Spelling

The introduction of printing at the very beginning of the MnE period greatly contributed to the unification and fixation of English spelling. Begun by Caxton in the last quarter of the 15th century, this process practically ended in the first half of the 18th century, after which the orthography altered but little. In general the spelling changes during the MnE period were less radical than those of the previous one. Very many words in MnE are spelled in the same way as they were by Caxton, nearly 5 centuries ago.

In fact most phonetic changes of MnE were not reflected in spelling, which explains the present discrepancy between spoken and written English.

The phonetic change which had the most disturbing effect on the spelling of that period was the loss of ME
[ ] written e.

1. In many cases the letter disappeared as well as the sound. E.g. ME sone, nute > MnE son, nut.

2. In many other cases the letter remained, though the sound disappeared, as in name, write, love.

3. The letter e in a final position came to be regarded as a sign indicating the length of a preceding vowel (hat – hate, bit – bite) and thus was added to many a word which had never before had the letter.
E.g. OE stan, ta > ME stoon, to > MnE stone, toe

4. The addition or retention of the so-called silent e was often misleading.Thus, the ME hous showed quite plainly that the vowel was long and the addition of e (E house) was unnecessary. The retention of e after v in such words as live, give, have is misleading as it conceals the differ-ence in the vowels of live and alive, have and behave, etc.

Of other changes in spelling we shall mention the following:

1. New digraphs oa and ea were introduced to represent the long open [o] and [e]. ME rood, boot, se, deel came to be written road, boat, sea, deal in the 16th century. It was an improvement, as ME spelling made no difference in representing [o] and [o], [e] and [e].

2. Most double consonants preceding the final weak [ ] were simplified after the loss of the latter.
E.g. ME lette, stoppe, sunne > MnE let, stop, sun.

3. The combinations ss, ff, ll, ck(-kk) were, however, retained. E.g. ME kisse, stuffe, pulle, locke > MnE kiss, stuff, pull, lock. Moreover, these combinations were transferred to other words with originally a single final letter. E.g. ME glas, staf, smal, sik > MnE glass, staff, small, sick.

4. Medially, all consonants were usually doubled after a short vowel just as a sign that the vowel was short. E.g. ME super, felow > MnE supper, fellow.

5. The written forms of many words, especially those borrowed from French, were altered to make their Latin and Greek origin more obvious to the eye. Thus, the letter b was inserted in ME dette, doute (MnE debt, doubt) under the influence of L. debitum and dubitare. Scool was re-placed by school and thus made to conform to L. schola. Not unfrequently the supposed connec-tion with Latin was false. The s in island, for instance, is due to false association with L. insula, whereas it is a native English word. E.g. OE i land > ME iland (OE i - denoted ‘island’)

Sounds

A. Long Vowels

All the ME long vowels [ i, e, e, a, o, o, u] changed during the MnE period. This change, known as ‘the Great Vowel Shift’, began in the 15th century and lasted up to the 18th or even the 19th centuries. It may be represented by the following simple diagram:

As the ‘high’ unstable long vowels [i] and [u] became diphthongized, so the next highest long vowels [e ] and [o ] moved up to take their places, leaving room for [ ] and [ ], and so on.

The following diagram shows the initial and final stages in the articulation of each sound. The circles contain the ME long vowels before the Shift. The squares display the resulting MnE sounds.

B. Short Vowels

1. As already mentioned, ME [ ] (written e), which was often dropped even in ME, was in most cases lost altogether in Early MnE.
E.g. ME helpe, bookes > MnE help, books.
This process is so characteristic of the MnE period, that the linguists called it ‘the period of lost endings’.
The sound [ ], or its variant [i], was preserved in a limited number of cases, mostly between sibi-lants or between dentals, as in glasses, ashes, wanted, decided, etc. Also in naked, learned and some other words.
2. Me [a] normally changed into [ e]. E.g. ME cat, glad, man > MnE cat [k et], glad [gl ed], man [m en].
After [w] the development of [a] was different. It was rounded and coincided with [ ] from ME [o].
E.g. MnE was [w z], want, what, quantity.

