A Guide to Pronouncing Middle English – The Medieval Kingfisher

(All like Modern English, with a few exceptions)

Pronounce all consonants in clusters

Other variations

g and k befor n (gnawe, knife)

French gn is [n] (digne, signe)

w before r (write, wroth)

l before f, v, k, m (folk, half, halve, palmer)

ng is normally [ηg] (finger, rather than singer [ŋ])

gh is [x], like in Scots loch and German ich

ch is always [ʧ] as in church

r is trilled

h is not pronounced in French words (honour, hostelrye)

h is silent or weakly pronounced at the start of short ME words (he, hit, him, hem, his)

s should not be [z] in final, stressed positions (was rhymes with glas, cas; is with this)

Phonemes	IPA (RP-English)	Examples
a	[ɑ], top	after, at
a, aa	[ɑː], father	take, caas
e	[ɛ], best	best, hem
e, ee	[ɛː], bed	heeth, ese, see
e, ee	[eː], take	swete, be, see
i, y	[ɪ], hit, in	hit, in
i, y	[iː], seed	I, ride
o	[ɔ], long	of, oxe
o, oo	[ɔː], law	go, hope, so
o, oo	[əʊ], note	roote, to, good
u	[ʊ], put	up, but, come
ou, ow	[uː], to	hous, town
u, eu, ew	[y], French tu (only in French recently-borrowed words. Very forward [u] – almost pursed lips)	vertu, salewe
ai, ay, ei, ey	[æɪ], b/w hay and high	day, sayn, they
au, aw	[aʊ], out	cause, draw
eu, ew	[ju], new, few	newe, reule
oi, oy	[ɔɪ], joy	joye, point
ou, ow	[ɔʊ], b/w law and put	thought, bowe

Þ, þ (Thorn)= th (thick, they)

Ð, ð (Eth) = th (thick)

Ƿ, ƿ (Wynn) = w

Ȝ ʒ (Yogh) = y (yet), gh (light)

Pronouns: his = his, its

hir(e) = her, their

Double negative = intensification, not cancelation

Word order = S-V-O or S-O-V

_{THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE – A BRIEF TIMELINE}

^{CONTRIBUTED BY DR. EMILY DALTON}