The subject of history of English

9.Old English Consonants. Phonetic Changes

Voiceless fricatives appeared in Germanic languages as a result of the First Consonant Shift (Grimm’s Law). Proceeding from a changeable part of the consonant system (it is to be remembered that the stablest are the sonorants and the sibilant s) their development continues in Old English.

1) Voicing of fricatives in intervocal position

f > v ofer (over)hlāf - hlāfas (loaf - loaves)

θ > ð ōðer (other) ; raðe (quickly)

s > z > r

Voiced sibilant z was very unstable in Old English, and very soon changed into r. This process is called rhotacism.

wesun - weren ( now were, but was) maiza - māra ( now more, but most)

It is due to rhotacism that common Indo-European suffix -iza (Ukr.- iш) used to form the degrees of comparison is so different now in Ukrainian and English, but comparing such words as Goth, softiza Ukr. тихіший Old English softra ME softer we may easily find that the suffix is essentially the same.2) Palatalization of the sounds k”, sk’ and kg ’ (marked as c, sc and cʒ) developed in assibilation, that is formation of a sibilant in places before front vowels.