26. Consonants throughout the Language History не из лекций

26. Consonants throughout the Language History не из лекций

In the history of the English language the consonants were far more stable than the vowels. A large number of consonants have remained unchanged since the Old English period. As we are not in a position to say what were the precise phonetic characteristics of most Old Eng sounds, we can assume that such consonants as [t], [d], [n], [l], [m], [k] and others, which are shown in Old Eng words in the same positions as nowadays, have not been subjected to any alteration.

One of the most important consonant changes in the history of Eng was the appearance of affricates and sibilants, lacking in the Old Eng period. Another important development was the voicing of fricatives from the phonological viewpoint. As a result of these changes a number of new consonants phonemes were added to the system.

On the other hand, at different historical periods we can observe the loss of consonants and instances of consonant vocalization, significant both for their effect on the consonant system and on the vowel system: owing to the vocalization of consonants there developed a number of new diphthongs and long vowels. Although the consonants on the whole were more stable than vowels.

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