Index Diachronica v2.0 (mockup)

Middle English to Modern English

Reliability: ★★★★☆

Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Phonological_history_of_English&oldid=1091430987

Collected by: bradrn

Reviewed by: (none)

Comments: The Middle English period here is taken to start after the stressed vowel changes have occured, and after /ɣ/ has disappeared from the phoneme inventory. These sound changes cover the period from that point until the American–British split.

Sound changes:

• Diphthong formation and mergers
  • {u, e, o, a} j → {ui̯, ei̯, oi̯, ai̯}
  • {uː, eː, oː, aː} j → {ui̯, ei̯, oi̯, ai̯}
  • {i, e, o, a} w → {iu̯, eu̯, ou̯, au̯}
  • {iː, eː, oː, aː} w → {iu̯, eu̯, ou̯, au̯}
  • ou̯ → ɔu̯
  • {e, eː, ɛː} → {ei̯, ei̯, ɛi̯} / _ h
  • {o, oː, ɔː, a, aː} → {ou̯, ou̯, ɔu̯, au̯, au̯} / _ h
  • {ei̯, ou̯, eu̯, ai̯} → {iː, uː, iu̯, ei̯}
• Open syllable lengthening
  • {e, o, a} → {eː, ɔː, aː} / in open syllables
  • {i, u} → {iː, uː} / in open syllables, sporadically
• Trisyllabic laxing
  • [+vowel+long] → [+vowel-long] / when stressed and followed by two unstressed syllables
• ə → ∅ / in final syllables
• /h/-loss
  • h → ∅ / # _ {r, l, n}
  • {u, o, uː, o, ɔː} h → {u, o, u, o, ɔ} f / sporadically in coda
  • {iu̯, eu̯, ou̯, au̯, ɛu̯, ɔu̯} h → {i, e, o, a, ɛ, ɔ} f / sporadically in coda
  • h → ∅ / V _ (i.e. in coda)
  Notes

  In the coda, these sound changes result in very many outcomes, as seen in e.g. the many different realisations of ⟨-ough⟩. I’m probably missing some of them here. I’m also unsure about what happened to the vowels, especially ɛː, ɔː; in the current version of these changes they end up as ɛ, ɔ.

• w → ∅ / s _ {a, aː, ɔ, ɔː, o, oː, u, uː}
  Notes

  Unsure about the vowels here

• m b → m
• /al/, /ɔl/ mutations
  • {a, ɔ} → {au̯, ɔu̯} / _ l {[dental], [alveolar], #}
  • {a, ɔ} l → {au̯, ɔu̯} / _ k
  • l → ∅ / {a, ɔ} _ [labiodental] except between ɔ _ v
  • {a, ɔ} l → {ɑː, oː} / _ m
• {i, u} → {ɪ, ʊ}
  Notes

  This applies only to short /i u/, not long /iː uː/.

• Great Vowel Shift + diphthong loss
  • {eː, oː, iː, uː, ai̯, au̯, ɔu̯} → {iː, uː, ei̯, ou̯, ɛː, ɔː, oː}
  • {aː, ɛː, ɔː} → {eː, iː, oː}
  • {ei̯, ou̯} → {ai̯, au̯}
  Notes

  The timing around the shift of /ai̯ au̯ ɔu̯/ seems to be a bit confusing; see discussion around https://verduria.org/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=1163 for details. Additionally, the source appears to transcribe Middle English /ɔu̯ uː/ very inconsistently, to the extent that it seems to indicate a merger between the two in Early Modern English (obviously not the case!).

• w → ∅ / # _ r
• Cː → C
• (More) diphthong loss
  • {ɛi̯, ɔu̯} → {eː, oː}
  • {ɛu̯, eu̯, iu̯} → ɪʊ̯
  • {ɔi̯, ui̯} → oi̯
  Notes

  See notes for Great Vowel Shift (above).

• r → ɹ
• {ɡ, k} → ∅ / # _ n
• {eː, uː} → {e, ʊ} / sporadically, across a broad time period
  Notes

  This rule appears to have been active for a long time period, both before and after the FOOT–STRUT split.
• w oː → uː
  Notes

  This rule is not mentioned in the body of the source, but is presented as a regular rule without explanation in the table at the end (seen in /twoː/→/tuː/ ‘two’).
• FOOT–STRUT split
  ʊ → ʌ / sporadically, but never between {m, p, b, f, v} _ {l, ʃ, tʃ}
• n ɡ → ŋ / at the end of a morpheme
• Yod-coalescence
  {t, s, d, z} j → {tʃ, ʃ, dʒ, ʒ} / usually
  Notes

  The precise conditioning of this change is highly dialect-dependent, and not always predictable.

• ɔ → ɒ
• {eː, uː} → {e, u} / sporadically, but especially before {t, d, θ, ð}
• MEET–MEAT merger
  ɛː → iː / usually
• Short vowel changes
  • {a, ɔ} → {aː, ɔː} / _ r
  • {ɛ, ɪ, ʌ, ʊ} → ə / _ r
  Notes

  The conditioning on the first change in this group (affecting {a, ɔ}) is unclear from the source.

• /a/-fronting
  • a → æ / usually
  • a → ɑ
  Notes

  The conditioning on the second change in this group is unclear from the source, but it appears to be sporadic.

• {eː, oː} → {ei̯, ou̯}