User:Erutuon/Old English

A proposal, perhaps made by others: that the diphthongs ea, eo, io aren't actually phonemes, but just variants of the vowels æ, e, i before or after velarized or palatalized consonants. If so, then the contrast between æ, e, i and ea, eo, io doesn't have to do with the vowel, but rather the following consonant, and there's a whole set of velarized consonants that occur at the very least after diphthongs.
 * plain r
 * ǣrest (from PG ; no velarization before front vowel?)
 * ærn "house" (from PG ; no velarization of initial r?)


 * velarized r
 * earnian "deserve" (from PG )
 * eart "(thou) art" (from PG )
 * eorþe "earth" (from PG )
 * eornust (from )
 * liornian (from PG ; other option is, which would make velarization unlikely)
 * leornian
 * ċeariġ (from )


 * hēah or  (from ; velarization before u?)
 * heofon (velarized f before back vowel)

Benefits: the vowels ea, eo, ie are really just æ, e, i; as far as I know, this is consistent with the later development of the vowels in Middle English. Costs: a set of velarized phonemes, or a phonological feature of velarization, must be added.

Questions: How can words with final ea, eo, ie be explained? How can the contrast between hēah and fǣhþ be explained?

Since Old English had no distinct letter for a low back vowel, it is possible that ea had a rounded offglide like eo:. If so, then eo and ea would be versions of with a labiovelarized (or back rounded) offglide.

Attempt to identify velarized and palatalized consonants in the Lord's Prayer: