Transcript OE writing. its phonetic system. Main phonetic changes in OE.

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Who were the first Indo-European inhabitants
of the British Isles?
When did the Romans come to the British Isles
and for how long did they stay there?
What territory of the British Isles was not
conquered by the Romans?
What does the Hadrian’s Wall mark?
Why did the Romanized Celts ask the West
Germanic tribes for help, after the Romans left
the British Isles?
When did Germanic tribes start settling in the
British Isles? Which Germanic tribes?
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
List the kingdoms that were established by the
Germanic tribes in the British Isles.
What are the two historical events that
influenced the development of Old English?
Which dialect is usually taken as a standard of
OE?
What are the two kinds of letters (alphabets)
used by the OE scribes?
Which Modern English letter combination is
represented by the OE letter ‘þ’?
What three variants of pronunciation did the
OE letter ‘ӡ’ have?


the reign of Alfred (871 —900)
West Saxon



æ – ash (æsc), which represents the
vowel in Modern English 'hat' ;
þ – thorn, which represents Modern
English 'th' ;
ð – eth (or ðæt), which also
represents Modern English 'th'.
Capital ð is written Ð;

œ – the combination of o and e;
Ʒ=g (yogh), that could be
pronounced in 3 different ways
ƿ = w (wynn)

E.g.: ƿest, NORĐAN HYMBRA,




a phonetic principle
a macron – a line over the top.
Short vowels:
i, e, u, o, a, æ, y;
Long vowels:
ī, ē, ū, ō, ā, æ:, ŷ
Short diphthongs:
ea, eo, ie, io,
Long diphthongs:





Labials: p, b, f, v
Dentals: d, t, s, þ (English [th] in thin), ð
English [th] in this)
Velars: c [k], h, g/Ʒ,
Liquids: r, l
Nasals: n, m



1. As English [g] gōd .
2. As Greek 'gamma' [ɣ] dagas, folgian.
3. As English [j] in yellow: Ʒiefan (to give), dæƷ .
1) before or after a front vowel it gave sound
[j], [], [г’] – dæƷ
2) after r, l, or between back vowels – [] –
folƷian, maƷan, daƷum
3) At the beginning of the word before back
vowels and consonants, and after n – [g] –
sinƷan, Ʒōd, Ʒrēn.
1.



Mutation/umlaut
Gothic sandjan – OE sendan
Gothic hailjan – OE hæ:lan
Gothic *mūsiz– OE mӯs




fronting and raising of vowels through the
influence of [i] or [j] in the immediately
following syllable
the sounds [i] or [j] were common in suffixes
and endings, so palatal mutation was
widespread.
all vowels, except ē, ī, æ:, were affected by imutation.
due to this law there appeared a new vowel [y]
and a new diphthong [ie] in OE.
Before
After
a
e
a:
æ:
o, o:,
e, e:
u,u:
y,y;
ea:, ea
ie:, ie ( >y:, y)
eo:, eo
ie:, ie ( >y:, y)




Goth. Kalds – OE ceald
Goth. ahtau – OE eahta
Goth. melkan – OE meolcan
Goth. leihts – OE lēoht
Early OE OE
Position
Other
OG
languag
es
OE (West
Saxon)
*æ
ea
before r, l, h + a cons.
or h at the end
æld
eald
*e
eo
before r, l, h + a cons.
or h at the end
herza
heorte
Early
OE
OE
Position
Other
OE
Germanic
languages
*æ
ea
sc [sk’]-, c [k’]-, L. castra
g [γ’]-
*æ:
ea:
sc [sk’]-, c [k’]-, OHG. jar gea:r
g [γ’]year
*e
ie
sc [sk’]-, c [k’]-, L. cerasus cieres
g [γ’]cherries
ceaster
chester


e > eo
hevfon > heofon
Voicing
Fricative sounds f, s, þ (ð) were
voiced when between vowels
and voiced consonants:
 risan, hlafas, paþas, wyrþe
1.
In other positions, including the
beginningand end of words, they
remained voiceless:
sittan, hlaf, pæþ, oft
The prefix ӡe- does not cause
voicing:
findan and its past
participle ӡe-funden both have sound
[f].
Velar consonants were palatalized before/after a
front vowel (e, i) and remained velar before
back vowels (a, o, u,)
 Cild [k’] >[t] scip [sk’]
ecg [g’]
 Can, gan, dagas