Orthography Middle English

1 orthography

1.1 alphabet
1.2 other symbols
1.3 letter-to-sound correspondences

orthography

with discontinuation of late west saxon standard used writing of old english in period prior norman conquest, middle english came written in wide variety of scribal forms, reflecting different regional dialects , orthographic conventions. later in middle english period, however, , particularly development of chancery standard in 15th century, orthography became relatively standardised in form based on east midlands-influenced speech of london. spelling @ time quite regular (there consistent correspondence between letters , sounds). irregularity of present-day english orthography largely due pronunciation changes have taken place on modern english , modern english eras.

middle english did not have silent letters. example, knight pronounced [ˈkniçt] (with both ⟨k⟩ , ⟨gh⟩ pronounced, latter sounding ⟨ch⟩ in german knecht). major exception silent ⟨e⟩ – pronounced, lost in normal speech chaucer s time. letter, however, came indicate lengthened – , later modified – pronunciation of preceding vowel. example, in name, pronounced 2 syllables, /a/ in first syllable (originally open syllable) lengthened, final weak vowel later dropped, , remaining long vowel modified in great vowel shift (for these sound changes, see under phonology, above). final ⟨e⟩, silent, became indicator of longer , changed pronunciation of ⟨a⟩. in fact vowels have lengthened , modified pronunciation in various positions, particularly before single consonant letter , vowel, or before pairs of consonants.

a related convention involved doubling of consonant letters show preceding vowel not lengthened. in cases double consonant represented sound (or had been) geminated, i.e. had genuinely been doubled (and have regularly blocked lengthening of preceding vowel). in other cases, analogy, consonant written double merely indicate lack of lengthening.

alphabet

the basic old english latin alphabet had consisted of 20 standard letters (there not yet distinct j, v or w, , old english scribes did not use k, q or z) plus 4 additional letters: ash ⟨æ⟩, eth ⟨ð⟩, thorn ⟨þ⟩ , wynn ⟨ƿ⟩.

ash no longer required in middle english, old english vowel /æ/ represented had merged /a/. symbol nonetheless came used ligature digraph ⟨ae⟩ in many words of greek or latin origin, did œ ⟨oe⟩.

eth , thorn both represented /θ/ in old english. eth fell out of use during 13th century , replaced thorn. thorn fell out of use during 14th century, , replaced ⟨th⟩. (anachronistic usage of scribal abbreviation ( þe , i.e. ) has led modern mispronunciation of thorn ⟨y⟩ in context; see ye olde.)

wynn, represented phoneme /w/, replaced ⟨w⟩ during 13th century. due similarity letter ⟨p⟩, represented ⟨w⟩ in modern editions of old , middle english texts when manuscript has wynn.

under norman influence, continental carolingian minuscule replaced insular script had been used old english. however, because of significant difference in appearance between old insular g , carolingian g, former continued in use separate letter, known yogh, written ⟨ȝ⟩. adopted use represent variety of sounds: [ɣ], [j], [dʒ], [x], [ç], while carolingian g used [g]. instances of yogh replaced ⟨j⟩ or ⟨y⟩, , ⟨gh⟩ in words night , laugh. in middle scots yogh became indistinguishable cursive z, , printers tended use ⟨z⟩ when yogh not available in fonts; led new spellings (often giving rise new pronunciations), in mckenzie, ⟨z⟩ replaced yogh had pronunciation /j/.

under continental influence, letters ⟨k⟩, ⟨q⟩ , ⟨z⟩, had not been used old english scribes, came commonly used in writing of middle english. newer latin letter ⟨w⟩ introduced (replacing wynn). distinct letter forms ⟨v⟩ , ⟨u⟩ came use, still used interchangeably; same applies ⟨j⟩ , ⟨i⟩. (for example, spellings such wijf , paradijs wife , paradise can found in middle english.)

the consonantal ⟨j⟩/⟨i⟩ used transliterate hebrew letter yodh, representing palatal approximant sound /j/ (and transliterated in greek iota , in latin ⟨i⟩); words jerusalem, joseph, etc. have followed latin pronunciation beginning /j/, is, sound of ⟨y⟩ in yes. in words, however, notably old french, ⟨j⟩/⟨i⟩ used affricate consonant /dʒ/, in joie (modern joy ), used in wycliffe s bible. similar geminate sound [ddʒ], had been represented ⟨cg⟩ in old english. time of modern english, sound came written ⟨j⟩/⟨i⟩ @ start of words (like joy), , ⟨dg⟩ elsewhere (as in bridge). written, in french loanwords, ⟨g⟩, adoption of soft g convention (age, page, etc.)

other symbols

many scribal abbreviations used. common lollards abbreviate name of jesus (as in latin manuscripts) ihc. letters ⟨n⟩ , ⟨m⟩ omitted , indicated macron above adjacent letter, example in written ī. thorn superscript ⟨t⟩ or ⟨e⟩ used , the; thorn here resembled ⟨y⟩, giving rise ye of ye olde . various forms of ampersand replaced word and.

numbers still written using roman numerals, except rare occurrences of arabic numerals during 15th century.

letter-to-sound correspondences

although middle english spelling never standardised, following table shows pronunciations represented particular letters , digraphs towards end of middle english period, using notation given in article on middle english phonology. explained above, single vowel letters had alternative pronunciations depending on whether in position sounds had been subject lengthening. long vowel pronunciations in flux due beginnings of great vowel shift.