A History of English Language

The renaissance, 1500-1650 221
occurred later. Changes in the consonants were rather insignificant, as they have always
been in English. Some voiced consonants became voiceless, and vice versa, and
consonants were occasionally lost. Thus w before a following o was lost when it followed
another consonant: sō(OE swā), hō (who, OE kwā). Sc became sh (OE scip>ME ship or
schip), or had already done so in Old English. But we do not expect much change in the
consonantal framework of words. Nor was there much alteration in the quality sof vowels
in accented syllables. Most of the short vowels, unless lengthened, passed over into
Middle English unaltered. But short æ became a, and y [y] was unrounded to i in most
districts, either early or eventually (OE crœft>ME craft; brycg>brigge). The other short
vowels, ă, ĕ, ĭ, ŏ, ŭ, remained (OE catte>cat, bedd>bed, scip>schip, folc>folk, full> ful).
Among the long vowels the most important change was that of ā to mentioned in the
preceding paragraph (OE bone; bāt, boat). The long developed
in the same way as short (OE bride; fire). The long
so characteristic a feature of Old English spelling, represented two sounds. In some
words it stood for an ā in West Germanic. This sound appears as a close outside the
West Saxon area and remains in Middle English (Non-WS deed;
sleep). In many words OE was a sound resulting from the i-
umlaut of ā. 38 This was a more open vowel and appears as in Middle English (OE
clean;
deal). These two sounds have now
become identical (cf. deed and clean). The other long vowels of Old English preserved
their original quality in Middle English ( meed; fīf>fīf, five;
book; hūs>hūs, house, often written hous through the influence of Anglo-
Norman scribes). The Old English diphthongs were all simplified, and all diphthongs in
Middle English are new formations resulting chiefly from the combination of a simple
vowel with a following consonant (γ, w) which vocalized.
If the quality of Old English vowels did not change much in passing into Middle
English, their quantity or length was subject to considerable alteration. For example, Old
English long vowels were shortened late in the Old English period or early in Middle
English when followed by a double consonant or by most combinations of consonants
(grĕtter, comparative of grēt< OE grēat; ăskenME bāken, bake;
eat). Such changes in length are little noticeable in the spelling, but they
are of great importance because they determine the course which these vowels pursued in
their subsequent development.
38 See page 78.