Historical Foundations of Modern English Spelling

List of Principal Questions
1. OE alphabetic way of writing based on a phonetic principle
2. Spelling changes in Middle English. Rules of Reading
3. Modern English Spelling

1. OE alphabetic way of writing based on a phonetic principle
The Ways of writing:
Hieroglyphic
Pictographic
Syllabic
Alphabetic - originally based on a phonetic principle: an accurate graphic representation of pronunciation by using letters to indicate sounds

OE spelling
a separate letter for each distinct sound
the sound values of the letters were for the most part the same as in Latin
spellings, however, were not absolutely consistent:

OE Spelling and Reading Rules

OE Spelling and Reading Rules

OE Spelling and Reading Rules
OE ʒān [g], ʒēar [j], dæʒ [j], daʒas [γ], secʒan [gg] (NE go, year, day, days, say)
The letter h stands for [χ] between a back vowel and a consonant and also initially before consonants and for [χ'] next to front vowels; the distribution of [h] is uncertain:
OE hlǣne [χ], tāhte [χ], niht [χ'], hē [χ] or [h] (NE lean, taught, night, he).
The letter n stands for [n] in all positions except when followed by [k] or [g]; in this case it indicates [ŋ]: OE sinʒan (NE sing).

2. Spelling changes in Middle English. Rules of Reading
In Middle English the former Anglo-Saxon spelling tradition was replaced by that of the Norman scribes reflecting the influence of French and often mixing purely phonetic spelling with French spelling habits and traditions inherited from Old English.

Spelling changes in Middle English

Spelling changes in Middle English
Until the I7lh century reform v was an allograph of u, the two letters often being interchangeable: over ‑ ouer, love ‑ loue.
Although sometimes [z] is still rendered by s: losen (lose), chesen (choose).

Spelling changes in Middle English

Spelling changes in Middle English

Spelling changes in Middle English
Some changes were made for ease of reading and for a better visual image of the word:
Besides, у and w were considered more ornamental than i and u at the end of the word, allowing to finish it with an elegant curve.

Spelling changes in Middle English

Peculiarities of Middle English Spelling

Peculiarities of Middle English Spelling
G and с: [ʤ] and [s] before front vowels;[g] and [k] before back vowels respectively
Y: [j] at the beginning of words, otherwise = letter i, as in NE: ME yet [jet], knyght [knix't], also veyne or veine ['veinə] (NE yet, knight, vein).
th and s: voiced sounds between vowels; voiceless sounds ‑ initially, finally and next to other voiceless consonants: ME worthy ['wurði], esy ['ɛ:zi], thyng [θiŋ], sorwe ['sorwə] (NE worthy, easy, thing, sorrow).
But in ME ‑ unlike OE ‑ this rule does not apply to the letter f = voiceless [f] while the voiced [v] is shown by v or u; cf. ME feet [fe:t] and vayn [vein] (NE feet, vain).

Peculiarities of Middle English Spelling
O = usually [u] next to letters whose shape resembles the shape of the letter u (ME some ['sumə])
but in the same environment it can indicate [o] (тоnе ['mo:nə]
To determine the sound value of о one can look up the
origin of the sound in OE or the pronunciation of the
word in NE:
the sound [u] did not change in the transition from OE to ME (the OE for some was sum); in NE it changed to [٨].
the letter о stood for [u] in those ME words which contain [٨] today,
otherwise it indicates [o]. Cf., e.g. ME some ['sumə], not [nɔt] (NE some, not).

Peculiarities of Middle English Spelling
The digraphs ou and ow – interchangeable:
[u:] in the words which contained [u:] in OE (OE [u:] had not changed) and [au] in NE, e.g. OE hūs > ME hous [hu:s] > NE house
if the modern word has [ou] = ME word with [ou], e.g. ME snow [snou], NE snow (ME [ou] has not altered)
Long sounds in ME texts are often shown by double letters or digraphs.
Open syllables often contain long vowels, while closed syllables may contain both short and long vowels.
Vowels are long before a sonorant plus a plosive consonant and short before other consonant sequences
e.g. ME maken ['ma:kən], lok [lɔk], bihynden [bi'hi:ndən],
bisetten [bi'setən] (NE make, lock, behind, beset)

CANTERBURY TALES by G. Chaucer (late 14th c.)
(1) Whan that Aprille with his shoures soote
[xwan 'θat ap'rilə 'wiθ his 'ʃu:rəs 'so:tə]
(2) the droghte of March hath perced to the roote,
[θə 'druxt of 'marʧ haθ 'persəd 'to: θə 'ro:tə]
(3) And bathed every veyne in swich licour,
[and 'ba:ðəd 'evri 'vein in 'swiʧ li'ku:r]
(4) Of which vertu engendred is the flour;
[of 'xwiʧ ver'tju: en'ʤendrəd 'is θə 'flu:r]

