Middle English phonology facts for kids

Imagine a time long ago, around 700 years ago, when English sounded quite different! This was the time of Middle English, spoken from about 1150 to 1500. We don't have recordings from back then, so figuring out exactly how people spoke is like being a detective. We look at old writings, poems, and rhymes to guess how words sounded.

The way words were spelled in Middle English was often very simple. People wrote words the way they heard them, which is different from today's English where spelling rules are very strict. This means that people in different parts of England might have spelled the same word differently because they pronounced it differently!

When we talk about "the" sound of Middle English, we usually mean the way people spoke in London in the late 1300s. This was the language of famous writers like Geoffrey Chaucer, who wrote The Canterbury Tales. This article will mostly talk about that specific way of speaking.

To make things easier, we'll use some short forms:

Sounds of Middle English

The sounds in Middle English were a mix of old sounds from Old English and some new ones. Think of it like a language changing and growing! Some sounds became new, separate sounds, while others disappeared.

Consonant Sounds

Middle English had many of the same consonant sounds we have today, like 'p', 'b', 't', 'd', 'm', 'n', 'f', 's', 'l', 'r'. But some sounds were a bit different:

• The 'ng' sound, like in 'sing', was usually followed by a 'g' sound, so 'ring' might have sounded like [riŋɡ].
• The 'h' sound, especially at the end of words like 'night' or 'tough', was often pronounced like the 'ch' in the Scottish word 'loch' ([ç] or [x]). This sound is mostly gone in Modern English.
• New sounds like 'v', 'th' (voiced, like in 'this'), and 'z' became more common. In Old English, these were just different ways of saying 'f', 'th' (unvoiced, like in 'thin'), and 's' depending on where they were in a word. But in Middle English, they became their own distinct sounds. This happened because of:

* Words borrowed from other languages, especially Old French and Latin. * Mixing of different English dialects. * Changes in how words were formed. * The dropping of 'e' at the end of words, which made sounds at the end of words become voiced. For example, 'house' (noun) had an 's' sound, but 'to house' (verb) could have had a 'z' sound.

Vowel Sounds

Vowel sounds in Middle English were also different from today. They had both short and long versions, like 'a' and 'aa'.

• Some sounds that were common in Old English, especially rounded front vowels (like saying 'ee' but with rounded lips), disappeared in most Middle English dialects. They became sounds like 'i' or 'e'.
• The 'a' sound was often in the middle of the mouth, not as far forward as the 'a' in 'cat' today.
• Many new diphthongs (vowel sounds that glide from one vowel to another, like 'oy' in 'boy') appeared. These often came from older sounds like 'gh' (which sounded like 'y' or 'w') or from words borrowed from French.

How Sounds Changed

The English language was always changing during the Middle English period. Here are some of the big ways sounds shifted:

Vowels in Stressed Words

In Old English, there were many pairs of short and long vowels. But as English moved into the Middle English period, these changed a lot:

• Some older diphthongs (like 'ea' or 'eo') became single vowel sounds. For example, the Old English word for 'friend' (frēond) might have sounded like [frøːnd] at first, then changed to [freːnd] in most places.
• The rounded front vowels (like 'y' in Old English) became unrounded, sounding more like 'i' or 'e'. So, a word like Old English synn (sin) became sin with an 'i' sound. However, in some southern parts of England, these rounded vowels stuck around longer.

This left Middle English with a system of five short vowels (like 'a', 'e', 'i', 'o', 'u') and six long vowels.

Unstressed Vowels Disappearing

One of the biggest changes was that unstressed vowels (vowels in syllables that aren't emphasized) started to get weaker and eventually disappear.

• By early Middle English, most unstressed vowels at the end of words were pronounced like a soft 'uh' sound (/ə/).
• Around Chaucer's time (late 1300s), this 'uh' sound at the end of words often disappeared, especially if the next word started with a vowel.
• Later, this 'uh' sound also disappeared from endings like '-es' (for plurals or possessives) and '-ed' (for past tense).

This is why many of the endings that were common in Old English, like those that showed if a word was plural or a verb, started to vanish. For example:

• Old English mētan (to meet) became Middle English meete(n) and then just meet.
• Old English nama (name) became Middle English nāme and then name.

New Diphthongs and 'gh' Sound Changes

The 'gh' sound, which was like a harsh 'h' ([ɣ]), changed around 1200. It often turned into a 'w' sound after vowels. This helped create new diphthongs.

• Also, a sound like 'i' or 'u' was sometimes added before the 'h' sound ([ç] or [x]) in words like 'night' or 'tough'.
• Later, this 'gh' sound completely disappeared in most English dialects. When it disappeared, the vowel before it often became longer or changed into a diphthong.
• Sometimes, the 'gh' sound even turned into an 'f' sound! This is why words like laugh and tough have an 'f' sound today, even though they used to have a 'gh' sound. This also explains why words like though, through, bough, rough, trough, and thought all have -ough- but are pronounced so differently!

Open-Syllable Lengthening

Around the 1200s, short vowels in "open syllables" (syllables that end with a vowel, like 'ba' in 'baby') became longer. For example, Old English wicu (week) became Middle English weːk (week) with a long 'e' sound. This is why words like staff (short 'a') and staves (long 'a') have different vowel sounds today.

Great Vowel Shift

This was a huge change that happened in late Middle English (after Chaucer's time) and into the Early Modern English period. It affected all the long vowels in English.

• The highest long vowels (like 'ee' in 'meet' and 'oo' in 'moon') became diphthongs (like 'eye' and 'ow' in 'cow').
• All the other long vowels moved "up" in the mouth. For example, the long 'a' sound (like in 'father') moved up to become an 'e' sound, and then later became the 'ai' sound in 'name' today.

This shift is a big reason why English spelling and pronunciation don't always match up today. The spelling often reflects how words were pronounced *before* the Great Vowel Shift!

Diphthongs Disappearing

While the Great Vowel Shift was happening, many of the diphthongs that had formed in Middle English also changed. Most of them became single vowel sounds again. For example, the 'ai' sound in Middle English often became a long 'e' sound, which then changed again to the 'ay' sound we hear today in words like 'day'.

How Old English Sounds Became Modern English Sounds

The English we speak today mostly comes from the Middle English spoken in London. The spelling of Modern English words often gives us clues about how they sounded in Middle English.

For example, the Old English sound 'y' (like a rounded 'i') changed differently in different parts of England. In London, it usually became an 'i' sound. This is why words like sin (from Old English synn) have an 'i' sound today. But sometimes, words from other dialects with the 'y' sound were borrowed into London English, and the 'y' became an 'u' sound, like in much (from Old English myċel).

Understanding these changes helps us see how our language has evolved over hundreds of years, making English the unique language it is today!