tāle > ModE tale /teɪl). However, before the apocope took place in the latter type of words, i.e., when the presence or absence of a written final was a clear sign indicating whether the vowel of the preceding syllable was short (no ) or long (presence of ), the convention was created to introduce a non etymological final as a diacritic sign to indicate that the preceding vowel was long: OE lār > ME lōr > lōre. Eventually, then, the loss of final /ə/ in all bysillabic words meant that OE bysillables became ME monosyllables and that OE trisyllables becme ME bysyllables: OE munecas > ME munekes / munkes / monkes /munkəs/; OE munuc > ME munek / munk / monk. At the beginning of the 15th c., the final /ə/ disappeared in London English. By the 16th c., the ending = /əs/ (pl, gen, 3 present) is generally spelled , indicating the

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loss of schwa, except in poetry of after sibilant sounds. However, the endings , and were still pronounced as late as the 17th c, even though syncopated forms are used such as learn 'd, lov 'st, saith. During the 16th and 17th cc. there arise syllabic consonants such as /ļ/, /ŗ/ /m/, and /ņ/ alternating with /əl, /ər/, /ən/, and /əm/. In other words, the vowel was reduced or lost in unstressed syllabes (as is attested by such phonetic spellings as damzn, labr, laurl, vittils, suthrik, ModE: damson, labour, laurel, victuals, Southwark, respectively), and endings /t∫/: soldier, due; righteous, virtue, question. 3. /d/ > / ð / Fricativization of /d/ between a vowel and a vocalic /r/ or /ər/ in the 16th and 17th cc: fader/vader >fatber, moder/mooder> mother, weder> weather. 4. Changes in postvocalic [r] In ME /r/ was a trill, which is still the way it is pronounced in Northern and Midland English dialects today. However, in the rest of England this /r/ developed differently:  Word- or syllable- initial /r/ probably remained a trill in eModE, but must have become an open consonant (frictionless post-alveolar) in the course of the 18th c.  Word-medial and -final /r/ was probably already an open consonant in eModE.  Pre-consonantal /r/ was not pronounced by the end of the 18th c. In the 16th c. an /ə/ glide developed between a vowel and the following open frictionless /r/. This epenthetic vowel and /r/ merged into a murmur-vowel, or into the preceding vowel, thus lengthening it. Some speakers still retain this murmur-vowel, for example, in court /kɔət/ as against caught /kɔ:t/ The whole sequence must have been something like:
ME trilled /r/ 15 weakened /r/ 16 /ə/ + open /r/ 17 loss of /r/ + merging = murmur-vowel 18 lengthening of preceding vowel

5. Sporadic change of /t/ > /r/ in intervocalic position: porridge < Fr potage ("gachas"); porringe < Fr potager or potanger (deep plate). 6. Dialectal or non-standard speech change: /s/ > /∫/: abase > abash, lace > lash. Or /n∫/ > /nt∫/: lance > launch Among the changes that had already started during the ME period we can mention: 7. Voicings: Already in Primitive Gmc fricatives became voiced between voiced sounds, although in eModE there is indecision between the voiced and the unvoiced sounds, both in native words and in French and Latin loanwords, some of which still persist to this day: nephew = /nevju(:)/ and /nefju/ resource = /risɔ:s/ and /rizɔ:s/ breathed = /bri:ðt/ and /breθt/

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exhale = / 'eksheil/ and /eg 'zeil/ In ME the voicing also affects consonants in initial position in Southern English, which was reflected in the spelling for and for , although no spelling evidence exists in the case of /θ/ > /ð/. From the 15th c. onwards, there is a tendency to voice fricatives in unstressed middle position, if the following element is voiced too. This voicing also happens in weak forms: • final /f/ > /v/: of, if, whereof, off; in French endings: pensif > pensive. • final and initial /θ/ > /ð/: with, hath, doth; the, this, that, these, those, then, there, though. • final /z/ > /s/: is, has, was, as, his, whereas; and even the ending : hates, faultes, kinges, except in those cases in which there is a syncope of /ə/ in trisyllabic words: hunteres > hunters, lordinges > lordings, where the is pronounced /s&, even after a voiced sound, at least during the 15th and 16th cc. This voicing has at times been called the application of Verner 's Law to Modern English. This process can be seen operating in such pairs as anxious & anxiety, exercise & examine, luxury & luxurious, where we see /ks/ > /gz/. However, this change does not always take place and exception may be found: exhale, exhume, exiguity. In other cases the voicing of the consonant already existed prior to the borrowing of the word. In any case, these voicings do persist in ModE and PDE, and even spread over to final /t∫/ which becomes /dʒ/ Greenwich, spinach, knowledge (< ME knauleche(n)). 8. Consonantal simplifications: • /mb/ > /m/: lamb, dumb, comb, thumb, womb. This loss would then create confusion among users: since there is a mute /b/, some writers would assume that other words with no /b/ for etymological reasons lacked it because it was not pronounced and decided to introduce it in the spelling: limb (< OE lim); numb (< OE pple of niman). • /nd/ > /n/: thousand, diamond; handsome, handkerchief, friendship (unless the consonant following the /d/ is a liquid: bundle, friendly, hundred, thunder). • /gn/ > /nn/ > /n/: gnat, gnash. This is a process of assimilation. Alternatively, a dissimilation process can be reconstructed: /gn/ > /kn/ (from OE /kn/); then this /kn/ cluster fell together for analogical reasons with /xn/ (from OE /xn/) spelled , and since /xn/ was simplified in ME to /n/, /kn/ was likewise simplified to /n/. There are thus homophones like: gnaw & knaw, gnat & knot, knight & night. • Loss of /l/ between a preceding /a:/, /ɔ:/ and /ou/, and a following consonant (/k/, /f/, /v/, /m/, /p/, /b/): talk, half, halve, alms, folk, Holborn. The letter was added to words which had never had it: fault < ME faute « OF faute /m/: condemn, hymn, solemn. • /stl/, /stm/, and /stn/ > /sl/, /sm/, and /sn/: castle, whistle, christmas, listen, fasten.

8. BIBLIOGRAPHY
Dobson, E. J. English Pronunciation 1500-1700, Oxford: Clarendong Press, 1985 [1968] Fernández, F. Historia de la lengua inglesa, Madrid: Editorial Gredos, 1982. Guzmán González, T. “Ortografía y fonología del inglés moderno” en de la Cruz Cabanillas, I. y Martín Arista, F.J., Lingüística histórica inglesa, Barcelona: Editorial Ariel, 2001, pp. 597-623.

Bibliography: Dobson, E. J. English Pronunciation 1500-1700, Oxford: Clarendong Press, 1985 [1968] Fernández, F. Historia de la lengua inglesa, Madrid: Editorial Gredos, 1982. Guzmán González, T. “Ortografía y fonología del inglés moderno” en de la Cruz Cabanillas, I. y Martín Arista, F.J., Lingüística histórica inglesa, Barcelona: Editorial Ariel, 2001, pp. 597-623.