Old English Vowel System

The system of OE vowels in the 9^th and 10^th centuries is shown below:

Monophthongs

Short vowles

Long vowels

Front vowels

[i] fisc, scip [y] fyllan, pytt [e] sprecan, helpan

[i:] wīn, tīd [y:] brÿd, wÿscan [e:] fēt, tēθ

Back vowels

[u] sunu, cumin [o] folc, cos [a] faran, caru [a] – positional variants: [æ] glæd, hwæt [o] mann,(monn) cann (conn)

[u:] hūs, tūn [o:] fōt, bōk, gōd [a:] ān, wrāte

Diphthongs

[ea] healf, wearm (before 1, r + cons., and before h instead of [a]	[ea:] hēah, ēare
[eo] steora, feohtan	[eo:] deop, leoht
[io] siofun (f pronounced v in intervocal position)	[io:] stīoran
[ie] scield, nieht	[[ie:] cīese, hīeran

OE vowels underwent different kinds of alterations: qualitative and quantitative, dependent and independent. In accented syllables the oppositions between vowels were clearly maintained. In unaccented positions the original contrasts between vowels was weakened or lost; the distinction of short and long vowels was neutralised so that by the age of writing the long vowels in unstressed syllables had been shortened. As for originally short vowels, they tended to be reduced to a neutral sound, losing their qualitative distinctions and were often dropped in unstressed final syllables.

Changes in the system of vowels:

1) Fracture/breaking (преломление) – diphthongization of short vowels ‘a’, ‘e’ before the clusters: ‘r+ con.’, ‘l + con.’, ‘ h+ con., final ‘ h’: ærm – earm, herte – heorte, selh – seolh;

2) Gradation /ablaut: (alternation of vowels in different grammatical forms: in strong verbs: Infinitive (giban), Past. sing. (gaf), Past Pl. (gebum), Second Part. (gibans);

3) Palatalisation: diphthongisation of vowels under the influence of the initial palatal consonants ‘g’, ‘c’ (before front vowels) and the cluster ‘sc’ (all vowels): gefan – giefan, scacan – sceacan;

4) Mutation/Umlaut (перегласовка) - a change of vowel caused by partial assimilation to the following vowel: i-mutation – caused by ‘i’, ‘j’ of the following syllable: namnian – nemnan, fullian- fyllan; back/velar mutation – phonetic change caused by a back vowel (u, o, a) of the following syllable, which resulted in the diphthongisation of the preceding vowel: hefon – heofon;

5) Contraction: if, after a consonant had dropped, two vowels met inside a word, they were usually contracted into one long vowel: slahan – sleahan – sle:an;

6) Lengthening of Vowels: before ‘nd’, ‘ld, ‘mb’: bindan – bīndan; climban – clīmban