Middle English pages 140 - 151

Dr. Mubarak Alkhatnai

The rise of a London standard

The dialectal diversity of Middle English.

Different dialects in different parts of Britain.

London dialect being the standard for all of England.

London as a big city and its impact.

Standard Modern English (American and Britain) is a

development of the speech of London.

London speech is the ancestor of standard Modern English.

Changes in Pronunciation

The principle Consonantal Changes:

Consonants have remained relatively stable throughout the history of

English.

b, c [K, Č], d, f [f, v], Ō [g, y], h [h, x], k, l, m, n, p, r, s, t, p, ð, w, x, all

remained unchanged.

However, the following changes may be summarized as:

1- hl, hn, hr, were simplified to l, n, r e.g. hleapen > leap

2- g after l or r became w. halgian > halwen “to hallow”

3- w was lost if between a consonant particularly s and t.

OE twa > Middle E. To “two”

7- final inflectional n was gradually lost in pronouns. OE Min fæder > Middle

E. my fader > my father

9- Many words were borrowed from French and Latin. Words that begin with

z or v

10- Initial θ in unstressed words changed to voiced ð such as this, the

11- with the loss of final –e sounds like v, z, ð came to occur in final position

e.g. give, lose, bathe

The Middle English Vowels

OE long vowels didn’t change in Middle E. ē, ī, ō, ū but their

spelling changed. Fēt=feet, fōde = food

OE y underwent unrounding to ī. OE hyden > ME hiden > to hide

Ā remained unchanged. OE hām > ME Hame > home

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 smoothening to eeOE lēaf > ME leef > Leaf

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

sources .

3-Four new diphthongs ending in (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 .