Middle English

==Orthography==

With the discontinuation of the [[Late West Saxon]] standard used for the [[Old English orthography|writing of Old English]] in the period prior to the Norman Conquest, Middle English came to be written in a wide variety of scribal forms, reflecting different regional dialects and orthographic conventions. Later in the Middle English period, however, and particularly with the development of the [[#Chancery Standard|Chancery Standard]] in the 15th century, orthography became relatively standardised in a form based on the East Midlands-influenced speech of London. Spelling at the time was mostly quite [[regular spelling|regular]]. (There was a fairly consistent correspondence between letters and sounds.) The irregularity of [[English orthography|present-day English orthography]] is largely due to [[Phonological history of English|pronunciation changes]] that have taken place over the [[Early Modern English]] and [[Modern English]] eras.

Middle English generally did not have [[silent letter]]s. For example, ''knight'' was pronounced {{IPA|enm|ˈkniçt|}} (with both the {{vr|k}} and the {{vr|gh}} pronounced, the latter sounding as the {{angle bracket|ch}} in German {{lang|de|Knecht}}). The major exception was the [[silent e|silent {{angbr|e}}]] – originally pronounced but lost in normal speech by Chaucer's time. This letter, however, came to indicate a lengthened – and later also modified – pronunciation of a preceding vowel. For example, in ''name'', originally pronounced as two syllables, the /a/ in the first syllable (originally an open syllable) lengthened, the final weak vowel was later dropped, and the remaining long vowel was modified in the [[Great Vowel Shift]] (for these sound changes, see [[#Phonology|Phonology]], above). The final {{angbr|e}}, now silent, thus became the indicator of the longer and changed pronunciation of {{angbr|a}}. In fact, vowels could have this lengthened and modified pronunciation in various positions, particularly before a single consonant letter and another vowel or before certain pairs of consonants.

A related convention involved the doubling of consonant letters to show that the preceding vowel was not to be lengthened. In some cases, the double consonant represented a sound that was (or had previously been) [[gemination|geminated]] (i.e., had genuinely been "doubled" and would thus have regularly blocked the lengthening of the preceding vowel). In other cases, by analogy, the consonant was written double merely to indicate the lack of lengthening.

===Alphabet===
The basic [[Old English Latin alphabet]] consisted of 20 standard letters plus four additional letters: [[ash (letter)|ash]] {{angbr|æ}}, [[eth]] {{angbr|ð}}, [[thorn (letter)|thorn]] {{angbr|þ}}, and [[wynn]] {{angbr|ƿ}}. There was not yet a distinct ''j'', ''v'', or ''w'', and Old English scribes did not generally use ''k'', ''q'', or ''z''.

Ash was no longer required in Middle English, as the Old English vowel {{IPA|/æ/}} that it represented had [[#Phonology|merged into /a/]]. The symbol nonetheless came to be used as a [[typographic ligature|ligature]] for the digraph {{angle bracket|ae}} in many words of Greek or Latin origin, as did {{angbr|œ}} for {{angbr|oe}}.

Eth and thorn both represented {{IPA|/θ/}} or its [[allophone]] {{IPAslink|ð}} in Old English. Eth fell out of use during the 13th century and was replaced by thorn. Thorn mostly fell out of use during the 14th century and was replaced by [[th (digraph)|{{vr|th}}]]. Anachronistic usage of the scribal abbreviation [[File:EME ye.svg|10px]] ({{lang|enm|þe}}, "the") has led to the modern mispronunciation of ''thorn'' as {{angle bracket|[[y]]}} in this context; see ''[[ye olde]]''.<ref>''Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary'', [http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ye%5B2%5D ye<nowiki>[2]</nowiki>] retrieved February 1, 2009</ref>

Wynn, which represented the phoneme {{IPA|/w/}}, was replaced by {{angle bracket|[[w]]}} during the 13th century. Due to its similarity to the letter {{angle bracket|p}}, it is mostly represented by {{angle bracket|w}} in modern editions of Old and Middle English texts even when the manuscript has wynn.

