Changes in the Consonant System of English from a Diachronic Linguosynergetic perspective

• Main Author: Т. І. Домброван
• Format: Article
• Language: deu
• Published: Odessa I. I. Mechnykov National University 2015-04-01
• Series: Записки з романо-германської філології
• Subjects: історія мови; англійська мова; діахронічна лінгвосинергетика; консонантизм; фонетичні зміни
• Online Access: http://rgnotes.onu.edu.ua/article/view/41493
• ISSN: 2307-4604; 2518-7627

The article focuses on historical changes in the consonant system of the English language. The investigation lies within a new multidisciplinary research program – diachronic linguosynergetics. The notion of ‘phase states of the phonetic system of language’ is used to account for the directed chainlike and cyclic mode of phonemes alternations in the history of English. The purpose of this article is to review the historical changes in the system of the English consonants in the aspect of diachronic linguosynergy. The object of the research is consonants. The subject of the investigation is the nature and essence of the changes in the system of the English consonants of Old and Middle English periods of its development. The Old English system of consonants is known to have included such consonants and approximants: • voiced stops [b], [d], [g], [g’]; • voiceless stops [p], [t], [k], [k’]; • fricatives [f-v], [θ-∂], [s-z], [χ-χ’], [h]; • lateral [l], [r]; • nasal [m], [n]; • geminate (long consonants) [pp], [bb], [tt], [dd], [gg], [g’g’], [kk], [k’k’], [ff], [θθ], [ss], [χχ], [χ’χ’], [ll], [rr], [mm], [nn]; • approximants [w], [j]. Obviously, the phonetic processes - assimilation, assibilation, metathesis etc., should be regarded as phase microspaces of the phonetic system of the language in which the relevant linguistic units move along certain trajectories (for example vowel shift or assibilation of consonants). Here any random, chaotic, irregular movements "astray" are virtually non-existent. The trajectory directs the system along a certain path. The manifestation of certain trends in the change of the number and / or the quality of the sound confirms our assumption that all possible phonetic changes occur in a certain space of the state of system, which in its turn explains the existence of the transitional stages from one position to another and the absence of surges which would bypass the intermediate stages. The interdisciplinary approach to the study of the characteristics of the organization and functioning of the linguistic megasystem gives every reason to interpret the changes taking place in the separate subsystems of the language and the language in general, as the synergistic process reveals new perspectives in the study of the evolution of the language.