Consonants have always had more stability in their functioning than vowels, and as such underwent fewer changes, however there are some peculiarities in every period.
1. The system of consonants in OE period consisted of 14 phonemes of the following types: plosives, fricatives and sonorants; there were no sibilants or affricates in it which can be found now. According to the place of articulation there were alveolar, dental, labial, and velar consonants. The OE consonants could be voiced and voiceless because of their position, there were long and short consonants, and some consonants had palatalized equivalents. If the short plosives and sonorants were the same that we can observe now, the fricatives changed; some of them disappeared while some new fricatives developed.
Another peculiar feature is that voiced and voiceless fricatives were not separate phonemes, but rather positional allophones: voiced and voiceless fricatives were not used in the same phonetic position. The process of their differentiation into different phonemes was completed in NE.
2. Palatalization of velar consonants led to their splitting, along with the further development of palatalized variants into fricatives and affricates. The process of the development of affricates and fricatives is not complete, and more words have plosive sounds replaced by fricatives or affricates – it is an assimilative change as it happens under the influence of the succeeding [j].
3. The loss of consonants occurred through all periods of English development. Some consonants were lost as a result of the process of vocalization. In other cases, consonants were dropped, often causing lengthening of the preceding vowel. In ME and NE periods, the consonants were lost in pronunciation while remained in spelling.
Old English Consonant System
Plosives |
Short voiceless Short voiced Long voiceless Long voiced |
p t k b d g p: t: k: b: d: g: |
Palatalized: k’ sk’ k’: g’: |
Fricatives |
Short Long |
f – v, Ө – ð, s – z, x – x’, γ – γ’ f: Ө: s: x: |
Palatalized x’: |
Sonorants |
Short Long |
r l m n w j l: m: n: |
|
CHANGES OF CONSONANTS IN OLD ENGLISH
Hardening
In OE, PG voiced fricatives were hardened to corresponding plosives, while voiceless fricatives developed new voiceless allophones. Thus according to Verner`s Law the PG voiced [ð] was hardened to [d]; [v]and [γ] were hardened to [b] and [g], respectively, in the initial position and after nasal consonants, but otherwise remained fricatives.
PG |
OE |
Gt |
OE |
NE |
ð |
d |
blōð |
blōd |
blood |
v |
b |
broÞar |
bгōÞor |
brother |
γ |
g |
guma |
ʒuma |
man |
Voicing/ Devoicing of Consonants
Voiceless fricatives were not involved in the process of hardening. After they lost their voiced equivalents because of the hardening process, voiceless fricatives underwent the process of voicing and devoicing. In OE, fricatives were voiced between vowels and sonorants or voiced consonants; otherwise they were voiceless initially, finally and next to a voiceless consonant.
This strict distribution of voiced and voiceless fricatives is the proof that they were not separate phonemes yet, but rather allophones.
PG |
OE |
Gt. |
OE |
NE |
v |
v f |
sibun [v] hlaifs |
seofon hlāfas |
seven loaves |
f |
v f |
wulfos wulfs |
wulfas wulf |
wolves wolf |
Ө |
ð Ө |
siuÞan sauÞ |
seoÞan sēaÞan |
seethe seethed |
γ
|
γ x |
dagos baurgs |
daʒas buruh |
days borough |
s |
z s |
kiusan kaus |
cēosan cēas |
chosen chose |
Rhotacism
Rhotacism is a development of the consonant [z]. The PG [z] underwent a phonetic modification through the stage of [z ] into [r], becoming a sonorant and merging with the older IE [r]. This change took place both in West and North Germanic dialects.
PG ( Gt) |
OE |
NE |
z |
r |
|
maiza auso |
māra eare |
more ear |
Gemination
Gemination is a peculiar Germanic phenomenon. Long consonants in OE were the result of the doubling of consonants that took place in West Germanic languages earlier. The consonant was lengthened after a short vowel before [j]. The resulting long consonants are indicated by means of double letters. Either during that process or later the sound [j] was lost. When the long and short consonants began to occur in identical phonetic conditions (between vowels, their distinction became phonemic. This change didn’t take place if the consonant was preceded by a long vowel, nor did it influence the consonant [r].
