Modern English retains many sounds and grammar from Old English (Anglo-Saxon), though some pronunciation has changed. Old English had different vowels, more inflected noun/verb forms, and lost the letters eth, thorn, and wynn. While syntax is generally the same, Old English had more complex inflection than Modern English.

2.  Old English = Anglo-Saxon = OE
› 500-1100 AD
 Modern English = MnE

3.  Modern English retains almost all Anglo-Saxon
consonant sounds, however a number of differences in
orthography or pronunciation exist:
 Ð/ð and Þ/þ (eth and thorn) both sounded as [ð], [θ]
 Ƿ/ƿ (wynn) came from runes to make a [w] sound
 C was only pronounced [k], [t∫] (before e or i) or [dʒ] (in
‘cg’)
 [r] was rolled in OE
 J, k, q, v, z added to regular use in Modern English
spelling
 the [x], [ç] and [ɣ] sounds are not found in Standard
English anymore

4.  Anglo-Saxon vowels sounded very different to
Modern English
 Æ/æ (ash)
 Each vowel had a short and lengthened version.
Lengthened is literally just held for a longer time
 a sounds as MnE father.
 æ sounds as MnE cat.
 e sounds as MnE fate.
 i sounds as MnE feet.
 o sounds as MnE boat.
 u sounds as MnE tool.
 y like the ü in German über or Füße, or like the u in
French tu or dur.
 ie like the i of MnE sit.

5.  6 different diphthongs in Old English
› Ea = æ + a
› Eo = e + o
› Ie = i + e
 + Lengthened versions of each

6.  Verbs generally all had an -an ending in the infinitive
form
 In Anglo-Saxon, strong verbs have vowels in the stem of
the word changed
 A number of strong verbs remain in Modern English. Eg:
sing → sang → sung
 7 classes of strong verbs, sorted by stem
vowel, conjugated into three tenses, as well as the
infinitive form
Infinitive Past Singular Past Plural Past Participle
wrítan (to write) wrát writon writen
snípan (to cut) snáþ snidon sniden

7.  Weak verbs had 3 classes and 2 forms
plus the infinitive
 Weak vowels add -d or -t suffixes for
tense change.
 ‘-d’ in Modern English can now be a
marker of a regular verb
Infinitive Past Tense Past Participle
déman (to judge) démde démed
híeran (to hear) híerde híered

8.  In Modern English our verbs agree with
subject in number
› I like, she likes, they like
 As well as infinitive, there are four forms
verbs can be inflected to make
Infinitive Present Present Past Past
Participle Participle
To like Like Liking Liked Liked

9.  Anglo-Saxon used many more inflected
forms of nouns, pronouns and adjectives
with suffixes showing number, gender
and case (nominative, accusative, etc.)
 Barely occurs in Modern English except
for the plural ‘s’ and the different forms
of pronouns

10.  Single
 Masc. Neut. Fem.
 N* blæc (black) blæc blacu
 G blaces blaces blæcre
 D blacum blacum blæcre
 A blæcne blæc blace
 I blace blace -
 Plural
 N blace blacu blaca
 G blacra blacra blacra
 D blacum blacum blacum
 A blace blacu blaca

12. Function Singular Plural
1st Person
Subject I We
Object Me Us
Possessor My/mine Our(s)
2nd Person
Subject/Object You You
Possessor Your(s) Your(s)
3rd Person
Subject He, she, it They
Object Him, her, it Them
Possessor His, her(s), its Their(s)

13.  Basic syntax of Anglo-Saxon is maintained in
modern English
 Most preserved texts are prose
 Negative sentences started with negative
participle ‘ne’
 Most simple sentence would be subject-
verb-object
 Question would invert to verb-subject-
object
 Eg: You are stupid. → Are you stupid?

14.  * N=
Nominative, G=Genitive, D=Dative, A=Accusative, I=Instrume
ntal
› Nominative ~ Subjective
› Genitive ~ Possessive Case
› Dative ~ Object of prepositional phrases
› Accusative ~ Objective Case

15.  http://www.omniglot.com/writing/oldenglish.htm
 http://www.atsweb.neu.edu/hlittlefield/CourseDocs/HistE
ng/HistLect6-OE-Phon.pdf
 http://mockingbird.creighton.edu/english/fajardo/teachin
g/eng520/oldeng.htm
 http://www.wmich.edu/medieval/resources/IOE/pronunci
ation.html
 http://www.jebbo.co.uk/learn-oe/contents.htm
 http://babaev.tripod.com/archive/grammar43.html
 H. Sweet, Sweet’s Anglo-Saxon primer, 9th edn, Oxford
University Press, London, 1974, p. 2