Phonological Changes in
English History
Dr. Muhammad Shahbaz
Language change

Sound change




Phonetic
Phonological
Morphological change
Lexical/semantic change
Sound change

A change in pronunciation over time

Unconditioned: all instances of a sound change
regardless of environment
OldE
lik [li:k]
hus [hu˘s]

>
>
ModE
like [laIk]
house [haUs]
Conditioned: a sound changes only in certain
environments
OldE
kinn [kin]
(ku [ku:]
>
>
ModE
chin [tSIn]
cow [kaU])
Sound change

Phonetic change: change in allophones of a
phoneme (does not affect phonemic inventory)
OldE /p, t, k/  [p, t, k]
kepte [kept´ ]
ModE /p, t, k/  [p, ph, t, th, k, kh] kept [khEpt]

Phonological (phonemic) change: change in
phoneme inventory (addition or loss of phonemes)
OldE /f/  [f]
MidE /f/  [f, v]
ModE /f/  [f]
/v/  [v]
wulf [wUlf], wulfas [wUlfas]
wulf [wUlf], wulvas [wUlvas]
safe [seIf]
save [seIv]
Great Vowel Shift



15th century
Unconditioned sound change between
MidE and ModE
Responsible for many of the spelling
peculiarities of English
Great Vowel Shift (in brief)

Long vowels undergo shift
MidE
ModE
bathed
bathed
[ba˘D´d] / [beDd]
ae
sweete
sweet
[swe˘t´] / [swit]
ei
roote
root
[ro˘t´] / [rut]
shires
shires
[Si˘r´s] / [SaIrz]
i  aI
[Su˘r´s] / [SaUrz]
u  aU
shoures showers
ou
Great Vowel Shift
Long vowels
I˘
u˘
e˘
o˘
aI
aU
a˘
Phonetic realizations of M.E. u: words in the Survey of English Dialects
The i:2 class
(i:2): M.E. short i followed by a velar consonant and /t/ in right,
night, fight, sight, etc. In the history of the best known dialects, the
velar was first realized as a voiceless palatal and then
disappeared, with compensatory lengthening of the vowel.
The i:3 class
(i:3): long e: followed by g in Old English in lie, fly, die, and long
ɛ: in eye, etc. The /g/ has been lenited in all the dialects covered
by the Orton Atlas, but the raising of the vowel to i: did not
occur in all dialects.
the unconscious
Adult change in real time?
Were anyone able to compare the movements which his organs made
in the utterance of a word many years before with those which he
makes at present, he would most likely find a striking difference. But to
make any such real comparison would be an impossibility.
PHL 48
Real time changes in the lenition of (ch) in Panama City in
Cedergren’s trend study, 1969-1982
mysteries
The individual and the community
all purely psychical reciprocal operation comes to its fulfillment in the
individual mind alone. PHL xxxvii
All that we imagine that we know about the ideas of another
individual depends exclusively upon conclusions drawn from our
own. PHL xxxix
The great resemblance of all linguistic processes n the most different
individuals is the most essential foundation for an exact scientific
knowledge of these processes.
PHL xlv
Auer and Hinskens (2005) conclusion
. . .we certainly cannot exclude the possibility that participants in the
interaction accommodate to each other’s behavior
nor can we exclude the possibility that the frequency of exposure to a
new, spreading feature through intensive network contacts with its
users can lead to the adoption of this variable.
On the negative effects of sound change
Thus the symmetry of any system of forms meets in sound change an incessant
and aggressive foe. It is hard to realize how disconnected, confused, and
unintelligible language would gradually become if it had patiently to endure all the
devastations of sound change.
Paul 1891
Natural misunderstanding: cat => cod
Neither my boyfriend Dave nor I are natives to Michigan, and we are not NCS
speakers. Dave had the following misunderstanding happen three times in the
Lansing area, at two different grocery stores, with two different workers: he
asked for 'catfish' and the man behind the counter gave him cod, thinking he said
'codfish.’
Natural misunderstanding: pets => pots
Telephone surveyor [Chicago]: Do you have any pets in the house?
Brian T. [Eastern US] => pots. [thought that 'pot' was not likely since
everyone has pots and pot = marijuana was too personal; asked for
repetition several times until understood.]