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Practical Task 7

The document discusses several phonological changes that occurred from Old English to Middle English and Modern English. Specifically, it addresses: 1) How short vowels developed into diphthongs over time (e.g. OE talu > ME tale). 2) Reasons for vowel changes in certain words containing specific letters (e.g. keep/kept, wise/wisdom). 3) Palatalization of velar consonants and lengthening of short vowels before clusters, explaining changes like OE cild to ME child. It also examines differences in pronunciation of certain letters and letter combinations over time, like "th", "c", "g", "s", and digraph

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Яна Бурлачко
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213 views3 pages

Practical Task 7

The document discusses several phonological changes that occurred from Old English to Middle English and Modern English. Specifically, it addresses: 1) How short vowels developed into diphthongs over time (e.g. OE talu > ME tale). 2) Reasons for vowel changes in certain words containing specific letters (e.g. keep/kept, wise/wisdom). 3) Palatalization of velar consonants and lengthening of short vowels before clusters, explaining changes like OE cild to ME child. It also examines differences in pronunciation of certain letters and letter combinations over time, like "th", "c", "g", "s", and digraph

Uploaded by

Яна Бурлачко
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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PRACTICAL TASK 7

1. Explain in what way short monophthongs developed into diphthongs in the words:
OE talu, hopa, stolen > E tale, hope, stolen.
Quantitative changes: Lengthening of [a, o, e] in open stressed syllables of disyllabic words (13th
century). OE. Dtalu > ME. tale [Dta:lə] (E. tale); OE. Detan > ME. etan [Dc:tən] (E. eat).

2. Name the reasons of changes in the vowels in the words in bold. Remember that in OE
there were the same long vowels in both words.
keep, kept; wise, wisdom; five, fifth

3. Explain the vowel changes in the words:


child— children, behind — hindrance. in OE the root vowel in these words was [i].
Palatalization of velar consonants (began before the 6th century). [k] > [k’] > [t∫]
Quantitative changes: 3.2.2.1. Lengthening of short vowels before homorganic clusters mb, ld, nd
(started in the 9th century). OE. cild [t∫ıld] > ME. child [t∫i:ld] (E. child).
But: Homorganic lengthening failed before three-consonant clusters, thus in OE. noun, plural cildru
[D t∫ıldru] (E. children) – [i] was not lengthened;

4. Why do these homophones have different spelling? Were they homophones in ME?
son — sun; see — sea; vein — vain; law — lore; root — route;

5. Explain why the letter e is pronounced differently in the words


bed, he, here, there;

short e is pronounced like the "e" sound in Modern English "bet": betra

long e is pronounced to rhyme with Modern English "way": we

6. Explain why the letter o is pronounced differently in the words


not, bone, front, more

short o is pronounced like the "o" sound in Modern English "pond": ond

long o is pronounced like the "o" sound in Modern English "go":gedon

6. Explain the differences in pronouncing digraphs in the following words.


ea: seat — dead — dear — pear;
ie: chief — lie — pier;
ou: pound —soup — soul — rough — sour;

7. How can you account for differences in spelling and in pronunciation of the words
merry, busy, evil that all developed from OE words with the same letter y and
sleeve and mice that both developed from the OE words with the letter ȳ?
8. Explain the differences in pronouncing the letters х, с, g, s, th in the words:
oxen — axes — example; exercise — examine — exact — exist;
mercy — copper — special;
good — again — general —change — regime;
son — busy — wisdom — mouse — east;
thousand — the;

 “X” makes the sound [ɡz] if it forms a stressed syllable and stands between two
vowels, an example is the word “example” [ɪɡˈzɑːmpl];
in most cases, "x" reads [ks], which can include words such as box - [bɒks] and excuse - [ɪk
ˈskjuːs].
 Вообще на это TH нет никакого правила !!! все что нашла :
The sound [ð], as a rule, sounds in service words ( служебных словах)
in the definite article the
in pronouns this, that, they, them
at the end of words before the letter e bathe
 ритм = rhythm
letter combination THM:
 алгоритм = algorithm
 логарифм = logarithm

 [θ] at the beginning of a word and at the end of a word

 S also changes in the same way, being pronounced like [z] when


between two vowels (dysig, husian, ceosan). or in a cluster of voiced
consonants (i.e. alongside consonants like d, b, z, g, m, n)
s was unvoiced (i.e. spoken like an s) when it appeared on its own at the beginning or
end of a word, or in a cluster of unvoiced consonants (i.e. with consonants
like t, p, s, k).
 c [k] as in Modern English cow. Before a, o, u, and y, c is
pronounced like k. Before e and i, c is pronounced like ch
 G can be pronounced one of three ways depending on what it
occurs in a word. Before front vowels (i, e, æ), the 'g' is
pronounced [j] , like a modern 'y' in 'yet'. For example, þegen, geond,
werig. If 'g' is before or after a consonant or back vowel (a, o, u), the
g is pronounced [g] like in 'garden'. For example, god, gar, lang.
Between two back vowels, g is pronounced [ɣ] . For example, boga,
dragan. This sound is no longer used in modern English and is hard
for Anglophones to pronounce.

9. Is it possible to prove that the following words developed from the same root?
deep — depth; husband — house; sheep —shepherd; thief— theft;

12. Explain the ‘silent’ letters in the following words:


Late ?? The E at the end of a word serves to open the preceding syllable, but loses its sound
wrong- Simplification of some consonant groups: NG (n ) wr(r)
bomb In combination of letters "mb" the letter "b" is not pronounced,
whole In the WH combination before O, the letter W is not pronounced:
pneumonia in combinations PS, PN the letter P does not sound
thumb (OE þuma), In combination of letters "mb" the letter "b" is not pronounced,
delight (ME delite), Development of sound [χ] denoted by gh Medially gh [χ] before t was lost in
pronunciation:
limb (OE lim). In combination of letters "mb" the letter "b" is not pronounced,
mb - homorganic clusters )

Part 2. Show and explain how the following OE words developed in ME and NE.
OE blōd ME blood NE blood

oo before d blood o: > u: > u > ʌ

OE brōþar brother
OE cēpan c > k: OE. cēpan [Dke:pan] > ME. keepen [Dke:pən] NE keep
OE findan
OE ᴣlæd
OE mūþ
OE hrinᴣ
Part 3.
1. Is English mainly analytical or synthetic type of language? Was it always so?
2. What constructions served as the basis for Modern English analytical verb forms? When
did they develop?
3. What are the main historical foundations of Modern English spelling?
4. When and why don’t we read the letter e at the end of an English word?
5. When and why do we read c, sc, s, ss as [ʒ], s as [∫] and x as [k∫] ?
6. Why is th read as [θ] in most words but [ð] in some, and [t] in a few like Thames and
Thomas?

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