Loss of consonants in some positions

1) Nasal consonants were lost before fricative consonants, the preceding vowel was nasalized and lengthened.

e.g. OHG fimf OE fīf (NE five)

2) Fricative consonants could be dropped a) between vowels and b) before plosive consonants and at the same time vowels turned into diphthongs.

1. 
   Spelling changes.
   

The letters þ,ð were replaced by the diagraph th which retained the same sounds [θ] and [ð]. The diagraphs ou, ie and ch were adopted as new ways of indicating the sounds [u:], [e:] and [ʧ].

Middle E double [duble] in Modern E double

out [u:t] out

chief [ʧe:f] chief

child [ʧi:ld] child

The letters j, k, v and q were first used as the imitation of French manuscripts.

Late ME introduced sh, ssh, sch to indicate a new sound [ς]; dg to indicate [ʤ]; the diagraph wh replaced the OE letters hw

OE hwæt ME what [hwat] ME what

Long sounds were shown by double letters:

ME book [bo:k] ME book

The letter y came to be as an equivalent for i

ME nyne [‘ni:ne] nine

very [‘very] very

my [mi:] my

The sound system of the English language has undergone changes which affected the pronunciation of words , word accentuation, the system of vowel and consonant.

(We know that in OE stress usually fell on the 1^st syllable of the word, rarely on its second syllable: the prefix or the root were stressed while the suffixes and endings were unstressed.) In ME we find a variety of differently stressed words. It is caused by the borrowings as when they first entered the English language they retained their original stress. Shifts in stress can be accounted by the “recessive” and “rhythmic” tendencies. Sometimes the shifting of the word stress should be attributed not only to the phonetic tendencies but also to certain morphological factors. Word stress performs a phonological function as it distinguishes a verb from a noun.

A variety of changes affected vowels in stressed and unstressed syllables:

1) In Early ME the pronunciation of unstressed syllables became indistinct. In OE there were 5 short vowels in unstressed position: [e], [i], [a], [o], [u]. Late ME had only 2 vowels [ə] [i]

OE rison ME risen [‘risen] NE rose (Past)

talu tale [‘ta:le] tale

bodiʒ body [‘bo:di] body

2) This final [ə] disappeared in Late ME though it continued to be spelt as –e.

The stressed vowels changed in quality and quantity under the influence of the environment alone and together with the surrounding sounds.

If short [i] and [o] became long, they developed into diphthongs:

OE hopen ME hōpen to hope

blind blīnd blind