A Deeper Look At Language Change Laȝamon's Brut
Written toward the end of the 12th century, this is a chronicle history of Britain
We know that Laȝamon wrote it because he IDs himself .... other than that he is lost to history
He quotes three earlier histories as his sources
"Brut" is based upon a legend that an ancient Greek warrior "Brutus" came to uninhabited Britain with a small company of Trojans and founded what became London - and hence was the first king of England - � Laȝamon's Brut
Illustrated in text (p. 110)
Innovative orthographic features, including:
Round "s" (s) used word-finally, shaft "s" (ſ) in most other environments, i.e. "ſtaþe"
Yogh (ȝ) used for [j], but "g" for [g]
Wynn (ƿ) gives way to "w" Orthographic Factoid
The convention of using round-s in word final position and shaft-s in most other positions continues well into the modern era Brut Text
Incipit hyſtoria Brutonum. An proeſt wes on leoden: Laȝamon wes ihoten he wes leouenaðes ſone: liðe him beo drihten. he wonede at Ernleȝe: at æðelen are chirechen vppen ſeuarne ſtaþe: sel þar him þuhte. on feſt Radeſtone: þer he bok radde. hit com him on mode: & on his mern þonke. þet he wolde of engle þa æðelæn tellen. wat heo ihoten weoren wonene heo comen. þa englene londe: æreſt ahten. æfter þan flode: þe from drihtene com. þe al her a quelde: quic þat he funde. buten noe & sem: japhet & cham & heore four wiues: þe mid heom weren on archen Brut Text
Incipit hyſtoria Brutonum. Here begins the history of Britain An proeſt wes on leoden: Laȝamon wes ihoten (There) was a priest in (the) land, Lagamon was called he wes leouenaðes ſone: liðe him beo drihten. he was Leovenath’s son, gracious to him be the lord he wonede at Ernleȝe: at æðelen are chirechen he dwelt at Arely, at a noble church vppen ſeuarne ſtaþe: sel þar him þuhte. upon Severn’s bank - good there to him thought on feſt Radeſtone: þer he bok radde. near Radestone, where he books read hit com him on mode: & on his mern þonke. it came to him in mind and in his chief thought þet he wolde of engle þa æðelæn tellen. that we would of the Engles the noble deeds tell wat heo ihoten weoren wonene heo comen. what they named were and whence they came þa englene londe: æreſt ahten. who English land first possessed æfter þan flode: þe from drihtene com. after the flood that from the lord came þe al her a quelde: quic þat he funde. that all here destroyed alive that he found buten noe & sem: japhet & cham except Noah & Shem, Japhet and Ham & heore four wiues: þe mid heom weren on archen and their four wives who with them were in the ark Notable Developments
Destressing of word-final vowels (with subsequent reduction to [ə] is afoot: þa, þas, þe, þene, þeos, þet quite possibly are all more or less becoming [θə]
Loss of prefixes & suffixes: OE perfective [jə] "ȝe" - reduced to [i] in ihoten (ȝehaten) "called", iber (ȝebær/ȝeberan) "bore" or ø in leide (ȝeleȝd/ lecȝan) "laid" Notable Developments
Regularization of plural suffixes:
OE MnE
cyning/cyningas king/kings
scip/scipu ship/ships
cild/cildru child/children
land/land land/lands
andswaru/andswara answer/answers
nama/naman name/names
gos/ges goose/geese Notable Developments
Regularization of English plurals in this period shows a tendency to generalize either -(e)s or -en: ...& heore four *wiues: þe mid heom weren on archen
... *feþeren he nom mid *fingren: fide on boc-felle.
*OE - wifa, feþra, fingras French Influence
French spelling conventions:
"ch" replaces OE "c" for [ʧ], and "k/ck" for [k]
OE Brut MnE cyrican (dat.) chirechen church frencisc frenchis French leoflice leofliche lovingly macode makede made boc bock book Notable Develpments
"gg" replaces "cȝ" for [ʤ]: OE secȝan > ME segge (say)
"qu" replaces "cw": cwene > quene (queen), cwic > quic (alive)
"ou" replaces "u": broȝhte > brouhte (brought) Note: In early ME, "u" could be [u:], [ʊ], [ü], [v] (until the 17th century) or [w] "uu". Also, the ME convention of doubling vowels to mark length would mean that "uu" could be either [u:] or [w]. Hence, adopting "ou" or it's alternate form "ow" had practical application. Latin Influence
Since Latin was the original language of scholarship & religion in England, many Latin spelling conventions made their way into English spelling ... for ideosyncratic reasons.