Under Norman influence, the continental [[Carolingian minuscule]] replaced the [[insular script]] that had been used for Old English. However, because of the significant difference in appearance between the old [[insular G|insular ''g'']] and the [[Carolingian G|Carolingian ''g'']] (modern ''g''), the former continued in use as a separate letter, known as [[yogh]], written {{angbr|ȝ}}. This was adopted for use to represent a variety of sounds: {{IPA|[ɣ], [j], [dʒ], [x], [ç]}}, while the Carolingian ''g'' was normally used for [g]. Instances of yogh were eventually replaced by {{angbr|j}} or {{angbr|y}} and by {{angbr|gh}} in words like ''night'' and ''laugh''. In [[Middle Scots]], yogh became indistinguishable from cursive ''z'', and printers tended to use {{angle bracket|z}} when ''yogh'' was not available in their fonts; this led to new spellings (often giving rise to new pronunciations), as in [[Mackenzie (surname)|''McKenzie'']], where the {{angbr|z}} replaced a yogh, which had the pronunciation {{IPA|/j/}}.

Under continental influence, the letters {{vr|k}}, {{vr|q}}, and {{vr|z}}, which had not normally been used by Old English scribes, came to be commonly used in the writing of Middle English. Also, the newer Latin letter {{vr|w}} was introduced (replacing wynn). The distinct letter forms [[v|{{vr|v}}]] and [[u|{{vr|u}}]] came into use but were still used interchangeably; the same applies to [[j|{{vr|j}}]] and [[i|{{vr|i}}]].<ref name="Salmon">Salmon, V., (in) Lass, R. (ed.), ''The Cambridge History of the English Language'', Vol. III, CUP 2000, p. 39.</ref> (For example, spellings such as {{lang|enm|wijf}} and {{lang|enm|paradijs}} for "wife" and "paradise" can be found in Middle English.)

The consonantal {{vr|j}}/{{vr|i}} was sometimes used to transliterate the [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]] letter [[yodh]], representing the [[palatal approximant]] sound {{IPA|/j/}} (and transliterated in [[Greek language|Greek]] by [[iota]] and in Latin by {{vr|i}}); words like ''Jerusalem'', ''Joseph'', etc. would have originally followed the Latin pronunciation beginning with {{IPA|/j/}}, that is, the sound of {{vr|y}} in ''yes''. In some words, however, notably from [[Old French]], {{vr|j}}/{{vr|i}} was used for the [[affricate consonant]] {{IPA|/dʒ/}}, as in {{lang|fro|joie}} (modern "joy"), used in [[Wycliffe's Bible]].<ref name="j-oed">"J", ''Oxford English Dictionary,'' 2nd edition (1989)</ref><ref>"J" and "jay", ''Merriam-Webster's Third New International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged'' (1993)</ref> This was similar to the [[gemination|geminate sound]] {{IPA|[ddʒ]}}, which had been represented as {{vr|cg}} in Old English. By the time of Modern English, the sound came to be written as {{vr|j}}/{{vr|i}} at the start of words (like "joy"), and usually as {{vr|dg}} elsewhere (as in "bridge"). It could also be written, mainly in French loanwords, as {{vr|g}}, with the adoption of the [[hard and soft G|soft G]] convention (''age'', ''page'', etc.)

===Other symbols===
Many [[scribal abbreviation]]s were also used. It was common for the [[Lollardy|Lollards]] to abbreviate the name of [[Jesus]] (as in Latin manuscripts) to ''[[Christogram|ihc]]''. The letters {{vr|n}} and {{vr|m}} were often omitted and indicated by a [[Macron (diacritic)|macron]] above an adjacent letter, so for example, ''in'' could be written as ''ī''. A thorn with a superscript {{vr|t}} or {{vr|e}} could be used for ''that'' and ''the''; the thorn here resembled a {{vr|Y}}, giving rise to the ''ye'' of "[[Ye Olde]]". Various forms of the [[ampersand]] replaced the word ''and''.

Numbers were still always written using [[Roman numerals]], except for some rare occurrences of [[Arabic numerals]] during the 15th century.

