Lecture Word Stock of Middle English Period. Phonetic peculiarities of Middle English

fishes 
[`fijэs] 
Fisces 
The occurrence of only two vowels [i] and [э] in unstressed final syllables is regarded as 
an important mark of the ME language distinguishing it on the one hand, from OE with its 
greater variety of unstressed vowels, and on the other hand, from the NE, when this final [э] was 
altogether lost. (Compare NE risen, tale.) 
Some of the new unstressed vowels were not reduced to the same degree as the OE 
vowels and have retained their quantitative and qualitative differences, e.g. NE consecrate [ei], 
disobey [o]. 

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These examples, as well as modern polysyllabic words like alternant with [o] and [o:], 
direct with [ai] and [i] and others show that a variety of vowels can occur in unstressed position, 
although the most frequent vowels are [i] and [э], the latter confined to unstressed position alone, 
being the result of phonetic reduction of various vowels. 
These development show that the gap between the set of stressed and unstressed vowels 
has narrowed, so that in Middle and NE we need no longer strictly subdivide the system of 
vowels into two sub-systems – that of stressed and unstressed vowels (as was done for OE), -
even though the changes of the vowels in the two positions were widely different and the 
phonetic contrast between the stressed and unstressed syllables remained very strong. 
No other part of the English phonetic system has undergone such considerable changes as 
the stressed vowels. They changed both in quality and quantity, under the influence of the 
environment and independently, alone or together with the surrounding sounds. Not a single OE 
long vowel or diphthong has remained unaltered in the course of history; only a few short vowels 
have not altered at all (unless in certain positions they were at some time lengthened and then 
shared the fate of long vowels). 
The prevailing type of changes of stressed vowels in OE were assimilative changes 
affecting the quality of the vowel. Towards the end of the OE period and especially in Early ME 
quantitative vowel changes appear to have assumed greater importance; these were positional 
changes, which affected many vowels and led to an alteration in the phonological load of vowel 
quantity. 
The regular qualitative changes of all the long vowels between the 14
th 
and the 17
th 
centuries are known in the history of the English language as the Great vowel shift. The Great 
vowel shift was a series of consistent changes of long vowels accounting for many features of the 
ME vowel system and also of the modern spelling system. During this period all the long vowels 
became closer or were diphthongised. Some of the vowels occupied the place of the next vowel; 
[e:] > [i:], [o:] > [u:], while the latter changed to [au]. 
Vowel length was an inherited feature: OE short vowels had developed from short 
vowels, while long ones usually went back to Common Germanic long vowels or vowel 
combinations. 
In later OE and in early ME many vowels became long or short depending on phonetic 
conditions and irrespective of their origin. 
The earliest of the positional quanitative changes was the reajustment of quantity before 
some consonant clusters: 
1) A sequence of two homorganic consonants, a sonorant and a plosive, brought about a 
lengthening of the preceding vowel; consequently all vowels occuring in this position 
remained or became long, e.e. OE wild > ME wild [wi:ld], NE wild. 
2) All other sequences of two or more consonants produced the reverse affect: they 
made the preceding long vowels short, and thus all vowels in this position became or 
remained short, e.g. OE cepte > ME kepte [`keptэ], NE kept. 
3) The short vowels [e], [a] and [o] (that is, the more open ones of short vowels) became 
long in open syllables, e.g. OE nama > ME name [`na:mэ], NE name. 
In the history of the English language the consonants were far more stable than the 
vowels. A large number of consonants have remained unchanged since the OE period. Such 
consonants as [t], [d], [n],[l],[m],[k] have not been subjected to any alteration. 

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One of the most important consonant changes in the history of English was the 
appearance of affricates and sibilants, lacking in the OE period. Sets of these sounds appeared in 
the language at various periods due to different assimilative changes and the phonologisation of 
positional variants. Another important development was the voicing of fricatives in Early NE 
and the new treatment of fricatives from the phonological viewpoint. As a result of these changes 
a number of new consonant phonemes were added to the system. 
On the other hand, at different historical periods we can observe the loss of consonants 
and instances of consonant system and on the vowel system: owing to the vocalisation of 
consonants there developed a number of new diphthongs and long vowels. 
English consonants were considerably simplified as far as consonant clusters are 
concerned, and also as a system, correlated through certain principles. 
1) During the ME period the consonants lost their quantitative distinctions, as the long or 
double consonants disappeared. The number of consonant phonemes was reduced and one of 
their principal phonemic distinctive feature – opposition through quantity – was lost. e.g. OE 
settan, ME setten [`settэn], later [`setэn], NE set. 
2) Some consonant clusters were simplified. One of the consonants, usually the first, was 
dropped. E.g. kn> n, gn >n, hw> w. 
The ME verb was characterised by many peculiar features. Though the verb had few 
grammatical categories, its paradigm had a very complicated structure: verbs fell into numerous 
morphological classes and employed a variety of form-building means. All the forms of the verb 
were synthetic, as analytical forms were only beginning to appear. The non-finite forms had little 
in common with the finite forms but shared many features with the nominal parts of speech.