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UNIT 3. THE OLD ENGLISH PHONETIC SYSTEM
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| UNIT 3. THE OLD ENGLISH PHONETIC SYSTEM
§ 1. Vowels The system of OE vowels consisted of 7 short single phonemes and 4 diphthongs. Short vowels: i, e, æ (called a ligature), a, o, u, y (pronounced [ü]). Long vowels: ā, æ, ē, ī, ō, ū, ỹ . Short diphthongs: ea, eo, ie, io. Long diphthongs: ēa, ēo, īe, īo (that is in most cases a variant of ēo ). The Old English diphthongs are generally falling, that means that the stress decreases to the end and falls mostly on the first element of the diphthong. In the course of the language evolution in OE period the vowel system underwent numerous changes; as the result, there appeared new phonemes and their variants. The most important processes that influenced the vocalic system are given below. 1) OE Fracture or Breaking ( преломление гласных ). Old English fracture is diphthongization of Early OE short vowels a( æ) and e before certain consonant clusters. Thus a before the cluster « r + consonant», « l + consonant», « h + consonant», and before h-final turns into the diphthong ea : e.g. Gothic kalds > OE ceald (cold); O.Icel . armr > OE earm (arm); OHG nah > OE neah (near); etc. The short e turns into eo before the clusters « r + consonant», « lc , lh , h + consonant» and h-final : e.g. OHG erda > OE eorþe (earth); selh .> seolh (seal). 13 The phonetic essence of fracture is that the front vowel is partially assimilated to the following hard consonant by forming a glide, which combines with the vowel to form a diphthong. Fracture is most consistently carried out in the West Saxon dialect. In other dialects, such as Mercian, fracture in many cases does not occur; then the vowel æ becomes a, and the resulting forms are arm, kald, etc. 2) Palatalization. In Old English a glide was developed between initial palatal ʒ [j], c [k‘] and the cluster sc [sk‘] and the following palatal vowel. This glide, combined with the vowel, formed a rising diphthong, which later became a falling diphthong through the shifting of stress from the second to the first element of the diphthong. C and ʒ influenced only the front vowels, while sc influenced both front and back vowels. e > ie ʒ eldan > ʒ ieldan (pay) æ > ea sc æ l > sceal (shall) a > ea scacan > sceacan (shake) o > eo scort > sceort (short) æ > ēa ʒ æ fon > ʒ ēafon (gave (pl.)) 3) Mutation (Umlaut) Mutation or umlaut is a change of vowel caused by partial assimilation to the following vowel. The most important type of mutation is that caused by an i (or j) of the following syllable. Mutation brings about a complete change in vowel quality: one phoneme is replaced by another. In OE i-mutation affects practically all vowels. The simple vowels and diphthongs, which underwent i -umlaut in OE, are: a, æ, ā, o, ō, u, ū; ea, ēa, eo, ēo . The mechanism of mutation is clear enough. If we take, for example, the change fullian > fyllan ‗ to fill‘, the essence of the process is this. The vowel u is articulated by raising the back of the tongue and simultaneously rounding the lips; the sound i (j) requires raising the front of the tongue. When the speaker begins to articulate the u, he/she at the same time anticipates the articulation needed for i, and raises the front of the tongue instead of its back. The lip-rounding , meanwhile, is preserved. The result is the vowel y. Similar explanations can be given of the other cases of mutation. E.g. a > e sandian > sendan (to send) æ > e t æ lian > tellan (to tell) ô > ê w ô pian > w ê pan (to weep) ea > ie earmi þ u > ierm þ u (poverty) Besides i-mutation there were also other types of mutation: back, or velar mutation (caused by a back vowel ‗ u‘, ‗ a‘, ‗ o‘ of the following syllable) and mutation before ‗ h‘ 4) Contraction. It is the fusion of two vowels into one in cases when the consonant between them had disappeared. ah + vowel > eah + vowel > ēa: slahan > sleahan > slēan (slay); 14 eh + vowel , ih + vowel > ēo: sehan > seohan > sēon (see); h + vowel > ō: fohan > fōn (catch). жүктеу/скачать 0,78 Mb. Достарыңызбен бөлісу:
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