philology.pptx

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Early Modern English

Changing pronunciation

What will we be discussing today?

• The complexity of pronunciation

• Shakespears pronunciation

• Great vowel shift, short vowel shift, diphthongs,, consonants and stress.

• presentments as a source for EmodE pronunciation

• characteristics fo presentments

• writers of presentments

The Complexity of Early Modern English Pronunciation

• Poetry

• The work of early orthoepists and phoneticians.

• Roger Lass

• James Milroy

Roger Lass & James Milroy

• A modern listener would find the (probably rather small) part of the language that was comprehensible at all both surprising and rather confusing. The impression would be something like a cross between Irish and Scots and West Yorkshire, with touches of American. (Lass 2001: 257)

• James Milroy disagrees and and argues that Elizabethan English ‘would sound like a somewhat archaic dialect of English’ (2002: 22).

Roger Lass

James Milroy

Shakespearean as a Source (David Crystal)

"highly informed guesswork" -> had avoided representing EME pronunciation in the past because of complexity.

• Great source -> Extensive corpus, Rhyme and meter, Puns and Wordplay, Spelling variations, Comparison with contemporary texts, Comments on pronunciation. E.G. -> ("Rosaline" (("fine")) and "mine")

• Not great source -> Spelling was not phonetic, The great vowel shift was still going on, Regional and Social variation, Use of literary language.

John Hart

John Hart gives us a general idea of what the metropolitan speech norm was like in the mid-sixteenth century.

• Rhotic

• Vowels Trap and Path -> Both were pronounced with a short 'a' sound, similar to the 'a' in 'father'.

• Vowels in words like Put and Cut -> Both were pronounced with the /u/ sound, as in 'foot.'

• Resembled more GA more than RP

Great vowel shift (GVS)

• GVS called a 'chain shift' because one sound change triggered another, like a chain reaction. As one vowel sound changed its position in the mouth, it created space for another vowel to move into.

• GVS wasn't uniform. Northern dialects lagged behind Southern ones in the vowel shift.

• The Great Vowel Shift was a major change in the pronunciation of long vowels.

• The change began around 14th century and continued into the 17th century.

So what exactly happened

Summary

Changes in Diphthongs (Part 1)

• Early Modern English diphthongs changed significantly and Monophthongization was a key process!

Monophthongization

• Diphthong → Monophthong (pure vowel)

  • A diphthong "moves," a monophthong is "stationary."

Summary Diphthongs

nieuw (new) - /niu̯/

meeuw (seagull) - /meːu̯/

Mouth

Go

My

Short Vowel Changes

• Short vowels underwent changes during the Great Vowel Shift, but did not undergo the same dramatic shift as long vowels.

• The stability of short vowels helped maintain some consistency.

• Some short vowel sounds split into two separate sounds. -> These splits led to new phonemes and distinctions in pronunciation.

Consonant Changes

• Loss of /h/ in word-final position and before /t/.

• Velar [x] and palatal [ç] variants of /h/ were lost.

• Distinction between /hw/ and /w/ generally maintained. -> "Which" and "witch" were pronounced differently. This distinction has been lost in most modern English dialects.

• Simplification of initial consonant clusters. -> /kn/ in "know" and /gn/ in "gnaw" lost the initial /k/ and /g/.

• New consonant phonemes /ŋ/ and /ʒ/ came to exist. /ŋ/ as in "sing" and /ʒ/ as in "vision"

Stress in Early Modern English: (Very Similar to Today)

• Reduction to schwa

  • Vowels in unstressed syllables reduced to schwa.

• Stress to distinguish words

  • Stress differentiated words.

  • Example: "present" (noun) vs. "present" (verb)

• Contrastive stress

  • Emphasis shifted stress.

  • Example: "RE-cord" vs. "RE-played"

• Intonation

  • Falling tones for statements.

  • Rising tones for yes/no questions.

Stress in Early Modern English

• Stress in native words

  • Primary stress generally on the first syllable.

  • Example: "table," "garden"

• Stress in Latinate loans

  • Borrowed words had varied stress.

  • Early EModE: First-syllable stress (e.g., "CON-ven-ient").

