Quantitative and qualitative changes of vowels and consonants in the history of English
i-Umlaut (or palatal mutation)
the fronting and raising of vowels through the influence of [i] or [j] in the immediately following syllable.
Ablaut– an independent vowel interchange unconnected with any phonetic conditions (the earliest set of vowel interchange, which dates from Proto-Germanic and Proto-Indo-European)
The Great Vowel Shift:
Ø a major factor influenced the language and served to separate Middle and Modern English;
Ø beginning in the 12thc. and continuing until the 18thc. (but with its main effects in the 15th and early 16thcc.) the sounds of the long stressed vowels in English changed their places of articulation.
the change affects only long, stressed vowels. The “y” in Middle English “my” was affected because it has primary stress, and it is pronounced [mai]; the “y” in a word like “only” was not affected (the primary stress is on the first syllable and -ly lacks stress), so it is pronounced [li:].
i:
----→ ei-----→ æi ------→
ai
drive, fight, night,…
u:
---------- → ou ------------→
au
mouse, found,…
e:
--- → i------------------------→
i:
keep, flee, kneel, …
ε:
------------→ e: ------------→
i:
steal, clean, speak, …
a:
-- → æ: --→ ε: --→ e: --- →
ei
fate, came, sake, …
o:
--------- → u: -------------- →
u:
goose, shoot, moon, …
ɔ:
-------- → ɔ: ---------------- →
ou
so, open, stone,…
au
-----au→----- ɔ: -----------→
ɔ:
cause, draw,…
The change is not as neat as is shown: [æ:] (“open e”) did not complete the movement from [æ:] to [e:] to [i:] (contrast Modern English “break” and “beak”).
Middle English spelling innovations with the reference to the length of vowels:
OE spelling
ME spelling
examples
Changes after the Great Vowel Shift
Ō
oo [o:]
spoon, moon, do
[u:]
oa [õ:]
road, loaf, go, boat
[ou]
Ū
ou, ow [u:]
now, house, down
[au]
Ē
ee [e:]
street, sleep, see, need
[i:]
ea, ie / ei [ε:]
clean, sea, field, seize
[i:]
Ā
mute –e [a:]
make, take, name
[ei]
Ī
mute –e [i:]
time, side, slide, like
[ai]
In Early Middle English vowel length began to depend on phonetic