19
The OE consonant system consisted of the following sounds: labial –
p, b, m, f, v
(in OE there was no letter „v‟, the sound was denoted by the letter „f‟
in specific
environments)
;
dental –
t, d, þ, ð, n, s, r, l;
velar –
c, ʒ, h
.
The group
cs
was used
instead of modern letter
x
.
Some consonant letters denoted different sounds in different positions (
ʒ =
[g]
or [γ] or [j]). Instead of doubled
ʒ
,
cʒ
was used as in
secʒan.
The symbol
ð
„eth‟, also
written
þ,
was equivalent to MnE
th
.
Unlike vowels, English consonants were more stable in the course of the
language development. However, there were certain changes affecting consonants as
well.
Metathesis
, or interchange of position between two sounds in a word. When one
of the sounds undergoing metathesis is a vowel, the consonant is usually
r
:
rinnan
>
irnan
(run),
gærs
>
græs
(grass).
Another consonant change was
Достарыңызбен бөлісу: 
