Early Modern English

==Orthography==
[[File:William Shakespeare by John Taylor, edited.jpg|thumb|upright=0.9|right|[[Shakespeare]]'s writings are universally associated with Early Modern English.]]
The [[orthography]] of Early Modern English was fairly similar to that of today, but spelling was unstable. Early Modern English, as well as Modern English, inherited orthographical conventions predating the [[Great Vowel Shift]].

Early Modern English spelling was similar to [[Middle English orthography]]. Certain changes were made, however, sometimes for reasons of etymology (as with the [[silent b|silent {{vr|b}}]] that was added to words like {{lang|italic=yes|en-emodeng|debt}}, {{lang|italic=yes|en-emodeng|doubt}} and {{lang|italic=yes|en-emodeng|subtle}}).

Early Modern English orthography had a number of features of spelling that have not been retained:
*The letter {{angle bracket|S}} had two distinct [[lowercase]] forms: {{angle bracket|s}} (short ''s''), as is still used today, and {{angle bracket|ſ}} ([[long s|long ''s'']]). The short ''s'' was always used at the end of a word and often elsewhere. The long ''s'', if used, could appear anywhere except at the end of a word. The double lowercase ''S'' was written variously {{angle bracket|ſſ}}, {{angle bracket|ſs}} or {{angle bracket|ß}} (the last [[Ligature (writing)|ligature]] is still used in German [[ß]]).<ref>{{cite book|last=Burroughs|first=Jeremiah|author-link=Jeremiah Burroughs|author2=Greenhill, William|title=The Saints Happinesse|publisher=M.S.|url=https://archive.org/details/saintshappiness00greegoog|year=1660}} Introduction uses both {{lang|italic=yes|en-emodeng|happineſs}} and {{lang|italic=yes|en-emodeng|[[wikt:blessedness|bleſſedneſs]]}}.</ref> That is similar to the alternation between medial (σ) and final lowercase [[sigma]] (ς) in Greek.
*[[U|{{angle bracket|u}}]] and [[V|{{angle bracket|v}}]] were not considered two distinct letters then but as still different forms of the same letter. Typographically, {{angle bracket|v}} was frequent at the start of a word and {{angle bracket|u}} elsewhere:<ref>{{Cite book|author=Sacks, David|title=The Alphabet|year=2004|publisher=Arrow|location=London|isbn=0-09-943682-5|page=[https://archive.org/details/alphabetunraveli0000sack/page/316 316]|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/alphabetunraveli0000sack/page/316}}</ref> hence ''{{lang|en-emodeng|vnmoued}}'' (for modern ''unmoved'') and {{lang|italic=yes|en-emodeng|loue}} (for ''love''). The modern convention of using {{vr|u}} for the vowel sounds and {{vr|v}} for the consonant appears to have been introduced in the 1630s.<ref name="Salmon">Salmon, V., (in) Lass, R. (ed.), ''The Cambridge History of the English Language'', Vol. III, CUP 2000, p. 39.</ref> Also, {{angle bracket|w}} was frequently represented by {{angle bracket|vv}}.
*Similarly, [[I|{{angle bracket|i}}]] and [[J|{{angle bracket|j}}]] were also still considered not as two distinct letters, but as different forms of the same letter: hence ''{{lang|en-emodeng|ioy}}'' for ''joy'' and {{lang|italic=yes|en-emodeng|iust}} for ''just''. Again, the custom of using {{vr|i}} as a vowel and {{vr|j}} as a consonant began in the 1630s.<ref name="Salmon"/>
*The letter {{angle bracket|þ}} ([[thorn (letter)|thorn]]) was still in use during the Early Modern English period but was increasingly limited to handwritten texts. In Early Modern English printing, {{angle bracket|þ}} was represented by the Latin {{angle bracket|Y}} (see [[Ye olde]]), which appeared similar to thorn in blackletter typeface <big>{{angle bracket|𝖞}}</big>. Thorn had become nearly totally disused by the late Early Modern English period, the last vestiges of the letter being its ligatures, {{lang|italic=yes|en-emodeng|y<sup>e</sup>}} (thee), {{lang|italic=yes|en-emodeng|y<sup>t</sup>}} (that), {{lang|italic=yes|en-emodeng|y<sup>u</sup>}} (thou), which were still seen occasionally in the 1611 ''King James Version'' and in Shakespeare's Folios.<ref>{{Cite book|author=Sacks, David|title=Language Visible|year=2003|publisher=Knopf|location=Canada|isbn=0-676-97487-2|pages=356–57}}</ref>
*A [[silent e|silent {{angle bracket|e}}]] was often appended to words, as in ''{{lang|en-emodeng|ſpeake}}'' and ''{{lang|en-emodeng|cowarde}}''. The last [[consonant]] was sometimes doubled when the {{angle bracket|e}} was added: hence ''{{lang|en-emodeng|manne}}'' (for ''man'') and ''{{lang|en-emodeng|runne}}'' (for ''run'').
*The sound {{IPA|/ʌ/}} was often written {{angle bracket|o}} (as in ''son''): hence ''{{lang|en-emodeng|ſommer}}'', ''{{lang|en-emodeng|plombe}}'' (for modern ''summer'', ''plumb'').<ref>[[W. W. Skeat]], in ''Principles of English Etymology'', claims that the substitution was encouraged by the ambiguity between ''u'' and ''n''; if ''{{lang|en-emodeng|sunne}}'' could just as easily be misread as ''{{not a typo|sunue}}'' or ''{{not a typo|suvne}}'', it made sense to write it as ''{{lang|en-emodeng|sonne}}''. (Skeat, ''Principles of English Etymology'', Second Series. Clarendon Press, 1891, [https://archive.org/details/principlesengli00skeagoog/page/n137 page 99].)</ref>
*The final syllable of words like ''public'' was variously spelt but came to be standardised as ''-ick''. The modern spellings with ''-ic'' did not come into use until the mid-18th century.<ref>Fischer, A., Schneider, P., "The dramatick disappearance of the {{vr|-ick}} spelling", in ''Text Types and Corpora'', Gunter Narr Verlag, 2002, pp. 139ff.</ref>
*{{angle bracket|y}} was often used instead of {{angle bracket|i}}.<ref name="oed">{{Cite web |url=https://public.oed.com/blog/early-modern-english-pronunciation-and-spelling/ |title=Early modern English pronunciation and spelling |access-date=26 June 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190626171245/https://public.oed.com/blog/early-modern-english-pronunciation-and-spelling/ |archive-date=26 June 2019 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
*The vowels represented by {{angle bracket|ee}} and {{angle bracket|e_e}} (for example in ''meet'' and ''{{lang|en-emodeng|mete}}'') changed, and {{angle bracket|ea}} became an alternative.<ref name="oed"/>

Many spellings had still not been standardised, however. For example, ''he'' was spelled as both {{lang|italic=yes|en-emodeng|he}} and {{lang|italic=yes|en-emodeng|hee}} in the same sentence in Shakespeare's plays and elsewhere.