Конспект лекций по дисциплине «История языка (англ.)» для студентов специальности «Иностранная филология»

Monophthongs Diphthongs

Short i e a o u ei ai oi au

Long i: e: ε: a: o: u: au: ou:

In general English consonants were more stable than vowels and a large number of consonants remained unchanged through all historical periods.

The most important developments in the history were the growth of affricates and sibilants and the new phonological treatment of fricatives. In OE there were no affricates and sibilants except s, z.

1) Three phonemes [ʧ], [ʤ],and [ς] began to be indicated in Early ME by special letters under the influence of the French language: ch, tch, g, dg, sh, ssh, sch.

OE palatal c developed into affricate [ʧ] at the beginning of the word before front vowels:

OE cild →chīld cycen→ kichen (kitchen)

hwilc→ which cirice→chirche (church)

ælc→ēch (each)

tæcan →tēchen (teach)

OE sc changed into [ς]

scip → ship

sceal → shal (must, shall)

scīnan → shīnen (shine)

OE cʒ developed into affricate [ʤ]

brycʒ →bridge bycʒan→biggen (buy)

secʒan → seggen (say)

The appearance of sibilants and affricates in the English language is connected with the assimilation of lexical borrowings. The stress was moved to the beginning of the word and the final syllables became unstressed. So the vowels were reduced and the sounds making up the syllable became less distinct. As the result some sequences of consonants fused into single consonants.

In OE fricative consonants [f], [v], [θ], [ð], [s], [z] were treated as allophones. In Early ME these allophones became independent phonemes. They were pronounced as voiced under certain phonetic conditions.

Another important event was the loss of quantitative distinctions in the consonant system.

In OE long consonants were opposed to short. In ME the length of the syllable was regulated by the lengthening and shortening of vowels.

A number of consonants disappeared: they were vocalized and gave rise to diphthongs glides.

In Early NE the initial h was lost before vowels- though not in all words.

ME honour [ho’nu:r]- NE honour but → ME hit NE it