Gt. |
OE |
NE |
satjan skapjan saljan |
settan scyppan sellan |
set shapen sell |
Palatalization and Splitting of Velar Consonants in OE
Palatalization influenced velar consonants which split into two sets. [k],[ g], [x], and [γ] were palatalized before a front vowel and sometimes after a front vowel, unless they were followed by a back vowel. In the absence of this phonetic condition, the consonants remained unchanged. This difference was not shown in the spelling of the OE period; over the course of time the phonetic difference between them grew and so palatalized consonants developed into sibilants and affricates. In ME they were indicated by special diagraphs.
Phonetic condition |
Change |
Examples |
NE |
Before and after front vowels |
k>k’ |
cinn, birce |
chin, birch |
g>g’ |
sengan |
sing |
|
g: > g’: |
есʒ, brycʒ |
edge, bridge |
|
x > x’ |
neaht, niht |
night |
|
γ > j |
dæʒ , ʒeard |
day, yard |
|
In other positions |
k |
can |
can |
g |
ʒān, ʒrētan |
go, greet |
|
x, h |
hors, hlaf |
horse, loaf |
|
γ |
daʒas |
days |
Loss of Consonants in OE
The following consonants were lost in OE:
1) nasal sonorants were lost before fricatives, and in the process the preceding vowel was nasalized or lengthened;
2) fricative consonants were dropped between vowels and before some plosives; the vowel either lengthened or the two vowels formed a diphthong;
3) semi-vowels and consonants were lost in unstressed final syllables – [j] was dropped in suffixes after the palatal mutation of root vowels, and [w] was lost in some case forms of nouns in the position between vowels.
Phonetic condition |
Consonants lost |
EXAMPLES |
||
Gt |
OE |
NE |
||
Before fricatives |
nasal sonorants |
fimf uns |
fīf ūs |
five us |
Between vowels |
fricatives x, h |
saihwan |
sēon |
see |
Unstressed final |
semi-consonant j |
fulljan |
fyllan |
fill |
Position between vowels |
semi-consonant w |
triwa sǣwe |
treo (Nom.) sǣ |
tree sea |
Summary of the Linguistic Features of the Old English Language:
Phonetics: Phonetically OE was close to other Germanic languages.
Morphological character: OE was a synthetic language with a well-developed system of morphological categories.
Vocabulary: The vocabulary of OE included common Indo-European words, common Germanic words, specific English words and some borrowings from Latin and Celtic. By the end of the OE period, Scandinavian words began to enter the Northern dialects.
Consonants changes
1. Voicing of fricative sounds (h, f, s, þ) appears, if a fricative is surrounded by vowels:
wīf (a wife; unvoiced) – wīfes (wives; voiced).
2. Palatalization (pronouncing the sound with the blade of the tongue touching the palate) appears only in Late Old English, but significantly changes the pronunciation making it closer to today's English:
cild [kild] > [child].
3. Loss of some consonants, for example, n was lost before h, f, s, p; the preceding vowel became lengthened.
Nearly all OE phonetic changes – fracture, mutation, palatalization – appear to be due to one common principle, that is of assimilation.
In general, Old English phonetics suffered great changes during the whole period from the 5th to the 11th century. Anglo-Saxons did not live in isolation from the world – they contacted with Germanic tribes in France, with Vikings from Scandinavia, with Celtic tribes in Britain, and all these contacts could not but influence the language's pronunciation somehow. Besides, the internal development of the English language after languages of Angles, Saxons and Jutes were unified, was rather fast, and sometimes it took only half a century to change some form of the language or replace it with another one. That is why we cannot regard the Old English language as the state: it was the constant movement.
Treatment of fricatives. Hardening. Rhotacism. Voicing and Devoicing.
