Monophthongs

OE a, o, ō, u, ū, e, ē, ı, ī remained more or less unchanged in ME, while OE ā, æ, ǣ, y, ӯ, å changed radically.

OE long ā; developed into long open Ǭ everywhere but in the Northern dialect. This new [Ǭ] was of much more open nature than the OE [ ] inherited from OE.

(1) In ME manuscripts, the two types of ō were mostly represented by the same symbols: o – in open syllables, and oo – in closed ones. Later they were distinguished not only in sound but in spelling too: [ ] was, as a rule, represented by the digraph oo and [Ǭ] - by the digraph oa in closed syllables and by the letter o – in open ones: OE stān > ME stoon, OE āc > ME oak, OE nā > ME no.

Note. ME [ā] from OE [o] in open syllables was also of an open nature and mostly coincided with [ǭ] from OE [ā]. Therefore, we find the same way of representation of ME [ǭ] in hope < OE hopa and stone < OE stān.

 

(2) OE short æ; in most dialects developed into short a, e.g.

OE ʒlæd > ME glad, OE æppel > ME appel, OE wæs > ME was.

(3) OE long ǣ changed into long open (more open than ).Thus in ME there were two types of long ē: an open [ ] and a close [ ]. In ME manuscripts they were often expressed in the same way: by a single letter e in open syllables and a double ee in closed ones. Later these different sounds were distinguished also in writing: [ ] was represented by digraphs ea and [ ] by the digraph ee, e.g.

OE sǣ > ME sea, OE mǣl > ME meal, OE fēlan > ME felen, OE fēt > ME feet.

Note. The sound [ ] developed in ME also as the result of the lengthening of e in open syllables: OE etan > ME ēten (eat), OE mete > ME mēte (meat)

 

(4) OE å developed into ME o only in West Midland. In all other dialects OE å;changed into a:

West Midland OE lånd > ME lond, OE mån > ME mon, OE lånʒ > ME long.

Other dialects: land, man, lang.

In most cases, the Modern English form is based on that of the Eastern dialects. Only before -ng forms with o predominate: long, strong, song.

(5) The vowels y and ӯ; existed in OE dialects up to the the X c. Then they changed into i/ ī

in the North-East (NrE): OE hyll > NrE hill (hill), OE fӯr > NrE > fir (fire).

y, ӯ remained unchanged in the South-West (SW)(written u, ui):

OE hyll > SW hull, OE fӯr > SW fuir

y, ӯ were replaced by e, ē in the South East (SE) (Kent):

OE hyll > SE hell, OE fӯr > SE fēr

In most cases ME forms with i/ī predominate. Sometimes the influence of other dialects is evident. In the word busy the spelling reflects the influence of the Western dialects. The same is true about the verb to build. The pronunciation of the verb to bury is due to the South -Eastern dialects, while the spelling is of Western origin.