CANTERBURY TALES by G. Chaucer (late 14th c.)
(1) Whan that Aprille with his shoures soote
[xwan 'θat ap'rilə 'wiθ his 'ʃu:rəs 'so:tə]
(2) the droghte of March hath perced to the roote,
[θə 'druxt of 'marʧ haθ 'persəd 'to: θə 'ro:tə]
(3) And bathed every veyne in swich licour,
[and 'ba:ðəd 'evri 'vein in 'swiʧ li'ku:r]
(4) Of which vertu engendred is the flour;
[of 'xwiʧ ver'tju: en'ʤendrəd 'is θə 'flu:r]
When April with his sweet showers
The draught of March has pierced to the root,
And bathed every vein in such liquor,
Of which (whose) virtue (power) engendered is the flower;

CANTERBURY TALES by G. Chaucer (late 14th c.)
(5) Whan Zephirus eek with his swete breeth
[xwan 'zefi'rus ɛ:k 'wiθ his 'swe:tə 'brɛ:θ]
(6) Inspired hath in every holt and heeth
[in'spirəd 'haθ in 'evri 'hɔ:lt and 'hɛ:θ]
(7) The tendre croppes, and the younge sonne
[θə 'tendrə 'kroppəs 'and θə 'juŋgə 'sunnə]
(8) Hath in the Ram his halve cours y-ronne,
[haθ 'in θə ram his 'halvə 'kurs i-'runnə]

CANTERBURY TALES by G. Chaucer (late 14th c.)
(5) Whan Zephirus eek with his swete breeth
[xwan 'zefi'rus ɛ:k 'wiθ his 'swe:tə 'brɛ:θ]
(6) Inspired hath in every holt and heeth
[in'spirəd 'haθ in 'evri 'hɔ:lt and 'hɛ:θ]
(7) The tendre croppes, and the younge sonne
[θə 'tendrə 'kroppəs 'and θə 'juŋgə 'sunnə]
(8) Hath in the Ram his halve cours y-ronne,
[haθ 'in θə ram his 'halvə 'kurs i-'runnə]
When Zephyr also with his sweet breath
Inspired has into every holt and heath
The tender crops, and the young sun
Has in the Ram half his course run (has passed half
of its way in the constellation of Ram).

CANTERBURY TALES by G. Chaucer (late 14th c.)
(9) And smale foweles maken melodye,
[and 'smalə 'fu:ləs 'ma:kən 'melo'diə]
(10) That slepen al the nyght with open ye ‑
[θat 'slɛ:pən 'al θə 'nix’t wiθ 'ɔ:рən 'i:e]
(11) So priketh hem nature in here corages –
[sɔ: 'prikəθ 'hem na'tju:r in 'her ku'raʤəs]
(12) Thanne longen folk to goon on pilgrimages,
[θan 'loŋgən 'folk to: 'go:n on 'pilgri'maʤəs]

CANTERBURY TALES by G. Chaucer (late 14th c.)
(9) And smale foweles maken melodye,
[and 'smalə 'fu:ləs 'ma:kən 'melo'diə]
(10) That slepen al the nyght with open ye ‑
[θat 'slɛ:pən 'al θə 'nix’t wiθ 'ɔ:рən 'i:e]
(11) So priketh hem nature in here corages –
[sɔ: 'prikəθ 'hem na'tju:r in 'her ku'raʤəs]
(12) Thanne longen folk to goon on pilgrimages,
[θan 'loŋgən 'folk to: 'go:n on 'pilgri'maʤəs]
And small birds sing (lit. fowls make melody)
That sleep all the night with open eyes (i. e. do not sleep) –
So raises nature their spirit (lit. pricks their courage) –
Then folks long to go on pilgrimages,

CANTERBURY TALES by G. Chaucer (late 14th c.)
(13) And palmeres for to seken straunge strondes,
[and 'palmrəs 'for to: 'se:kən 'straunʤe 'strɔndəs]
(14) To ferne halwes, couthe in sondry londes...
[to: 'fernə 'ha:lwəs 'ku:ð in 'sundri 'lɔ:ndəs]
And palmers ‑ to seek strange strands,
To ancient saints known in different lands ...

