User:Erutuon/Old English

A proposal, perhaps made by others: that the diphthongs ea, eo, io aren't actually phonemes, but just variants of the vowels æ, e, i before or after velarized or palatalized consonants. If so, then the contrast between æ, e, i and ea, eo, io doesn't have to do with the vowel, but rather the following consonant, and there's a whole set of velarized consonants that occur at the very least after diphthongs.

• plain r

• ǣrest /æːrest/ (from PG *airist; no velarization before front vowel?)
• ærn /ærn/ "house" (from PG *razną; no velarization of initial r?)

• velarized r

• earnian /ærˠnian/ "deserve" (from PG *aznōną)
• eart /ærˠt/ "(thou) art" (from PG *art)
• eorþe /erˠθe/ "earth" (from PG *erþō)
• eornust /erˠnust/ (from *ernustiz)
• liornian /lirˠnian/ (from PG *liznōjaną; other option is *liznējaną, which would make velarization unlikely)
  • leornian /lerˠnian/
• ċeariġ /kʲærˠij/ (from *karagaz)

• hēah /hæːhˠ/ or /hæːx/ (from *hauhaz; velarization before u?)
• heofon /hefˠon/ (velarized f before back vowel)

Benefits: the vowels ea, eo, ie are really just æ, e, i; as far as I know, this is consistent with the later development of the vowels in Middle English. Costs: a set of velarized phonemes, or a phonological feature of velarization, must be added.

Questions: How can words with final ea, eo, ie be explained? How can the contrast between hēah and fǣhþ be explained?

Since Old English had no distinct letter for a low back vowel, it is possible that ea had a rounded offglide like eo: /æɒ/. If so, then eo and ea would be versions of /e æ/ with a labiovelarized (or back rounded) offglide.

Attempt to identify velarized and palatalized consonants in the Lord's Prayer:

Fæder ūre þū þe eart on heofonum, [ˈfæder ˈuːrˠe ˈθuː ðe ˈærˠt on ˈhevˠonum]

Sī þīn nama ġehālgod. [ˈsiː ðiːn ˈnɑmɑ jeˈhɑːlˠɣod]

Tōbecume þīn rīċe, [toːbeˈkume ˈðiːn ˈriːkʲe]

ġewurþe þīn willa, on eorðan swā swā on heofonum. [ɣʲeˈwurðe ˈðiːn ˈwilʲːɑ on ˈerˠðɑn ˈswɑːswɑː on ˈhevˠonum]

Ūrne ġedæġhwāmlīcan hlāf syle ūs tō dæġ, [ˈuːrˠne ɣʲeˈdæɣʲhwɑːmliːkɑn ˈhlɑːf ˈsyle ˈuːs toːˈdæɣʲ]

and forġyf ūs ūre gyltas, swā swā wē forġyfað ūrum gyltendum. [ɑnd forˈɣʲyv uːs ˈuːrˠe ˈɡyltɑs ˈswɑːswɑː ˈweː forˈɣʲyfɑθ ˈuːrˠum ˈɡyltendum]

And ne ġelǣd þū ūs on costnunge, ac ālȳs ūs of yfele. [ɑnd ne ɣʲeˈlæːd ðuː ˈuːz on ˈkostnuŋɡe ɑk ɑːˈlyːz uːs ov ˈyvʲele]

Sōþlīċe. [ˈsoːðliːtʃe]