Old English – Seminar 3Old English Orthography, Spelling, Pronunciation and Stress 1. Orthography. The most common method of writing during the OE period was on parchment and using a form of the Roman alphabet. The Runic alphabet (which the AngloSaxons had brought with them across the North-Sea) was used for inscriptions and dedicatory formulae rather than for purposes of communication. Present-day conventions of word-division, paragraphs, etc. were unknown to the Anglo-Saxons; their own conventions also differed from scribe to scribe. No manuscripts survive before the coming of Augustine in 597, but there is evidence that the usage of the Roman Alphabet in Anglo-Saxon England owed its origins to Christianity; further evidence: manuscripts were first written in a version of the half-uncial script brought to England by Irish missionaries. The minuscule script with clear, simple, rounded letter shapes, can be seen at its best in the Latin text of the Lindisfarne Gospels of the early 8th century. The script was to be developed into what is known as the insular script, a pointed and cursive version of the half-uncial, and this was to remain the predominant style of handwriting until the 11th century when letter forms from the continental “caroline minuscule” began to appear; the insular form disappeared by the end of the 12th century. It is not so surprising that the letters of the alphabet and the style should be so dependent upon the arrival and spread of Christianity; throughout the Anglo-Saxon period, the teaching, and to a considerable extent, the practice of writing was predominantly a property of the church. From the time of Alfred onwards, the scribes in the king’s secretariat were clerics, not laymen. The alphabet used by the Anglo-Saxons was much the same as that used today; some letter shapes were rather different than those of later scripts. For instance, s most usually appeared in long form rather like ʃ. ʒ (yogh)was used in insular script instead of g (of caroline origin); in later periods these two were often distinguished so that they represented different sounds. There are differences: j, v were not used were not used, the phoneme /j/ usually being represented by g, and v normally being spelled with f (e.g. hlafas); w was not used, instead the Anglo-Saxon borrowed the runic letter ƿ (wynn); three other letters were rarely used in OE manuscripts although they had their normal usage in Anglo-Saxon Latin manuscripts: q, x, z: s between vowels and voiced sounds was voiced – pronounced, /z/ - (e.g. risan), in all other positions it was voiceless – pronounced /s/. The pairs f and v, s and z, were merely variants (allophones) in OE and not sounds of different significance (phonemes). Anglo-Saxon had, as well as runic ƿ “wynn”, three further letters of their own: æ (ash), þ (thorn), ð (eth). “Ash” was an Anglo-Saxon adaptation for Latin ‘ae’, whereas “thorn”, like “wynn”, is borrowed from the runic alphabet; the origin of “eth” is not certain. 1 a] = back vowels laringo-velar fricative [ɣ’] in ʒiefan. albeit to a lesser extent than in Middle English. a standard written language (e. standardization of the spelling simply did not exist for much of the time. nevertheless. Oswald (Benedictine revival) set upon a vigorous programme of teaching and instruction and a regularization of the language. a script developed by ancient Germanic peoples from both Latin and Greek alphabets. k. The Roman alphabet in its Italic form had to render certain sounds that did not exist in Latin: w : ƿ (wynn / wen). q. etc. Æthelwold. when the Norman French influence and the conventions of the caroline script. alveolar) were not distinguished at the phonemic level by the characteristic of voicing (z and s. there is a great deal of fluctuation in spelling. c: [k] in coc [o] = back vowel velar c [k’. θ : þ (thorn).g. aʒan [o. dæʒ [i. for the Anglo-Saxon scribe it would not necessarily have been ‘incorrect’ to spell a word one way in one line and another way in the next. æ] = front vowels palatalized glide [g] in sinʒan after a nasal [g’] in senʒan palatalized affricate þ and ð were used in free variation to render [θ] or [ð] Actually. of which the Anglo-Saxons were aware from their Latin manuscripts. dental. One and the same letter could be used to render a variety of pronunciation which represented certain positional variants. This is obvious in the evolution of OE and in the ME dialects: North a: hame ([heim] today) Non-North o: home The consonants also varied. Dunstan. started to make their appearance felt. especially between dialects and at different periods of time and mainly as regards vowels. up to the time of Alfred ð was the most frequent choice. whatever the generality of their usage or the habits of individual scribes. z. even if the alphabet was fixed. č] in cild [i] = front vowel ʒ: [ɣ] in ʒos . thenceforth þ was more and more used. but it was mainly restricted to initial position. they were in principle interchangeable with one another. In southern dialects. It was read from right to left. were in complementary distribution).The histories of þ and ð are more complex. The Latin alphabet was introduced by Christian missionaries from Ireland (boc-stæfas). z and v (the fricatives in general: labial. The standard spelling they established was founded upon the speech of Winchester and the surrounding areas. Spelling and pronunciation. Orthographic usage was reasonably stable during the OE period. Ælfric has a highly regular spelling system and orthography). v were rarely used. the OE alphabet settled down into a pattern which remained unchanged until the time of the Conquest. The English spelling was based on an alphabetic and phonemic writing system first represented by the runes (run-stæfas). Yet. especially intervocally. After about 800. spellings varied to a much greater extent than they do today. ae: æ (ash). for the first time in England. initial f was voiced to v: 2 . The fricative sound was always voiceless at the beginning and at the end of the word and always voiced in word-middle position. v and f. Remember that the concept of ‘correct’ spelling is a modern one. originally containing 24 letters. 2. French did not have a [x. n. Between 1100 and 1300 no dialect achieved a high enough prestige and there were no general spelling conventions. sh Apparently Norman French did not have a [ʃ] sound in its spelling inventory OE scip > ME sship. w. was replaced by the angular Carolingian style. Because the æ (ash) sound disappeared (> a. ssip. [i:] ME i. In the beginning. The new scribes gradually introduced the spelling conventions familiar to them from rendering French sounds to render the sounds of the English language. the literary activity in England was restricted to copying the already existing manuscripts. m. schip.g. In time. 1) OE [u:] ů ME ou. ssh. uu (double u).> helen > heal > [i] (Eth) ð was abandoned. ssi. Some letters were eliminated: ƿ (wynn) [w] u. thoughte 3 . e. By the end of the 2nd half of the 14th century. w without any dots.. characterized by the rounded shape of the letters. from where it spread to practically the whole English speaking area. v. which started to cause confusion when too many letters consisting of several “minims” were used: u. together with the diagraph th (t=dental. y (y was considered more beautiful) OE ridan > ME ridden/ryden In the course of time y was restricted to final position: 4) OE [ʃ] sc ME sch. The Irish handwriting. barrel’ > SME vat The present indicative plural form of verbs varied regionally: OE -að > ME South: -eth North replaced by –es EMidl: . the new spelling was transferred to English words containing similar sounds. i. ç] sound.OE fæt ‘cask. n. > e > ea) by a process of retraction. all present conventions already existed. the French loan words were written using the French spelling conventions. h= fricative velar fricative) OE riht. h=fricative a dental fricative) There occurred few changes in pronunciation.. This is why Chaucer can be read relatively easily. þ (thorn) survived in ME as long as a manuscript tradition existed. w for purely graphical reasons OE cuman > ME comen 3) OE [i].en After the Norman Conquest. but the spelling changed a lot. tæ……> techen > teach > [i] hæ…. ship 5) OE [tʃ] c (only in the environment of front vowels) ME ch OE cild > ME child 6) OE h ME gh. the letter was no longer in use. i. (g = velar. The French influence was earliest in the South. Early ME texts do differ a lot. ow OE hus > ME hous(e)/hows(e) 2) OE [u] u ME o in an environment of m. þohte > ME right. while the native words retained their original Anglo-Saxon spelling norm. in ME the scribes were very careful to specify it. Write each of the Old English words from the list below in an appropriate blank to show whether the italicized fricative is voiced or voiceless. Seo cwen went fram þære cirice. Se fisc swam under þæt scip and over þone sciellfisc. This is how we came to be aware of the changes that took place in the length of vowels. Þis treow is æsc. His cicen ran from his horswege ofer his pæð and in his geard. Read out loud the following sentences and translate them into Present Day English (PDE): (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8) (9) (10) (11) (12) (13) (14) Is his þegn her giet? His linen socc feoll ofer bord in þæt wæter and scranc. He siteþon þære bence. Hwæt is þæt treow? He wolde don wiccecræft and he began swa to donne. OLD ENGLISH SPELLING SOUND f 2 [f] [v] þð 2 [θ] [ð] s 2 [s] [z] ________ _______ ________ ________ _______ _______ ________ _______ ________ ________ _______ _______ ________ _______ ________ ________ _______ _______ ________ _______ ________ ________ _______ _______ sǣ ‘sea’ brōðor ‘brother’ wīf ‘woman’ hræfn ‘raven’ missenlīc ‘various’ flota ‘ship’ ċeaster ‘city’ leoð ‘song’ weorþe ‘worthy’ ofer ‘over’ rīsan ‘to rise’ æþele ‘noble’ lyft ‘air’ yrhðo ‘slackness’ offrian ‘to offer’ bōsm ‘bosom’ oððe ‘or’ wæs ‘was’ þeġn ‘thane’ efne ‘even’ nosu ‘nose’ blīþe ‘joyous’ heofon ‘heaven’ hæslen ‘of hazel’ 4 . PRACTICE 1.While the OE length of vowels was not rendered in spelling. and the voiceless fricatives [f. θ. Se horn sang hulde. Hwær is his cyþþ and cynn? His hring is gold his disc glæs and his belt leðer. s] occur elsewhere. (2) voiced sounds include all liquids and nasals as well as all vowels and voiced stops and fricatives. z] occur between voiced sounds. Hlysten we! Se cniht is on þære brycge. Bear in mind two points: (1) the voiced fricatives [v. Fuhton ge manlice? 2. God is god. ð. OE Spelling bæð æfter scip ecg drifen biter weġ stenċ ofer bliss feðer fisc blæc scield seġl fæst wið bæc hwæþer heftiġ norð leġd arċebiscop goldfinċ æsc-grǣġ OE Pronunciation [ _æ _ ] [æ _ ɛ _ ] [_ı_] [ɛ _ ] [_ı_ɛ_] [_ı_ɛ_] [_ɛ_] [_ɛ_] [ɔ_ɛ_] [_ı_] [_ɛ_ɛ_] [_ı_] [ _æ _ ] [ _ ıǝ _ ] [_ɛ_] [ _æ _ ] [_ı_] [ _æ _ ] [ _æ _ ɛ _ ] [_ɛ_ı_] [_ɔ_] [_ɛ_] [ɑ_ɛ_ı_ɔ_] [_ ɔ _ ı _ ] [æ _ æ: _ ] Modern Spelling _______________________________ _______________________________ _______________________________ _______________________________ _______________________________ _______________________________ _______________________________ _______________________________ _______________________________ _______________________________ _______________________________ _______________________________ _______________________________ _______________________________ _______________________________ _______________________________ _______________________________ _______________________________ _______________________________ _______________________________ _______________________________ _______________________________ _______________________________ _______________________________ _______________________________ The stress pattern of Old English is easy to learn because it follows the Germanic pattern of primary stress on the first syllable of the word. We can see that the pronunciation of a large number of Old English words is close to that of their Modern English descendants and sometimes exactly the same. say the words aloud.3. Part of the initial strangeness of a page of Old English is due simply to the differences in conventions of spelling between the older period and the present one. tertiary. and deduce the Modern English forms. Secondary. Supply the phonetic symbols for the consonants. and 5 . In the following list of words the phonetic symbols of the Old English vowels are provided. / \ /x \ / \ x Examples: eorð-weġ ‘earthly way’. and x for weak stress. / x / x x / x Examples: dohtor ‘daughter’. ā-.weak stresses almost take care of themselves when one understands that the prevailing stress contour of Old English is a descending contour. using / for main stress. hlude ‘loudly’. The first word has been marked as an example.). prepositions. fea-lufu ‘love of money’ In phrases and sentences. articles. which in turn are more heavily stressed than pronouns. except for verbal prefixes (ġe-. depending on their position in the sentence. for-. and conjunctions. Remember that prefixes of verbs are weakly stressed. Mark the pattern of stress in the following words.) For word stress. Secondary stress occurs on the second element of compounds. a result of the high proportion of Romance vocabulary. \ for secondary stress. on-. 4. nouns and adjectives are more heavily stressed than verbs and adverbs. nouns and adjectives with prefixes are stressed like compounds. be-. wið-. ıren-heard ‘iron-hard’. etc. (This contrasts with the prevailing pattern of alternating stress in Modern English. / x \ wundor-deað ‘wondrous death’ land ‘land’ healdan ‘to hold’ wæter ‘water’ brōðer ‘brother’ be-cuman ‘to come’ wið-standan ‘to withstand’ ā-hebban ‘to lift up’ ġe-drincan ‘to drink up’ sǣ-strand ‘sea shore’ hring-net ‘coat of mail’ hord-burh ‘treasure-city’ wīd-cūþ ‘widely known’ on-findan ‘to discover’ on-weald ‘dominion’ for-grindan ‘to grind to pieces’ for-heard ‘very hard’ ðurh-crēopan ‘to creep through’ ðurh-hefiġ ‘very heavy’ ymb-gān ‘to go round’ ymb-hwyrft ‘rotation’ līf-dagas ‘life-days’ swan-rād ‘swan-road’. two rules are useful: Rule 1. be-settan ‘surround’ Rule 2. under-. with full stress on the prefix and secondary stress on the second element. ‘sea’ lēod-sceaða ‘people’s enemy’ gūð-weriġ ‘weary with fighting’ leorning-cniht ‘disciple’ 6 . Prefixes and elements of compound words are set apart by hyphens. The heaviest stress of a word occurs on the first syllable. ymb-. The stress on verbs and adverbs varies in strength. ofer-.