3. ME [o] was delabialized in Early MnE and sounded like [a] in other languages. Comp.: E. frock, F. frac,
R. фрак. Later on the rounding was partly restored in E [ ] though it is still less rounded than, for instance, Russian or Ukrainian [o]. Comp.: E. pot and R. пот.

4. Short [u] was delabialized in the 17th century and it developed into a new sound [ ] as in cup, son, up. The same sound is observed in blood, mother, in which [u ] (< ME o) was shortened (before the 17th c.):
E.g. ME blod > MnE {blu d > blud > bl d}
A preceding labial consonant usually prevented the delabialization of [u], as in MnE full, pull, push.

C. Diphthongs

1. The ME diphthongs [ai] and [ei] were gradually levelled under one sound [ei], the spelling being mostly ay or ai. E.g. ME day, wey, seil > MnE day [dei], way [wei], sail [seil].

2. ME [au] was monophthongized and became [ ] as in paw, law, cause, pause.

3. ME [eu] > [iu] which soon became [ju ], as in new, dew, view. The sound [u] in French loan-words was usually replaced by the diphthongs [iu], later [ju ]. This is the reason why the letter u is called [ju ], the letter q – [kju ], the word due is pronounced [dju ], etc.

D. Vowel Change under the Influence of Consonants

So far we have spoken chiefly of vowels developing independently of the other sounds in their neighbourhood. But a great many vowel changes depended on a neighbouring sound, most often the consonants [r] and [l].

1. The sound [e] before [r] in the same syllable changed to [a] in the 15th c., so that [er] > [ar]. This change was in most cases reflected in spelling.
E.g. ME derk, ferm, sterre > MnE dark, farm, star.
In some words like clerk, sergeant the older spelling has been preserved.

2. Before we proceed with the influence of [r] on the development of MnE vowels we have to bear in mind that the articulation of the sound [r] changed. From being a vibrating sound (like the Russian [p]) it became more liquid and in the 17th c. it was vocalized to [ ] after vowels. In most cases this [ ] and the preceding short vowel were fused into one long vowel:
ar > [a ] as in dark, part, star;
or > [ ] as in port, form, more;
ir
ur [ ] as in bird, burden, person
er

3. If the sound [r] happened to follow a long vowel, the result was a diphthong with [ ] as the sec-ond element (sometimes a triphthong).

4. Of great consequence was also the influence of the consonant [l] on the preceding vowels, espe-cially [a].

This influence is connected with the development of an u-glide before [l], mostly after [a], some-times after [o].
Thus, [al > a l > aul > l], as in all, fall, salt, bald.
[ol > o l > oul], as in bowl.
The consonant [l] was often lost, especially before [k,m,f].
When [l] was lost before [k] the glide remained and the diphthong [au] normally developed into [ ], as in
walk, talk, chalk.
When [1] was lost before [m, f] the labial glide disappeared before the labial consonants and the preceding
[a] was lengthened, as in palm, calm, half, calf.

5. MnE [a ] has also developed from ME [a] before the voiceless fricatives [s, f, 0], as in grass, af-ter, path. The process of development seems to have been:
[a > e > e > a ].

D. Consonants

1. One of the most important changes of the 15th c. was the voicing of [f, s, 0, t, ks] in weakly stressed words and syllables. The phenomenon is somewhat similar to that discovered by K.Verner in the Old Germanic languages, and is sometimes referred to as ‘Verner’s Law in English’.
E.g. [f] > [v] ME of, actif > MnE of [ov], active
[s] > [z] as in is his, possess
[0] > [ ] as in with, the, they
[t ] > [d ] as in knowledge)< ME knowleche), Greenwich [‘grinid ]
[ks] > [gz] as in examine, exact
Note: After a stressed vowel voicing usually did not take place. Comp.: cloth, rich, exit, etc.

