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.