General phonetics

/t/ > /d/ - voicing

/t/ > // - fricativation + voicing
/d/ > /t/ - devoicing
/d/ > // - isolated change
as in The
as in Think
as in Short
as in casual
t as in Church
d as in Judge
The obstruent system:
Plosive: p, b, t, d, k,
Affricate: t, d
Fricative: f, v, , , s, z, , , h

Terminology & changes in a nutshell:

English (West Germanic) belongs to the Indo-European lgs family.
1. Old English (450-1150~King Alfred)
2. Middle English (1150-1450~Chaucer)
3. Modern English (1450-now~Chakespeare)
OE MidE - ModE
/:/ - /o:/ - //
Ham home home
Bat boat boat
Stan stone - stone
Ac oak oak
In OE some letters were not known or used. There was no <z>, <v>, <k>, no letters for voiced
fricatives.
OE: /f s / > /v z /
Nosu > nose; lufu > love; wifes > wives

Relating languages genetically

If lg A and lg B are genetically related, they are sister languages to each other and their origin can be
tracked back to one and the same parent lg. Eng and Ger are daughter lgs of Proto-Germanic; Pol &
Svk are of Proto-Slavic.
While relating lgs we take into consideration:
- the morphological roots (structures are more stable (less likely to change) than meanings)
- consonants (are more stable than vowels)
- cognitive reality (meanings must be justifiable by experimental associations)

- phonetic reality (the sound correspondances postulated must be attestable)

IE language correspondences
(2 next tables refer to chapter Relating languages genetically)
Example
morphology
consonants
Sanskrit
Krp+ana
/k/
German
Herb+st
/h/
English
Harv+est
/h/

Pol
Sierp+
Phonetics:
K > h/s - fricativization
P > v/b voicing
serce
morphology
Greek
Kard+ia
German
Herz
English
Heart+e
Pol
Serd+ecznie
Phonetics:
K > h/s - fricativization
d > t/tz devoicing

/s/

consonants
/k/
/h/
/h/
/s/

Cognition
Sword, shears
Autumn
/hearfest/
autumn /herb/
plant
sickle

Cognition
All words mean
serce

Development of the English indefinite article

Historical (Historycznie czesciej jest /an/)
OE: numerical an one> a/an, one, only
OE: an + lice > on + ly (this is how only was formed)
Phonological
A loss of n in front of another consonant
OE an > an + a nount beginning with a vowel ie. an apple
OE an > a+ a noun beginning with a consonant ie. an stan
A comma: Would you like a can, sir?
Semantic
OE numeral one > ModE indefinite article some, any
Pol jeden (Rus odin) has 2 functions: one, some
Ger eine OE: an has 3 functions: a numeral, an indefinite article, a gender marker
OE MidE - ModE
/:/ - /o:/ - //
an, one, only all should be pronounced with // (bc all go back to the long vowel / :/) but
only only has got this historically correct pronounciation: why not the other two? Bc off the
clash with a far more imp word to own

IE Correspondence cd:

One
Two
Three
That
Father
Foot
Blood

Greek
Heis
Duo
Treis
To
Pater
Pod
Krura

OE
An
Twa
Thrie
Thaet
Feader
Fot
Hreaw

Proto-Slavic
Edini
Duva
Trije
To
Oticu
Noga
Kruwi

T>
P>f
P>f
K>b

Kentum/Satem - the distinction had resulted from a contrast in treating plosives /k g/either as a
velar /k g/ (hard pronunciation; in the West) or as fricative /s / and /z / (sort; in the East)
Kentum (Latin, Green, Eng, Germ) vs Satem (Sanskrit, Pol, Lith)
Ten
Gr: deka Germ: zehn
Skt: dasa Pol: dziesi
Hundred
Gr: hekaton Goth: hund
Skt: satam Pol: sto

The 1st Consonant Shift in Germanic

GL1: fricativization by which IE voiceless plosives /ptk/ becomes voiceless fricatives /f h/
Lat: /pecu/ > OE /feoh/, Eng /fee/
GL2: devoicing by which IE voiced plosives /bdg/ become voiceless plosives /ptk/
Skt: /dru/ > tree; Gr: /drys/ > tree
GL3: deaspiration by which IE voiced aspicated plosives /bh dh gh/ become voiced
unaspirated plosives /bdg/
Skt /bHratar/ > OE brother
Skt /dHuru/ > Eng: door
2 shifts that can be taken as exceptions to GL1
Fricativization blocking by which IE voiceless plosives remain voiceless plosives when they
are preceded with voiceless fricatives
IE /ptk/ PGmc (proto germ lgs) /ptk/ after /fsh/
Lat: /ist/ Germ /ist/ Eng /is(t)/
Voicing by which IE voiceless plosives become voiced plosives when they are followed by the
stressed syllable
IE /ptk/ > /fh/ > /v/ > /bdg/
Lat: sep+tem > OE seofan, seven-siebien, have-haben

The 2nd Consonant Shift in Germanic

Voiceless plosives /ptk/ become fricatives in certain phonetic environment
Ship : schiff; water: wasser; make: machen
The same voiceless plosives /ptk/ become affricatives in other positions
Apple: apfel; cat: Katze
Voiced plosives /bdg/ become voiceless
Door: T r; dry: trocken
Voiceless fricative becomes the voiced plosive /d/

this: das; three: drei

The Great Vowel Shift

The main difference between Chaucers lg (d. 1400) and Shakespeares lg (d. 1616) is in the
pronunciation of the so called long vowel:
/i:/ [beet], /e:/ [bait], /u:/ [boot], /o:/ boat, /a:/ father
OE saed /ae/, Chaucer: seed /e:/, now, Shakespeare /i:/
Now foot /u:/, bc /o/ > /u/; feet /i:/, bc /e/ > /i:/

Vowel pronunciation
before the GVS
bite
meet
meat
mate
out
boot
boat

after the GVS

/i/
/e/
//
/a/
/u/
/o/
//

/a/
/i/
/e/
/a/
/u/
//

Weak vs Strong verbs

Weak verbs - a weak verb is one that has a d, -ed, or- t ending for its past tense. Weak verbs = all
regular verbs + a lot of irregular verbs.
4 Types of Weak Verbs
Past form adds -d, -ed, or t without a change of vowel sound.
Love loved; Work - worked
Past form adds -d, or t with a change of vowel sound.
Tell told; Keep kept
Past form retains the -d, or t ending and shortens the vowel sound.
Meet met
Past form is the same as the base form.
Put put
Strong verbs a strong verb is the one which forms its past tense by ablaut (the change of the root
vowel, root vowel gradation).
Begin began begun
Drive drove driven
Come came come
Sing sang sung
Mixed verbs (both weak and strong)
Hang hanged/hung hanged/hung
Dream dreamed/dreamt dreamed/dreamt
+ czas. Modalne (may, will, shall, can)
Of which type are the verbs: Be, make ???