Loss of Some Consonants

In NE some consonants were vocalised or gave birth to diphthongs and triphthongs.

· [r]was vocalised at the end of the word in the 16^th -17^th c. (see Lecture 11);

· [j]disappeared as a result of palatalisation (see palatalisation in Lecture 12); [j] remained only initially (e.g. year, yard, etc.);

· [х, х’] were lost (e.g. ME taughte [‘tauхtə] – NE taught [to:t], ME night [niх’t] – NE night [neit]

· [kn] à [n](e.g. ME know [knou] – NE know [nou]);

· [gn] à [n](e.g. ME gnat [gnat] – NE gnat [næt]);

H/w:1. Ex. 10-14, 17 on p. 219 in “История английского языка” by Т.А. Расторгуева (copies).