===Letter-to-sound correspondences===
Although Middle English spelling was never fully standardised, the following table shows the pronunciations most usually represented by particular letters and [[digraph (orthography)|digraph]]s towards the end of the Middle English period, using the notation given in the article on [[Middle English phonology]].<ref>For certain details, see "Chancery Standard spelling" in Upward, C., Davidson, G., ''The History of English Spelling'', Wiley 2011.</ref> As explained above, single vowel letters had alternative pronunciations depending on whether they were in a position where their sounds had been subject to lengthening. Long vowel pronunciations were in flux due to the beginnings of the [[Great Vowel Shift]].

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Symbol !! Description and notes
|-
! a
| {{IPAslink|a}}, or in lengthened positions {{IPA|/a{{IPA link|ː}}/}}, becoming {{IPA|[{{IPA link|æ}}ː]}} by about 1500. Sometimes {{IPA|/au/}} before {{vr|l}} or nasals (see [[Phonological history of English diphthongs#Late Middle English|Late Middle English diphthongs]]).
|-
! ai, ay
| {{IPA|/{{IPA link|a}}{{IPA link|i}}/}} (alternatively denoted by {{IPA|/{{IPA link|ɛ}}i/}}; see [[Vein–vain merger|''vein–vain'' merger]]).
|-
! au, aw
| {{IPA|/{{IPA link|a}}{{IPA link|u}}/}}
|-
! b
| {{IPAslink|b}}, but in later Middle English became silent in words ending ''-mb'' (while some words that never had a {{IPA|/b/}} sound came to be spelt ''-mb'' by analogy; see [[Phonological history of English consonant clusters#mb|reduction of /mb/]]).
|-
! c
| {{IPAslink|k}}, but {{IPAslink|s}} (earlier {{IPAslink|ts}}) before {{vr|e}}, {{vr|i}}, {{vr|y}} (see [[C]] and [[hard and soft C]] for details).
|-
! ch
| {{IPAslink|tʃ}}
|-
! ck
| {{IPAslink|k}}, replaced earlier {{vr|kk}} as the doubled form of {{vr|k}} (for the phenomenon of doubling, see above).
|-
! d
| {{IPAslink|d}}
|-
! e
| {{IPAslink|e}}, or in lengthened positions {{IPA|/e{{IPA link|ː}}/}} or sometimes {{IPA|/{{IPA link|ɛ}}ː/}} (see '''ee'''). For silent {{vr|e}}, see above.
|-
! ea
| Rare, for {{IPA|/{{IPA link|ɛ}}{{IPA link|ː}}/}} (see '''ee''').
|-
! ee
| {{IPA|/{{IPA link|e}}{{IPA link|ː}}/}}, becoming {{IPA|[{{IPA link|i}}ː]}} by about 1500; or {{IPA|/{{IPA link|ɛ}}ː/}}, becoming {{IPA|[eː]}} by about 1500. In [[Early Modern English#Orthography|Early Modern English]] the latter vowel came to be commonly written {{vr|ea}}. The two vowels [[meet-meat merger|later merged]].
|-
! ei, ey
| Sometimes the same as {{vr|ai}}; sometimes {{IPA|/{{IPA link|ɛ}}{{IPA link|ː}}/}} or {{IPA|/{{IPA link|e}}ː/}} (see also [[fleece merger|''fleece'' merger]]).
|-
! ew
| Either {{IPA|/{{IPA link|ɛ}}{{IPA link|u}}/}} or {{IPA|/{{IPA link|i}}u/}} (see [[Phonological history of English diphthongs#Late Middle English|Late Middle English diphthongs]]; these later merged).
|-
! f
| {{IPAslink|f}}
|-
! g
| {{IPAslink|ɡ}}, or {{IPAslink|dʒ}} before {{vr|e}}, {{vr|i}}, {{vr|y}} (see [[g|{{vr|g}}]] for details). The {{vr|g}} in initial ''gn-'' was still pronounced.
|-
! gh
| {{IPAblink|ç}} or {{IPAblink|x}}, post-vowel allophones of {{IPAslink|h}} (this was formerly one of the uses of [[yogh]]). The {{vr|gh}} is often retained in Chancery spellings even though the sound was starting to be lost.
|-
! h
| {{IPAslink|h}} (except for the allophones for which {{vr|gh}} was used). Also used in several digraphs ({{vr|ch}}, {{vr|th}}, etc.). In some French loanwords, such as ''horrible'', the {{vr|h}} was silent.
|-
! i, j
| As a vowel, {{IPAslink|i}}, or in lengthened positions {{IPA|/i{{IPA link|ː}}/}}, which had started to be diphthongised by about 1500. As a consonant, {{IPAslink|dʒ}} ((corresponding to modern {{vr|j}}); see above).
|-
! {{Not a typo|ie}}
| Used sometimes for {{IPA|/{{IPA link|ɛ}}{{IPA link|ː}}/}} (see '''ee''').
|-
! k
| {{IPAslink|k}}, used particularly in positions where {{vr|c}} would be softened. Also used in {{vr|kn}} at the start of words; here both consonants were still pronounced.
|-
! l
| {{IPAslink|l}}
|-
! m
| {{IPAslink|m}}
|-
! n
| {{IPAslink|n}}, including its allophone {{IPAblink|ŋ}} (before {{IPAslink|k}}, {{IPAslink|ɡ}}).
|-
! o
| {{IPAslink|o}}, or in lengthened positions {{IPA|/ɔ{{IPA link|ː}}/}} or sometimes {{IPA|/{{IPA link|o}}ː/}} (see '''oo'''). Sometimes {{IPAslink|u}}, as in ''sone'' (modern ''son''); the {{vr|o}} spelling was often used rather than {{vr|u}} when adjacent to ''i, m, n, v, w'' for legibility, i.e. to avoid a succession of vertical strokes.<ref>Algeo, J., Butcher, C., ''The Origins and Development of the English Language'', Cengage Learning 2013, p. 128.</ref>
|-
! oa
| Rare, for {{IPA|/{{IPA link|ɔ}}{{IPA link|ː}}/}} (became commonly used in Early Modern English).
|-
! oi, oy
| {{IPA|/{{IPA link|ɔ}}{{IPA link|i}}/}} or {{IPA|/{{IPA link|u}}i/}} (see [[Phonological history of English diphthongs#Late Middle English|Late Middle English diphthongs]]; these later merged).
|-
! oo
| {{IPA|/{{IPA link|o}}{{IPA link|ː}}/}}, becoming {{IPA|[{{IPA link|u}}ː]}} by about 1500; or {{IPA|/{{IPA link|ɔ}}ː/}}.
|-
! ou, ow
| Either {{IPA|/{{IPA link|u}}{{IPA link|ː}}/}}, which had started to be diphthongised by about 1500, or {{IPA|/{{IPA link|ɔ}}u/}}.
|-
! p
| {{IPAslink|p}}
|-
! qu
| {{IPA|/{{IPA link|k}}{{IPA link|w}}/}}
|-
! r
| {{IPAslink|r}}
|-
! s
| {{IPAslink|s}}, sometimes {{IPAslink|z}} (formerly {{IPA|[z]}} was an allophone of {{IPA|/s/}}). Also appeared as '''ſ''' ([[long s]]). 
|-
! sch, sh
| {{IPAslink|ʃ}}
|-
! t
| {{IPAslink|t}}
|-
! th
| {{IPAslink|θ}} or {{IPAslink|ð}} (which had previously been allophones of a single phoneme), replacing earlier [[eth]] and [[thorn (letter)|thorn]], although thorn was still sometimes used.
|-
! u, v
| Used interchangeably. As a consonant, {{IPAslink|v}}. As a vowel, {{IPAslink|u}}, or {{IPA|/{{IPA link|i}}u/}} in "lengthened" positions (although it had generally not gone through the same lengthening process as other vowels – see [[Phonological history of English close back vowels#ju|Development of /juː/]]).
|-
! w
| {{IPAslink|w}} (replaced Old English [[wynn]]).
|-
! wh
| {{IPAslink|hw}} (see [[English wh|English {{vr|wh}}]]).
|-
! x
| {{IPA|/{{IPA link|k}}{{IPA link|s}}/}}
|-
! y
| As a consonant, {{IPAslink|j}} (earlier this was one of the uses of yogh). Sometimes also {{IPAslink|ɡ}}. As a vowel, the same as {{vr|i}}, where {{vr|y}} is often preferred beside letters with downstrokes.
|-
! z
| {{IPAslink|z}} (in Scotland sometimes used as a substitute for yogh; see above).
|}