Old english

Orthography: The orthography of Old English evolved over time, and there were variations depending on the region and the scribe who was recording the language. However, some general principles of Old English orthography include:
The use of the runic alphabet: Before the adoption of the Latin alphabet in the seventh century, the Anglo-Saxons used a runic alphabet known as the futhorc. This alphabet consisted of 29 or 33 characters, depending on the region.
The use of the Latin alphabet: In the 7th century, the Latin alphabet was introduced to England, and it gradually replaced the futhorc. Old English scribes used the Latin alphabet with some modifications, including the addition of letters like thorn (þ) and eth (ð), which were used to represent the "th" sound in words like "think" and "this."
The use of diacritical marks: Old English scribes used various diacritical marks to indicate the pronunciation of certain letters. For example, a dot above a vowel indicated that it was pronounced differently than usual.
The use of ligatures: Old English scribes sometimes combined letters to form ligatures, which were used to save space and make writing faster. For example, the letters a and e could be combined to form the æ ligature, which was used to represent the vowel sound in words like "cat" and "man."
The use of abbreviations: Old English scribes used many abbreviations to save space and make writing faster. For example, they often used a symbol called a "tironian note" (⁊) to represent the word "and."
Phonology: Old English had a complex system of vowel and consonant sounds, with some sounds that no longer exist in modern English. For example, Old English had a distinction between long and short vowels, as well as a vowel sound called "ash" (æ) that is no longer used in modern English. Here are some of the key features of Old English phonology:
Vowels: Old English had five vowel sounds, represented by the letters a, e, i, o, and u. Each of these vowels could be pronounced in a long or short form, and the length of a vowel sound could change the meaning of a word. For example, the word "māden" means "maiden," while "maden" means "mowed."
Consonants: Old English had many of the same consonant sounds as modern English, as well as some that are no longer used in the language. For example, the "thorn" (Þ/þ) and "wynn" (Ƿ/ƿ) characters were used to represent the "th" and "w" sounds, respectively. Old English also had a distinct "ng" sound, represented by the letter "ᵹ," which was later replaced by the letter "g."
Stress: Old English had a system of stress accent, where the stress was placed on the first syllable of a word. This is different from modern English, which uses a system of stress timing.
Sound Changes: Old English underwent a number of sound changes over time, including the Great Vowel Shift and the loss of many inflectional endings. These changes have contributed to the differences between Old English and modern English pronunciation.
Syntax: Old English had a flexible word order, with the subject, verb, and object sometimes appearing in different orders depending on emphasis or context. Additionally, Old English made use of a variety of subordinate clauses and conjunctions to create complex sentences. Its sentence structure, or syntax, is distinct from Modern English in several ways. For instance, word order in Old English was more flexible, with subject-verb-object being the basic pattern, but other arrangements were possible to emphasize different parts of the sentence. Additionally, Old English utilized a system of noun and pronoun cases, including nominative, accusative, genitive, and dative, to indicate a word's role in a sentence. Verbs in Old English were inflected to show tense, person, and number, and the language had various moods and tenses, such as indicative, imperative, present, past, future, and subjunctive. Finally, Old English used subordinate clauses with conjunctions or relative pronouns like "who" or "which" to express complex ideas.