2. ME [x] (written gh) has either been lost (mostly before [t]) or it has changed to [f] (mostly when final).
E.g. ME daughter [dauxt r], eight [eixt] > MnE [d t ], [eit]
ME laugh [laux] > [lauf] > la f]

3. Initial [k] or [g] before [n], and [w] before [r] have been lost, as in knife, gnat, wrong.

4. In the 15th c. [d] before [r] often changed into [ ].
E.g. ME fader, weder > MnE father, weather

5. New sibilants developed in the 17th c. from the combinations [s, z, t, d] + [j]: [sj] > [ ], [zj] > [ ], [tj] > [t ],
[dj] > [d ]. This change took place mostly after stressed vowels.
E.g. [sj] > [ ] as in Russian, Asia, nation (ME [‘nasjon] > [‘neisj n] > [‘nei n]. This change did not take place in such words as assume, persue, etc. because the stress followed [sj].
[zj] > [ ] as in decision, usual, measure. Not in resume, where the stress follows.
[tj] > [t ] as in nature (ME [‘natiur] > [‘neitj ] > [‘neit ]),century. Not in tune, tu-tor, where the
stress follows.
[dj] > [d ] as in soldier. Not in duty, induce, where the stress follows.

2. GRAMMATICAL CHANGES OF THE MODERN ENGLISH PERIOD

1. The range of the possessive case of nouns has been narrowed. It has come to be used almost exclusively with nouns denoting living beings. As a spelling device the apostrophy was intro-duced in the 18th c.

2. The personal pronoun of the 2nd person plural (ye, you) and the corresponding possessive pro-noun (your) have gradually ousted the corresponding singular pronouns (thou, thee, thine) from everyday usage. The form of the objective case (you) has superseded the nominative case form (ye).
The possessive pronouns my, mine (< ME mi, min), which were originally but phonetic vari-ants (the –n being lost before consonants, as in an,a), have acquired different combinability functions. Similarly in thy, thine. This distinction has become relevant and has spread to other possessive pronouns to which the suffix –s has been added. Hence the forms her and hers, our and ours, your and yours, their and theirs.

3. The adjective has lost all its inflexions but those of the degrees of comparison. The current distribution of synthetic and analytical forms of comparison has been established.

4. The verb has lost all the inflexions of the present tense but that of the third person singular. The latter has acquired the form –(e)s (from the nothern dialects) instead of the southern -(e)th. The form of the second person singular (e.g. speakest) has been lost or become archaic.

The four basic forms of the strong verbs have been reduced to three, most verbs (except to be) losing the distinction between the past tense singular and the past tense plural.

Owing to the fusion of the verbal noun in –ing and participle I, a new non-finite form of the verb – the gerund – has developed. The fusion could take place in sentences like I hear her sing-ing, where it was difficult to decide whether the ing-form was a verbal noun or a participle.

The infinitive, gerund and participle have developed analytical ‘perfect’ and ‘passive’ forms. The infinitive has also developed ‘continuous’ forms.

3. MODERN ENGLISH SYNTAX

1. The order ‘subject – predicate – inderect object – direct object’ has been established. As a result, the position of a noun (and not its case inflection as in OE) shows whether it is the subject or the object, and in the latter case whether it is direct or indirect.

2. In most questions inversion has become the rule, i.e. the verb is placed before the subject.

3. In order to carry through the above principles of word order it was necessary to find means of splitting the few synthetic forms of the verb that still remained in the language, such as write, writes and wrote. This has been done with the help of special auxiliaries do, does, did. In Shakespeare’s days it seemed as if the synthetic forms were going to be completely ousted by forms like do write, does write, did write, but they have survived, and the use of do, does and did as auxiliaries has been restricted to the expression of interrogation, negation and emphasis. E.g. He studies. Does he study? He does not study. He does study.

4. One of the characteristic features of the MnE period has been the development of structural substitutes (there, it, one, do and others), as in There is a man there (structural subject), It is nice to have a rest (structural subject), I find it difficult to understand (structural object), The book is an interesting one (noun substitute), I make cakes as my mother did (verb substitute).

5. The development and extensive use of infinitival, gerundial and participial complexes is another remarkable feature of MnE syntax.
E.g. I saw him running across the yard.
He is said to be the best doctor.
I said it again for everybody to remember.
She left the room without saying a word.