earticle

영어

Middle English lengthening in open syllables (hereafter refered to as ME OSL) is a sound change that affected non-high short vowels [a, e, o] in open syllables of disyllabic words early in the 13th century. This sound change took place somewhat earlier in North and North East Midland, where high vowels [i, u] were also involved. The ME OSL primarily has to do with vowels with primary stress, but secondarily those with subsidiary stress, too. There are some major current issues concerning the ME OSL. The aim of this paper is to gather all the available information relevant to these problems. In 2.1 and 2.3 an attempt will be made to clarify a final one ― what sounds the ME OSL produced. OE short tense [i], [u], [e], [o], and [æ] became ME lax [I], [U], [el], [ol ] and [a] around the 12th century, and in ME OSL, these short lax vowels lengthened to lax [I], [U], [el ], [ol], and [a], which were initially different in quality from the older long vowels [I], [U],
[e], [o] and [ε]. (Kunsan University)