Searching for the Lost Sounds: a Study of Variant Spellings and Sound Change in Early Middle English

2017 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 15K16775
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: English linguistics
• Research Institution: Tohoku University of Community Service and Science
• Principal Investigator: Kano Koichi 東北公益文科大学, 公私立大学の部局等, 准教授 (90735648)
• Research Collaborator: HOTTA Ryuichi 慶應大学, 文学部, 教授 (30440267) ; IKEGAMI Masa 慶応大学, 名誉教授 ; Hoad Terry Peter's College, Fellow of St.
• Project Period (FY): 2015-04-01 – 2018-03-31
• Keywords: 英語史 / 音韻史 / 綴り字 / 方言 / 初期中英語期 / 発音

Outline of Final Research Achievements

For the last three years (2015-2018), I have been exploring the relationship between the variant spellings and pronunciation which are found in the manuscripts written during the early Middle English Period (c.1150-1300). The change of Old English consonant cluster -ht (modern English <-ght>) and the timing of the loss of the fricative sound /-h/ were especially dealt with. The results show that the change could have occurred 25 to 50 years earlier that we usually think, and that the speed of change differs from word to word rather than undergoes systematically from one dialect to another. It is also clear from the project result that we need exhaustive re-examination on dialectal texts for the study of the history of English phonology.

Free Research Field

歴史英語学, 英語音韻史