Velar Consonants in Early Old English. Growth of New Phonemes

§ 141. In Early OE velar consonants split into two distinct sets of sounds, which eventually led to the growth of new phonemes.

The velar consonants [k,g,x,γ] were palatalised before a front vow­el, and sometimes also after a front vowel, unless followed by a back vowel. Thus in OE cild (NE child)the velar consonant [k] was softened to [k'] as it stood before the front vowel [i]: [*kild] > [k'ild]; similar­ly [k] became [k'] in OE sprǣc (NE speech)after a front vowel but not in OE sprecan (NE speak)where [k] was followed by the back vow­el [a]. In the absence of these phonetic conditions the consonants did not change, with the result that lingual consonants split into two sets, palatal and velar. The difference between them became phonemic when, a short time later, velar and palatal consonants began to occur in simi­lar phonetic conditions; cf. OE cild [k'ild], ciest [k'iest] (NE child, chest)with palatal [k'] and ceald, cēpan (NE cold, keep)with hard, velar [k] — both before front vowels.

Though the difference between velar and palatal consonants was not shown in the spellings of the OE period, the two sets were undoubtedly differentiated since a very early date. In the course of time the phonetic difference between them grew and towards the end of the period the pal­atal consonants developed into sibilants and affricates: [k'] > [ʧ], [g] > [dʒ]; in ME texts they were indicated by means of special digraphs and letter sequences (see the Mod E descendants of the OE examples in Table 8)

Table 8

Palatalisation and Splitting of Velar Consonants

§ 142. The date of the palatalisation can be fixed with considerable precision in relation to other Early OE sound changes. It must have taken place after the appearance of [æ, æ:] (referred to the 5th c.) but prior to palatal mutation (late 6th or 7th c); for [æ, æ:] could bring about the palatalisation of consonants (recall OE sprǣc, NE speech), while the front vowels which arose by palatal mutation could not. In OE cēpan (from *kōpjan)and OE cyninʒ(with [e:] and [y] through palatal mutation) the consonant [k] was not softened, which is confirmed by their modern descendants, keep and king. The front vowels [y] and [e:] in these and similar words must have appeared only when the splitting of velar consonants was well under way. Yet it is their appear­ance that transformed the two sets of positional allophones into phonemes, for a velar and a palatal consonant could now occur before a front vowel, that is, in identical phonetic conditions: cf. OE cyninʒand cӯse (NE king, cheese).