Old English Vowel System (9th-10th c.)

§ 133. The system of OE vowels in the 9th and 10th c. is shown in Table 6. The sounds are indicated with the help of OE letters serving as transcription symbols ([ā] is a nazalised [a]); length is shown by a colon.

The vowels shown in parentheses were unstable and soon fused with resembling sounds: [ā] with [a] or [o], [ie, ie:] with [y, y:].

The vowels are arranged in two lines in accordance with the chief phonemic opposition: they were contrasted through quantity as long to short and were further distinguished within these sets through quali-lative differences as monophthongs and diphthongs, open and close, front and back, labialised and non-labialised.

Table 6

Old English Vowels

Monophthongs

Diphthongs

Short

(œ)

(ā)

(ie)

Long

(œ)

æ:

(ie:)

ea:

eo:

Cf.some minimal pairs showing the phonemic opposition of short and long vowels:

OE dæl — dǣl (NE dale, ‘part’)

is — īs (NE is, ice)

col — cōl (NE coal, cool).

The following examples confirm the phonemic relevance of some qualitative differences:

OE rǣd — rād — rēad (NE ‘advice’, road, red)

sē — sēo ‘that’ Masc. and Fem,

mā — mē (NE more, me)

The OE vowel system displayed an obvious tendency towards a symmetrical, balanced arrangement since almost every long vowel had a corresponding short counterpart. However, it was not quite symmetrical; the existence of the nasalised [ā] in the set of short vowels and the debatable phonemic status of short diphthongs appear to break the balance.

§ 134.All the vowels listed in the table could occur in stressed position. In unstressed syllables we find only five monophthongs, and even these five vowels could not be used for phonemic contrast:

i — ǣnis (NE any)

e — stāne, Dat. sg of stān as opposed to

a — stāna. Gen. pl of the same noun (NE stone)

o — bǣron — Past pl Ind (of beran as opposed to bǣren, Subj. (NE bear)

u — talu (NE tale), Nom. sg as opposed to tale in other cases

The examples show that [e] was not contrasted to [i], and [o] was not contrasted to [u]. The system of phonemes appearing in unstressed syllables consists of three units: e/i a o/u

ORIGIN OP OLD ENGLISH CONSONANTS

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Changes of Unstressed Vowels in Early Old English	\|	Consonant Changes in Pre-Wrilten Periods

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