Template:English sound change examples

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The following table shows a possible sequence of changes for some basic vocabulary items, leading from Proto-Indo-European (PIE) to Modern English. The notation ">!" indicates an unexpected change, whereas the simple notation ">" indicates an expected change. An empty cell means no change at the given stage for the given item. Only sound changes that had an effect on one or more of the vocabulary items are shown.

one two three four five six seven mother heart hear foot feet
Proto-Indo-European Template:PIE Template:PIE Template:PIE (fem.) Template:PIE Template:PIE Template:PIE Template:PIE Template:PIE Template:PIE Template:PIE Template:PIE Template:PIE
Centumization Template:PIE Template:PIE Template:PIE
Pre-Germanic unexpected changes >! dwóy >! tríh₂s >! petwṓr >! pémpe >! sepḿ̥d >! meh₂tḗr >! kérdō Template:PIE
Sonorant epenthesis sepúmd
Final overlong vowels kérdô
Laryngeal loss trī́s mātḗr kowsyónom
Loss of final nonhigh vowels pemp
Grimm's Law twoi þrī́s feþwṓr fémf sehs sefúmt māþḗr hértô housjónom fṓts fṓtes
Verner's Law oinoz þrīz feðwōr seβumt māðēr houzjonom fōtez
Unstressed syllables: owo > ō, ew > ow, e > i, ji > i fōtiz
o > a, ō > ā, ô > â ainaz twai feðwār hertâ hauzjanam fāts fātiz
Final -m > -n hauzjanan
m > n before dental seβunt
Final -n > nasalization hauzjaną
Loss of final -t seβun
Sievers' Law hauzijaną
Nasal raising fimf
ā > ō, â > ô feðwōr mōðēr hertô fōts fōtiz
Proto-Germanic form ainaz twai þrīz feðwōr fimf sehs seβun mōðēr hertô hauzijaną fōts fōtiz
Final vowel shortening/loss ainz? þrīz feðwur mōðar hertō hauzijan
Final -z loss ain þrī fōti
Rhotacism: z > r haurijan
Intervocalic ðw > ww fewwur
Hardening: ð > d, β > v, f [ɸ] > [f] finf sevun mōdar
Morphological changes >! þriju >! herta > fōt
West Germanic pre-form ain twai þriju fewwur finf sehs sevun mōdar herta haurijan fōt fōti
Ingvaeonic (prespirant) nasal loss fīf
ai > ā ān twā
Anglo-Frisian brightening hertæ hæurijan
I-mutation heyrijan fēti
Loss of medial -ij- heyran
Breaking hĕŭrtæ
Diphthong height harmony feowur hĕŏrtæ hēran, hiyran
Back mutation sĕŏvun
Final reduction feowor sĕŏvon >! mōdor hĕŏrte fēt
Raising: ehs eht > ihs iht sihs
hs > ks siks
Late OE lowering: iu > eo þreo
iy > ȳ hȳran
Late Old English spelling ān twā þrēo fēowor fīf six seofon mōdor heorte hēran, hȳran fōt fēt
Middle English (ME) smoothing θrøː føːwor søvon hørte
ME final reduction føːwər søvən moːdər hørtə heːrən
ME a: æ: > ɔ: ɛ: ɔːn twɔː
-dər > -ðər moːðər
ME unexpected (?) vowel changes >! fiːv-ə >! hɛːrən
ME diphthong changes >! fowər
Late ME unrounding θreː sevən hertə
Late Middle English spelling (c. 1350) oon two three fower five six seven mother herte heere(n) foot feet
Late ME final reduction (late 1300s) >! fowr fiːv hert hɛːr
Late ME /er/ > /ar/ (1400s)[1] hart
Late ME Great Vowel Shift (c. 1400-1550) oːn >! wʊn twoː θriː fəiv muːðər heːr fuːt fiːt
Early Modern English (EModE) smoothing foːr
EModE raising /woː/ > /wuː/ > /uː/[2] tuː
EModE shortening mʊðər
EModE /ʊ/ > /ʌ/ wʌn mʌðər
EModE shortening fʊt
Later vowel shifts fɔːr faiv sɪks hɑrt hiːr
Loss of -r (regional) fɔː mʌðə hɑːt hiə
Modern pronunciation wʌn tuː θriː fɔː(r) faiv sɪks sevən mʌðə(r) hɑrt/hɑːt hiːr/hiə fʊt fiːt
one two three four five six seven mother heart hear foot feet

NOTE: Some of the changes listed above as "unexpected" are more predictable than others. For example:

  • Some changes are morphological ones that move a word from a rare declension to a more common one, and hence are not so surprising: e.g. *þrī "three" >! *þriu (adding the common West Germanic feminine ending -u) and *Template:PIE "heart" (stem *Template:PIE) >! *Template:PIE (change from consonant stem to n-stem).
  • Some changes are assimilations that are unexpected but of a cross-linguistically common type, e.g. føːwər "four" >! fowər where **fewər would be expected by normal sound change. Assimilations involving adjacent numbers are especially common, e.g. *Template:PIE "four" >! *Template:PIE by assimilation to *Template:PIE "five" (in addition, /kʷ/ > /p/ is a cross-linguistically common sound change in general).
  • On the other extreme, the Early Modern English change of oːn "one" >! wʊn is almost completely mysterious. Note that the related words alone ( < all + one) and only ( < one + -ly) did not change.

References

  1. Dobson, E.J. (1957), English Pronunciation 1500–1700, London: Oxford University Press, p. 558
  2. Dobson, E.J. (1957), English Pronunciation 1500–1700, London: Oxford University Press, pp. 677–678