Phonological Processes of Germanic Origin

Of the 1,000 words most used in English
nowadays, 83% has Old English origin and still

retains Germanic stress on the first syllable.
Among these Old English words are kinship terms,

body parts, numbers, days of the week, festivities,
prepositions, irregular plurals, irregular verbs,
auxiliaries, modal verbs, possessive/genitive case,
phrasal verbs, suffixes:-hood: childhood,-ing:
going, -ly: quickly, -ness: kindness,-en: threaten, -
ish: childish, - ship: friendship, -less: groundless,
etc.
PHONOLOGICAL PROCESSES OF GERMANIC
ORIGIN:
1. Irregular plurals
2. Noun-verb pairs
3. Irregular verbs
Irregular Plurals
There are some irregular English plurals that retain
vestiges of the Germanic system, brought into
what is now Great Britain by the Saxons, Angles,
Jutes and years later by the Vikings.
1. There are native English nouns that have
identical singular and plural, so phonologically
there is no change at all: deer, sheep, moose
(alce), elk, fish.
2. Nouns such as
foot feet /fut, fi:t/
tooth teeth / tu:T, ti:T/
goose geese /gu:s gi:s /
man men /mn, men/
mouse mice /maus, maIs/
louse lice /laus, laIs /
are remains of an earlier rule. They undergo
VOWEL ALTERNATION
3. There are plurals which are realised by the
addition of sounds like the –en ending :
ox oxen / ks , ksn/
In some words there is an additional change of

vowels _ VOWEL ALTERNATION_ as in the case
of
child children /tSaIld , tSIldrn/
brother brethren / brVD , breDrn/
woman women /wumn , wImIn/
4. Consonant alternation: voiceless to
voiced alternation
/T/ /Dz/
path,paths /p:T, p:Dz/
bath, baths / b:T, b:Dz/
moth, moths /mT, mDz/
oath, oaths / uT, uDz/
truth, truths /tru:T, tru:Dz/
youth, youths /ju:T, ju:Dz/
mouth mouths /mauT, mauDz/
BUT /θ/ → /θs/
birth births
earth earths
hearth hearths
length lengths
cloth cloths
death deaths
faith faiths
month months
moth moths
strength strengths
mammoth mammoths
• Double forms in:
oath oaths/θs/ oaths/ðz/
sheath sheaths /θs / sheaths /ðz/
truth truths /θs/ truths /ðz/
wreath wreaths /θs/ wreaths /ðz/
/f/  /vz/
calf calves
elf elves
half halves
knife knives
leaf leaves
life lives
loaf loaves
self selves
shelf shelves
thief thieves
wife wives
wolf wolves
Voiceless / s/ becomes voiced /zIz/
/s/  /zIz/
house, houses / haus, hauzIz/
It is the only example of this process which still
remains.
Etymologically related words
The part of speech of English words is often

signalled phonologically. For example,
there are etymologically related nouns
and verbs where the noun ends in a
voiceless fricative and the verb in a
voiced fricative:
noun verb
(voiceless final C) (voiced final C)
/s/ /z/
use / ju:s/ to use /ju:z/
house /haus/ to house /hauz/
abuse /bju:s/ to abuse /bju:z/
excuse / kskju:s/ to excuse /kskju:z/
loss /ls/ to lose / lu:z/
advice /dvas/ to advise / dvaz/
choice /tSOs/ to choose /tSu:z/
/T/ /D /
bath /bA:T to bathe /beD/
teeth /ti:T/ to teethe/ti:D/
mouth /mauT/ to mouth /mauD/
cloth / klT/ to clothe /kluD/
f/
/ /v/
shelf /Self/ to shelve /Selv/
life /laf/ to live /liv/
grief /gri:f/ to grieve/ gri:v/
half /hA:f/ to halve /hA:v/
safe /sef/ to save /sev/
belief /bili:f/ to believe /bili:v/
relief /rili:f/ to relieve /rili:v/
proof /pru:f/ to prove /pru:v/
IRREGULAR VERBS
Irregular verbs are more common in English than
irregular nouns.
Except for the most frequent examples, such as be

(am, is, are) and go, (which are completely
irregular and therefore follow no discernible
pattern), English irregular verbs have patterns
that are historically motivated.
REALIZATIONS OF THE IRREGULAR
PRETERITE FORMS
1.VOWEL ALTERNATION (past and past
participle morphemes are identical)
find found found
meet met met
------ ----- ------
2.VOWEL ALTERNATION (past and past participle
forms are different)
begin began begun
drink drank drunk
ring rang rung
-------- -------- -------
3. VOWEL ALTERNATION (with addition of
consonants- past and past participle morphemes
are identical)
deal dealt dealt
feel felt felt
keep kept kept
sleep slept slept
-------- -------- ---------
4. VOWEL ALTERNATION (with nasal
suffixation)in the past participle form:
break broke broken
choose chose chosen
speak spoke spoken
-------- ------ ---------
5. NO VOWEL ALTERNATION (with consonant
alternation)
bend bent bent
lend lent lent
send sent sent
have had had
make made made
6. NO VOWEL ALTERNATION (with addition of
consonants or suffixation- past and past participle
forms are identical:
burn burnt burnt
learn learnt learnt
smell smelt smelt
spill spilt spilt
7. NO VOWEL ALTERNATION (no addition of
consonants- three forms are identical)
cost cost cost
cut cut cut
hit hit hit
hurt hurt hurt
------ ------ -----

Phonological Processes of Germanic Origin

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Phonological Processes of Germanic Origin

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Of the 1,000 words most used in English

nowadays, 83% has Old English origin and still

Among these Old English words are kinship terms,

In some words there is an additional change of

The part of speech of English words is often

Except for the most frequent examples, such as be

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