Маъсул муҳаррир: Филология фанлари доктори, профессор: Г. Х. Боқиева Тақризчилар

Chapter XX. PHONETIC PROCESSES IN THE SPHERE OF OLD ENGLISH VOWELS AND CONSONANTS.
EVOLUTION OF CONSONANTS THROUGH THE PERIODS

English Consonants were on the whole far more stable than vowels. A large number of consonants have probably remained unchanged through all historical periods. Thus we can assume that the sonorants [m, n, l], the plosives [p, b, t, d] and also [k, g] in most positions have not been subjected to any noticeable changes. They are found in many words descending from OE though their correlations in the system of phonemes have altered to a varying degree.

The most important developments in the history of English consonants were the growth of new sets of sounds, – affricates and sibilants, and the new phonological treatment of fricatives.
Both changes added a number of consonant phonemes to the system. On the other hand, some consonants were lost of vocalized, which affected both the consonant and vowel system. Like vowel changes, consonant changes can be shown as occurring in the transition period from written OE to the language of the 18^th century, that is in the Early MnE period.
Treatment of Fricative Consonants in Middle English and Early New English Periods
In OE the pairs of fricative sounds (voiced and unvoiced) were treated as positional variants or allophones; sonority depended upon phonetic conditions. In MdE and Early MnE they became independent phonemes.
Phonologisation of voiced and unvoiced fricatives was a slow process which lasted several hundred years. The first pair of consonants to become phonemes was [f] and [v]. In Late MdE texts they occurred in identical phonetic environment and could be used for differentiation between words, which means that they had turned into phonemes. Compare (MnE vein, feign). The two other pairs [θ -ð] and [s-z] so far functioned as allophones.
A new alternation took place in the 16^th century. The fricatives were once again subjected to voicing under certain phonetic conditions. They were pronounced as voiced if they were preceded by an unstressed vowel and followed by a stressed vowel: po`ssess (the first voiceless [s] which stood before an unstressed and stressed vowel became voiced, while the second [s], which was preceded by an accented vowel, remained voiceless. In the same was MdE fishes, doores, take acquired a voiced [z] in the ending. This phenomenon can also account for the voicing of many form-words: articles, pronouns, auxiliaries, prepositions; they receive no stress in speech but may be surrounded by notional words which are logically stressed. On the other hand, the intitial fricative in notional words remains voiceless: thin, thorn, etc.).
Sometimes a similar voicing occurred in consonant clusters containg sibilants, fricatives and affricates: his [his=hiz;] pen`sif – pensive, anxiety`tie –anxiety; Greenwich, etc.
On the whole the Early MnE voicing of fricatives was rather inconsistent and irregular. Though it was a positional change occurring in certain phonetic conditions, these conditions were often contradictory. The voicing had many exceptions: assemble and resemble, though s fins itself in identical positions. Therefore after these changes voiced and voiceless fricatives could appear in similar phonetic conditions and could be used for phonological purposes to distinguish between morphemes: ice [s] and eyes [z].