  • Later EModE: Romance stress (e.g., "con-VEEN-yent").

  • Less Educated Speakers: Initially applied first-syllable stress to Latinate words.

  • Educated Speakers & Time: Romance stress patterns became more common.

presentments

what are presentments?

"Presentments are the paperwork by which constables, churchwardens and holders of other offices reported to the appropriate authorities those matters which fell within their remit." (Cusack p.280)

who wrote presentments?

constables, churchwardens and other holders of offices

constables

task: preservation of peace

unpaid

appointed

comic character type

(Evans)

churchwardens

task: manage church property

unpaid

elected

presentments: offences against canon law

and church discipline

(Cusack p.281)

presentments & language variation

illiteracy → hired writers

lack of skill →

non-standard language

characteristics of presentments

• non-standard spelling → insight into pronunciation

• mis-analysis of difficult words

'vagabond': wacabons (56A/2),facabones

(56C/1) and ffacabandes (56D/2) (Cusack, p. 284)

• lexical variation 'dung-heap'

hys mukhyll at chamburs doore

for a muckillying in the street

hathe kepte A dunge myxton befoore his doore

there is no reformation of the noysome gutter and mixon w1hout posterne gat (Cusack, p.285)

characteristics of presentments

syntax: incohesive sentence structure & double negation

Item Richard Johnson the yeonger for late Coming to Church & as wee thinke hee hath noe imploiment but lasines & there sits verie vnreverentlie ther sometymes lawfing & Romling & a vsuall werer of his hat in Church in Contempt for I see him goe barehed Comonlie athome & in the streetes & a vsuall goer forth of Church before sermon be doone (57/26-30) (Cusack p.286)

Newcome other name we knowe not/ And when we cam to his howsse/ he nor his wiffe was not at home And the we went vnto one methes howsse/ And ther we met the saide Newcome at smythes gate (Cusack p.289 text 55B)

characteristics of presentments

syntax: periphrastic 'do' , lack of punctuation & capitalization

Thes bethe wordes thatt Iohn northe of wyckame Constabell & thomas edwardes of the same town ded here ellesabette fettes say Commyng thether to examyne theme for ther a parell as thay whar commanded by the quennes komessioner ferst they acced hem wossarwante he wase and he sayde my lorde 5 Roberdes man and thei ded acce hem wotter he war of howsholld or arettayner and he sayd of howsholld butt he wase notte In wages butt { sayed} he mytte & yf he wollde then they sayd to heme you haue holld owtte att the coorte well and he sayd I {kame} frome thence I kame yester daye & thether I well akayne bey & bey & they ded saye master fettes we ded her say here grace wase worttelle recayued att my llorde Recces and grette resortte & he sayed no nott huse the resortte thatt wase att sere Ihon wenfordes for they mytte notte be sofvered & then she sayred thuse he ys a were fellen & ase Ranke a papeste as onne ys wette In the Reme of yngellond (Cusack p.289 text 55A)

examples from text A

Thes bethe wordes thatt Iohn northe of wyckame Constabell & thomas edwardes of the same town ded here ellesabette fettes say Commyng thether to examyne theme for ther a parell as thay whar commanded by the quennes komessioner ferst they acced hem wossarwante he wase and he sayde my lorde 5 Roberdes man and thei ded acce hem wotter he war of howsholld or arettayner and he sayd of howsholld butt he wase notte In wages butt { sayed} he mytte & yf he wollde then they sayd to heme you haue holld owtte att the coorte well and he sayd I {kame} frome thence I kame yester daye & thether I well akayne bey & bey & they ded saye master fettes we ded her say here grace wase worttelle recayued att my llorde Recces and grette resortte & he sayed no nott huse the resortte thatt wase att sere Ihon wenfordes for they mytte notte be sofvered & then she sayred thuse he ys a were fellen & ase Ranke a papeste as onne ys wette In the Reme of yngellond (Cusack p.289 text 55A)

transcribe these words into PDE:

wossarwante

acce

arretayner

akayne

worttelle

huse

sofvered

fellen

onne

reme

answers

wossarwante = whose servant (re-analysis + lowering er → ar)

acce = ask (consonant cluster simplification)

arretayner = a retainer (re-analysis of word boundaries)

akayne = again (devoicing)

worttelle = worthily

huse = us (h insertion)

sofvered = suffered

fellen = villain (or possibly felon) (devoicing)

onne = any (Southern rounded vowel)

reme = realm (consonant cluster simplification)

is there a system in the non-standard spelling of text 55A? Or is it just random?

