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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
to form a rising diphthong. This rising diphthong later turned into 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 ʒeldan > ʒieldan
(yield; close in the meaning to the verb „pay‟)
æ > ea scæl > sceal
(shall)
a > ea scacan > sceacan
(shake)
o > eo scort > sceort
(short)
æ > ea ʒæfon > ʒēafon
(gave, Pl.)
3) Mutation (Umlaut)
Mutation or umlaut is a change of a vowel caused by a partial assimilation to the
following vowel.
The most important type of mutation was that caused by an
i
(or
j
) of the
following syllable. Mutation brought about a complete change in vowel quality: one
phoneme was replaced by another.
In OE i-mutation affected almost all vowels. Simple vowels and diphthongs that
underwent
i -umlaut
in OE, include:
a, æ, ā, o, ō, u, ū; ea, ēa, eo, ēo
.
The mechanism of mutation is rather simple. 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 starts to articulate the
Достарыңызбен бөлісу: 
