2. OE S tres s In OE a s yl l a bl e wa s ma d e p romi n e n t b y a n i n c re a se i n th e fo rc e o f
a r ti c u l a ti on ; i n o th e r word s , a d yn a mi c or a forc e s tre ss wa s e mp l o ye d . In d i s yl l a b i c a n d
p ol ys yl l a bi c wo rd s th e a c c e n t fe l l on th e roo t - mo rp h e me or on th e fi rs t s yl l a b l e . Wor d
s tr es s wa s fi xe d; i t r ema ine d o n the s a me s yl l a b le i n d i f fer en t gr a m ma tic a l for ms o f
th e wo r d a nd , a s a r ule , d i d n o t s hi f t i n wo r d -b u i ld in g e i ther . P ol ys yl l a b ic wo r ds ,
es pec ia l l y c om pou nds , ma y h a ve h a d two s tr ess es , c h ief a n d s econda r y, th e c h ie f
s tr es s be i ng f i xe d o n the f ir s t r o o t -mor p heme, a nd th e s econ da r y s tr es s o n the
s econ d com pone n t. In wo r ds wi th p r e fi xes the p os i ti on o f the s tr es s va r ie d: ver b
pr e f i xes wer e u na ccen ted , wh i l e in no uns a n d a d jec ti ves th e s tr es s wa s c om mon l y
th r o wn o n to th e pr e f i x. If th e wor ds wer e der i ve d f r om th e s a me r oo t, wo r d s tr es s ,
to ge th er wi th o th er mea ns , s er ved to d is tin gu is h the no un fr om the ve r b
3. Vowel Changes Changes : qualitative (o-a), quantitative (i-i:). Dependent – a sound could
change under the influence of the near standing sounds or a sertain type of syllables.
Independen t – they affected sounds in all positions. Long vowels tend to become closer. Short
vowels chanced into more open. (nochd –nahts – nacht; Mater – modor –mother). Independent.
ablaut. a-i, o-a, Ø- Ø. Qualitative ablaut –e-o (нести-ноша). Quantitative ablaut - e – Ø (берубрал). Dependent changes. Mutation . e-i, u-o. (ego-ic, hurnan-horn).
The PG short [a]
and the long [a:] underwent similar alterations in Early OE: they were fronted and, in the process
of fronting, they split into several sounds. The principal regular direction of the change - [a]> [ae:]
and [a:]> [ae] - is often referred to as the fronting or palatalisation of [a, a: ]. The other directions
can be interpreted as positional deviations or restrictions to this trend: short [a] could change to [o]
or nasal [a] and long [a:] became [o:] before a nasal; the preservation of the short [a] was caused
by a back vowel in the next syllables (sometimes [a] occurs in other positions as well, e.g. OE macian,
land, NE make, land).
4.Development of Diphthongs The P C diphthongs [ ei, a i, iu, eu, a u] - under went r egular
independent cha nges in Ear ly OE. The diphthongs wi th the i -glide were monophthongised
into[i:] and [a :]; the diphthongs in -u wer e reflected as lon g diphthongs [io:], [eo: ] and
[ea:]. A+i=a: s tains-s tan, e+i=i: reisan -risan, a+u=ea: auso -eare, e+u=eo:kiusan-ceosan,
i+u=io: diups-deop.
5. Old English Consonant s ys tem. The s ys tem c ons is ted of s evera l correla ted sets of
c onsona nts. All the c onsona nts f ell into noise c ons ona nts a nd s onorants. The noise con sonants were s ubdivided into plos ives a nd frica ti ves ; plos ives were fur ther differentia ted
as voiced and voic eless . The fr ica ti ve c onsona nts wer e a lso s ubdivided into voic ed a nd
voic eless; in this set, howe ver , s onor ity wa s merely a phonetic difference between
a llophones . The mos t universa l dis tinc ti ve fea ture in the consonant s ys tem was the
difference in length. Dur ing the entir e OE per iod long con sona nts are believed to ha ve
been opposed to s hor t on es on a phonemic level; the y wer e mos tly dis tinguis hed in
inter voca l pos ition. S ingle a nd gemina ted (long) c onsona nts are found in identica l
phonetic conditions. In fina l position the qua ntita ti ve oppos ition was irr eleva nt a nd the
second letter , whic h wo uld indica te length, wa s often lac king, e, g. OE man a nd eal are
identica l to mann, eall.
2. P G ha d th e fo l lo wi n g two s e ts o f fr ic a ti ve c o ns ona n ts : vo ic e les s [ f , 0, x, s ] a nd
vo i c e d [ v, ð , y, z] . In E a r l y O E th e d i f fer enc e be twe en th e two g r o ups wa s s u ppo r ted b y
ne w f e a tur es . P G vo iced fr ica tives te nde d to be hardene d to c orres po nd in g p los ives
wh ile vo ice les s frica tive s , being c on tras ted to th e m pr imar ily as fr ica tives to
p los ives , de ve lope d ne w vo iced a llo p ho nes . Harde ning. ð -d , v- b , y- g . vo ic ing /de vo ici ng.
v- v/f, f - v/f, O - ð /O , y- y/ x, s - z/s . ro tac is m. z- r . 3. Loss of Consonants in Some
Pos itions. Nasal s onorants were regular ly los t before fr ica ti ve c onsona nts ; in the process
the preceding vo wel was pr oba bly nasa lised a nd length ened. Fr ica ti ve c onsona nts c ould
be dropped between vowels and before some plos ive consonants; these losses were
acc ompanied by a c ompensa tor y lengthening of the preceding vo wel or the fus ion of the
pr eceding a nd s ucceeding vo wel into a diphthong . We s hould als o men tion the loss of semivo wels and c onsona nts in uns tressed fina l s yllables. [j] was regular ly dr opped in suffix es
a fter produc ing va r ious c hanges in the r oot: pa la ta l muta tion of vo w els , lengthening of
c onsona nts a fter shor t vowels. The loss of [w] i s seen in some case f orms of nouns . 4.
Ge mina tion o f Co ns onan ts . In a l l WG l a n g u ag es mos t c o ns ona n ts we r e leng th ene d a f ter a
s hor t vo we l be f or e [ j ]. Th i s pr oc es s is kn o wn a s WG "ge mi na ti on " or "dou b li ng " o f
c o ns ona n ts , as th e re s u l ti n g l o n g c o ns o na n ts a re i n d ic a te d b y me a n s o f d o u b l e l e tte rs .
D ur i ng th e pr oc ess , or s ome ti me la ter , [ j ] wa s l os t, s o tha t th e l o ng c ons ona n ts
c ea s ed to be p ho ne tic a l l y c on di ti o ned . Wh en th e lo ng a nd s hor t c ons ona n ts bega n to
oc c ur i n ide n tic a l ph one tic c on d i ti ons , na me l y be twe e n vo we ls , th e ir d is tinc ti o n
bec a me p hone mic . Th e c ha nge di d no t a f fec t th e s on or a n t [r ] n or d id i t o per a te i f th e
c o ns ona n t wa s pr ec e ded b y a l on g vo we l .