Thes bethe wordes thatt Iohn northe of wyckame Constabell & thomas edwardes of the same town ded here ellesabette fettes say Commyng thether to examyne theme for ther a parell as thay whar commanded by the quennes komessioner ferst they acced hem wossarwante he wase and he sayde my lorde 5 Roberdes man and thei ded acce hem wotter he war of howsholld or arettayner and he sayd of howsholld butt he wase notte In wages butt { sayed} he mytte & yf he wollde then they sayd to heme you haue holld owtte att the coorte well and he sayd I {kame} frome thence I kame yester daye & thether I well akayne bey & bey & they ded saye master fettes we ded her say here grace wase worttelle recayued att my llorde Recces and grette resortte & he sayed no nott huse the resortte thatt wase att sere Ihon wenfordes for they mytte notte be sofvered & then she sayred thuse he ys a were fellen & ase Ranke a papeste as onne ys wette In the Reme of yngellond (Cusack p.289 text 55A)

Is there a system to the non-standard spelling in text 55A? Or is it just random?

Thes bethe wordes thatt Iohn northe of wyckame Constabell & thomas edwardes of the same town ded here ellesabette fettes say Commyng thether to examyne theme for ther a parell as thay whar commanded by the quennes komessioner ferst they acced hem wossarwante he wase and he sayde my lorde 5 Roberdes man and thei ded acce hem wotter he war of howsholld or arettayner and he sayd of howsholld butt he wase notte In wages butt { sayed} he mytte & yf he wollde then they sayd to heme you haue holld owtte att the coorte well and he sayd I {kame} frome thence I kame yester daye & thether I well akayne bey & bey & they ded saye master fettes we ded her say here grace wase worttelle recayued att my llorde Recces and grette resortte & he sayed no nott huse the resortte thatt wase att sere Ihon wenfordes for they mytte notte be sofvered & then she sayred thuse he ys a were fellen & ase Ranke a papeste as onne ys wette In the Reme of yngellond (Cusack p.289 text 55A)

Thes bethe wordes thatt Iohn northe of wyckame Constabell & thomas edwardes of the same town ded here ellesabette fettes say Commyng thether to examyne theme for ther a parell as thay whar commanded by the quennes komessioner ferst they acced hem wossarwante he wase and he sayde my lorde 5 Roberdes man and thei ded acce hem wotter he war of howsholld or arettayner and he sayd of howsholld butt he wase notte In wages butt { sayed} he mytte & yf he wollde then they sayd to heme you haue holld owtte att the coorte well and he sayd I {kame} frome thence I kame yester daye & thether I well akayne bey & bey & they ded saye master fettes we ded her say here grace wase worttelle recayued att my llorde Recces and grette resortte & he sayed no nott huse the resortte thatt wase att sere Ihon wenfordes for they mytte notte be sofvered & then she sayred thuse he ys a were fellen & ase Ranke a papeste as onne ys wette In the Reme of yngellond (Cusack p.289 text 55A)

sources

Bridget Cusack. Everyday English 1500-1700: A Reader. Edinburgh University Press, 2020, https://doi.org/10.3366/j.ctvxcrgs6.

Evans, Hugh C. “Comic Constables--Fictional and Historical.” Shakespeare Quarterly, vol. 20, no. 4, 1969, pp. 427–33, https://doi.org/10.2307/2868541.

Crystal D. Pronouncing Shakespeare: The Globe Experiment. Cambridge University Press, 2005. https://doi-org.ezproxy.leidenuniv.nl/10.1017/CBO9780511487019

Nevalainen, T. An introduction to early modern English. In Edinburgh University Press eBooks, 2003, https://doi.org/10.1515/9780748626366