After the changes under Grimm’s Law and Verner’s Law had PG had the following two sets of fricative consonants: voiceless [f, Ө, x, s] and voiced [v, ð, γ, z]. In WG and in Early OE the difference between two groups was supported by new features. PG voiced fricatives tended to be hardened to corresponding plosives while voiceless fricatives, being contrasted to them primarily as fricatives to plosives, developed new voiced allophones. The PG voiced [ð] (due to Verner’s Law) was always hardened to [d] in OE and other WG languages, e.g. Icel, gōðr and OE зōd. The two other fricatives, [v] and [γ] were hardened to [b] and [g] initially and after nasals, otherwise they remained fricatives. PG [z] underwent a phonetic modification through the stage of [з] into [r] and thus became a sonorant, which ultimately merged with the older IE [r]. This process is termed rhotacism. In the meantime or somewhat later the PG set of voiceless fricatives [f, Ө, x, s] and also those of the voiced fricaties which had not turned into plosives, that is, [v] and [γ], were subjected to a new process of voicing and devoicing. In Early OE they became or remained voiced intervocally and between vowels, sonorants and voiced consonants; they remained or became voiceless in other environments, namely, initially, finally and next to other voiceless consonants. In all WG languages, at an early stage of their independent history, most consonants were lengthened after a short vowel before [l]. This process is known as “geminantion” or “doubling” of consonants, e.g. fuljan > fyllan (NE fill). The change did not affect the sonorant [r], e.g OE werian (NE wear); nor did it operate if the consonant was preceded by a long vowel, e.g. OE dēman, mētan (NE deem, meet).
Velar consonants in Early Old English. Growth of New Phonemes
The velar consonants [k, g, x, γ] were palatalized before a front vowel, and sometimes also after a front vowel, unless followed by a back vowel. Thus in OE cild (NE child) the velar consonant [k] was softened to [k’] as it stood before the front vowel [i] – [kild] > [k’ild]; similarly [k] became [k’] in OE sprǽc (NE speech) after a front vowel but not in OE sprecan (NE speak).
Loss of consonants in some positions
Nasal sonorants were regularly lost before fricative consonants; in the process the preceding vowel was proably nasalized and lengthened, e.g. OHG fimf – OE fīf (NE five). It should be also mentioned the loss of consonants in unstressed final syllables. [j] was regularly dropped in suffixes after producing various changes in the root.
Oe phonetics: consonants (voicing of fricatives, rhotasism, palatilizatin, metathesis, loss of consonants in certain position).
Treatment of fricatives. Hardening. Rhotacism. Voicing and Devoicing.
After the changes under Grimm’s Law and Verner’s Law had PG had the following two sets of fricative consonants: voiceless [f, Ө, x, s] and voiced [v, ð, γ, z]. In WG and in Early OE the difference between two groups was supported by new features. PG voiced fricatives tended to be hardened to corresponding plosives while voiceless fricatives, being contrasted to them primarily as fricatives to plosives, developed new voiced allophones. The PG voiced [ð] (due to Verner’s Law) was always hardened to [d] in OE and other WG languages, e.g. Icel, gōðr and OE зōd. The two other fricatives, [v] and [γ] were hardened to [b] and [g] initially and after nasals, otherwise they remained fricatives. PG [z] underwent a phonetic modification through the stage of [з] into [r] and thus became a sonorant, which ultimately merged with the older IE [r]. This process is termed rhotacism. In the meantime or somewhat later the PG set of voiceless fricatives [f, Ө, x, s] and also those of the voiced fricaties which had not turned into plosives, that is, [v] and [γ], were subjected to a new process of voicing and devoicing. In Early OE they became or remained voiced intervocally and between vowels, sonorants and voiced consonants; they remained or became voiceless in other environments, namely, initially, finally and next to other voiceless consonants. In all WG languages, at an early stage of their independent history, most consonants were lengthened after a short vowel before [l]. This process is known as “geminantion” or “doubling” of consonants, e.g. fuljan > fyllan (NE fill). The change did not affect the sonorant [r], e.g OE werian (NE wear); nor did it operate if the consonant was preceded by a long vowel, e.g. OE dēman, mētan (NE deem, meet).
Velar consonants in Early Old English. Growth of New Phonemes
The velar consonants [k, g, x, γ] were palatalized before a front vowel, and sometimes also after a front vowel, unless followed by a back vowel. Thus in OE cild (NE child) the velar consonant [k] was softened to [k’] as it stood before the front vowel [i] – [kild] > [k’ild]; similarly [k] became [k’] in OE sprǽc (NE speech) after a front vowel but not in OE sprecan (NE speak).
Loss of consonants in some positions
Nasal sonorants were regularly lost before fricative consonants; in the process the preceding vowel was proably nasalized and lengthened, e.g. OHG fimf – OE fīf (NE five). It should be also mentioned the loss of consonants in unstressed final syllables. [j] was regularly dropped in suffixes after producing various changes in the root.