"o" for [ʊ] - OE cuman, sum, nunc, sunu, wulf came to be spelled come, some, monk, son, wolf because the letter "u" in book handwriting was easy to confuse with "n" or "m", whereas "o" was clearer and easier to read. Other Orthographic Changes
"a" replaces "æ" - in OE, "æ" distinguished [æ] from [a]. By ME, "æ" is lost as 1. it wasn't found in French and 2. long [æ] > [ɛ:], which was spelled with "e"
OE Brut MnE æȝhwylcne alcen/alc each ælmigtiȝan almiten almighty fæder fader father's ræd/rædan radde read stæþe staþe bank toȝædere togadere together þære þare the þæt þat that Other Orthographic Changes
Introduction of the letter "g" to English
OE used yogh "Ȝ" for [g], [j], and [ɣ]
Leȝemon uses "g" for [g], "ȝ" for [j]
OE Brut MnE
enȝle engle the English
enȝlena englene of the English
ȝod godd God
ȝeond ȝond throughout More Orthographic Changes
Variant spellings for [ʃ]
Early OE "sc" = [sk] > [ʃ] (ON spelled it "sk")
Variations included s, ss, sch, ssh, sh (except in words where evidence of their derivation was left as a marked feature, i.e. machine, schedule, etc.
OED lists variant spellings for "shield" from OE to MnE: scild, scyld, sceld, seld, sseld, sheld, cheld, scheld, sceild, scheeld, cheeld, schuld, scelde schulde, schylde, shilde, schelde, sheeld, schield, childe, scheild, shild, shylde, sheelde, schielde, sheild, shield Reduction of Unstressed Vowels
Reduction of unstressed vowels in MnE to [ə] is so normal that [ə] is the commonest vowel in speech
In OE -on, -an, -am, -um, -a, -u, etc. the vowels were originally pronounced as [ɔ], [a], [ʊ]
When the spelling of these vowels become inconsistent, it's a strong indication that they were weakening to [ə] Reduction of Unstressed Vowels
OE Brut MnE "a" > "e" - [ə] biddað biddeð prays
hire/hira/heora heore their
sel/selra sel/selre good/better
þridda þridde third
"or" > "er" - [ər]
modor > moder
"u" > "e" - [ə]
sunu > sone Reduction of Unstressed Vowels
"an" > "en - [ən] OE Brut MnE
æþelan æþelen noble
butan boten/buten outside
tellan tellen tell
writan writen write Loss of unstressed vowel:
mæran > mern (splendid, chief)
[ɛj] > [ɛɪ] > [ɪɛ]
feȝde (feȝan) > fiede (wrote) Other Vowel Changes
Formation of new diphthongs (pp 121 - 122)
[æ:] > [ɛ:] (p 122)
All four OE diphthongs reduce to single vowels (pp 122 - 124)
[y:] / [y] either (pp 124-125)
unrounded and became [i]/[i:]
unrounded and became [e]/[e:]
remained unchanged Other Vowel Changes
These forms from the Brut indicate something was afoot and that [a:] was rounding to [ɔ:] (pp 125 - 127)
OE Brut MnE
ȝan gon Pret Marker
ȝehaten ihoten called
nam (niman) nom took
be+wan bi won won (acquired) Other Vowel Changes
New words bring about a new low back vowel
With [a:] > [ɔ:] we now have a hole in the vowel system, except that ...
Many French borrowings bring [a:] with them (p. 128)
Short vowels in open syllables of two-syllable words lengthen (effects [a], [e] & [o] (p. 129-130) Consonant Changes
Loss of initial [h] - hwæt > wat (what), hwanon > wonene (whence) {could be French influence}
Omission of [ɣ] marker