ME Convetional principle of Spelling
one-to-one correspondence of letter and sound had been lost
o = [ɔ], [u], [ɔ:], [o:]
c = [s], [k]
g = [g], [ʤ]
u = [u] and [y], [v]
[ʤ] = g, j or dg
[k] = k, с and q
ou and ow = [u:] and [ou];
oo = [ɔ:] and [o: ] alongside o
[e:] and [ɛ:] = ie, ee, e.
th or dg did not indicate sequences of sounds, but were used as symbols of single sounds, [θ, ð] and [ʤ])
The use of digraphs was a digression from the phonetic principle, for it was based on conventional association between sounds and their graphic representation.

ME Convetional principle of Spelling
The conventional principle of spelling was later reinforced by the fixation of the written form of the word in printing.
The phoneticians and spelling reformers of the 16th с. strove to restrict the freedom of variation and to improve English orthography by a more consistent use of letters and digraphs, and by the introduction of new symbols.

ME Convetional principle of Spelling (16th c.)
a strict distinction between u and v when used to indicate a vowel and a consonant: [u] and [v], e.g. Early NE loue, selues, vnripe, vnshaken later spelt as love, selves, unripe, unshaken
the regular use of the final mute e to show the length of the vowel in the preceding syllable, e.g., rode, rose, and even beene, moone (though in the two latter words length was shown by double letters).

The phoneticians and spelling reformers of the 16th с. introduced
new digraphs: ea = [ɛ:]
e, ее, ie = [e:]
oa alongside o = in open syllables for [ɔ:]
oo = a long closed [o:].
Cf. ME eech, seke with [ɛ:] and [e:] and Early NE each, seek; ME hooly, boot [ɔ:, o] and Early NE holy, boat, boot
use of double consonants became less frequent, except in traditional spellings like kiss, sell
double letters were sometimes employed to show that the preceding vowel was short: Early NE sitten, shott, dipped (later sit, shot, dipped).

The activities of the scholars in the period of normalisation ‑ late 17th and the 18th с.
a stabilising effect on the development of English spelling
dictionaries and grammars fixed the written forms of the words as obligatory standards
a few new digraphs were adopted with borrowed words:
ph, ps ‑ NE photograph, psychology,
ch ‑ NE chemistry, scheme and machine,
g ‑ genre

Modern English Spelling
modern spelling is largely conventional and conservative, but seldom phonetic
16th c.: a new principle of spelling was introduced – etymological: whatever the pronunciation, the spelling should represent to the eye the form from which the word was derived (especially in words of Latin or Greek origin)
dett (borrowed from French dette) was respelled as debt (traced to Latin debitum)
dout (borrowed from French douter) ‑ as doubt (from Latin dubitare)

The so-called etymological spellings
ME ake (from OE acan) respelt as ache from a wrongfully supposed connection with Greek achos;
ME tonge (from OE tunge) respelt as tongue on analogy with French langue, Latin lingua;
ME iland (from OE igland) respelt as island from a wrongfully supposed connection with French isle, Latin insula;
ME scool borrowed in OE from Latin and always written with sc- (OE scool) respelt as school, because in Latin the sound [k] in words of Greek origin was rendered as ch;
ME delit borrowed from French delit came to be spelt with a mute dighraph -gh- on analogy with light ‑ delight, etc.

Modern English Spelling
In the present-day system one sound can be denoted in several ways:
[ɜ] ‑ turn, colonel, herd, heard, bird, blurred, erred, stirred, word;
[ou] ‑ note, noble, both, toad, toe, soul, dough, mow, brooch, oh, mauve, beau, depot, yeoman, sew;
One symbol can stand for different sounds:
ch ‑ chaos, chaise, such, choir; drachm (mute)
о ‑ hot, cold, wolf, women, whom, son, button, lost, hero

Many so-called “silent letters”can be explained only historically:
e (mute e) at the end of words: house, take
b after m: lamb, limb, comb
b before t: debt, doubt
ch ‑ yacht
g before n and m: gnaw, phlegm
h ‑ heir, hour, exhibitor
k before n: knife, knee
l ‑ could, yolk, palm
n after m: autumn, column
s ‑ island, aisle
t after s and f and before l or n ‑ listen, often, wrestle, soften
w ‑ wrap, sword, answer

Modern English Spelling
Walter Skeat, the famous specialist in the
History of English:
“We retain a Tudor system of symbols with a Victorian pronunciation”.

Walter W. Skeat

Main Historical Sources of Modern spellings (Short Monophthongs)

Main Historical Sources of Modern spellings (Long Monophthongs)

Main Historical Sources of Modern spellings (Diphthongs)

Main Historical Sources of Modern spellings (Triphthongs)