1- THE RISE OF A LONDON

STANDARD

2-CHANGES IN PRONUNCIATION

A-The Principal Consonantal Changes B-The middle English Vowels

C- Changes in Diphthongs D- The Lengthening & Shortening of Vowels

E-The Leveling of Unstressed Vowels F-The Loss of Schwa in Final Syllables

Inasmuch as there is writing in all dialects , it is necessary to take some account of the dialectal diversity

of Middle English . The Northern dialect corresponds roughly to OE Northumbrian. The Midland

dialects, subdivided into East Midland and West Midland , correspond roughly to OE Mercian. The

southern dialect, spoken south of the Thames, corresponds roughly to West Saxon, with Kentish a

subdivision.

The type of speech of London essentially East Midlandish in its characteristics with Northern and

southern influences , should in time have become a standard for all of England .

London had for centuries been a large (by medieval standards), prosperous, and hence important city .

Until the late fifteenth century, authors wrote in the dialect of their native regions–the authors of

Sir Gawain & The green Knight and of Piers Plowman in the West Midland dialect ; the authors of

The Owl & the Nightingale , of the Ancrene Riwle , and of the Ayenbite of Inwit in the Southern

dialect ; the author of the Bruce in the Northern dialect; and John Gower & Geoffrey Chaucer in

the East Midland dialect.

Standard Modern English - both American and British – is a development of the speech of

London.

Throughout this chapter , the focus of attention is on the London speech that is the ancestor of

standard Modern English.

The term Middle English is used here to refer to the language of the East Midland area , specifically

of London.

2 - Changes in Pronunciation

A- The Principal Consonantal Changes :Throughout the history of English the consonants have remained relatively stable.

The old English consonant sounds written b,c,d,f,h,k,l,m,n,p,r,s,t,w,x remained unchanged in Middle English.

Important spelling differences occur.

The more important changes in consonant sounds (except g) :

1-The Old English sequences hl, hn, and hr (as in hleapan ‘to leap’ hnutu ‘nut’ and hraδor ‘sooner) were

simplified to l,n and r.(as in lepen,nute rather). Hw , written wh in ME then reduced to w.

2-The OE g after l or r became w, as in halwen ‘to hallow’

3-Between a constant (s or t) and a back vowel (w) was lost , as in tō ‘two’ (OE twã)

4-in unstressed syllables , -ch was lost in late ME ,as in –ich (OE ic)

5- Before a consonant, v was lost in a few words like hed (heud from OE heafod)

6-OE prefix ge- became i- , as in iwis (OE gewiss)

7-Final inflectional n was gradually lost , as in mÿ fader (OE mīn fæder)

8-In the southern dialect, including Kentish, initial f,s and þ were voiced.

9-Many words were borrowed from Old French , beginning with v , e.g (visit).

10-Initial (θ) in words usually unstressed , e.g(this , the) was voiced to (∂).

B-The Middle English Vowels :

The old English long vowel sounds ē, ī, ō and ū remained unchanged in ME although their spelling altered .

Except for OE æ and y , the rest of the vowels underwent the following changes :

1-OE ŷ underwent unrounding to (ī) in the northern and the East Midland areas.

2-In the northern and East Midland areas OE y was unrounded to i, exactly as ŷ was unrounded to ī in the same

areas.

3-OE â remained only in the North (hâm ‘home’) , becoming (ē) , as in hame and rape in Modern Scots.

4-OE ǽ became ME (έ) .Both (ē) and (έ) were written e and ee in ME.

5-OE short æ fell together with short a and came to be written like it in Middle English : OE glæd – ME glad.

C- Changes in Diphthongs :

The diphthongal system changed radically between OE and ME. The old diphthongs disappeared and a number

of new ones (aı,eı,au,ɔu,εu,ıu,ɔı,uı) developed :

1-The OE long diphthongs ēa ēo underwent monophthongization .In ME became έ and ē .

2-In early ME , two new diphthongs ending in the offglide (ı) , (aı) and (eı)- developed from OE sources .

3-Four new diphthongs ending in the off-glide (U) or (u)-(aU),(ɔU),(εU)and (ıU)- also developed from OE sources.

4-Two ME diphthongs are of French origin, entering English language in the loanwords borrowed from the French-speaking

conquerors of England.They are ,ɔı and uı .

D-The Lengthening and Shortening of Vowels:

There were some important quantitative changes , changes in the length of vowels:

1-In late OE times originally short vowels were lengthened before mb,nd,ld,rd and r∂.This lengthen

frequently failed to maintain itself, and by the end of ME period it is to be found only in I and o

before mb , in I and u before nd , and generally before ld.

2-In short a , e and o were lengthened when they were in open syllables ,that is, in syllables in which

they were followed by a single consonant plus another vowel, e,g ba-ken ‘to bake’.3-Conversely , beginning in the OE period , originally long vowels in syllables followed by consonant sequences

were shortened.

4-Vowels in unstressed syllables were shortened .Lack of stress on the second syllable of (wisdom) accounts for

its ME shortening from the OE dom.

E- The Leveling of Unstressed Vowels :

The most significant of all developments in the language occurred with the falling

together of a ,o and u with e in unstressed syllables , all ultimately becoming (∂) .

*check the picture p.150

F- The Loss of Schwa in Final Syllables:

The leveled final e (∂) was gradually lost in the North in the course of the thirteenth century

and in the Midlands and the South somewhat later.

THE END

Designed by Khalid Alamri