Alternate spellings for eME texts in englesaxe

Spelling options

eME (y%)*

c 1150; the default eME spelling; for each sound, takes the spelling common to PC2 & Orm, and failing that - the OE spelling; Features: OE palatal g` /j/ > eME y%, but note merging and new diphthongs: OE ae_g` and e_g` > eME ey% and OE i_g` > eME iy%, and prefix g`e- > eME i-; note also - OE fricative g /G``/ is unchanged (sorge), and OE c`g` /dZ`/ > eME cy%; OE c /k/ before e, i, y and at the end of a word > eME k; ModE th, wh, qu, gh, ch, sh, ea, oa, ou > eME t`, hw, cw, h, c(e/i), sc, ae, a__, u__; accute accent marks long vowels except ae

alt eME (y`)

c 1200; for each sound, it takes the spelling common to PC2 & Orm, and failing that - the PC2 or Orm spelling which is found most commonly in Owl, Lmn, AW, PH3 & SO. Features: differs from eME in that OE g`, c`, hw, cw > eME y`, ch, wh, qu, and final <k> appears as <c>; new ME diphthongs have <i>: OE aeg` > eME ai, OE eg`/e_g`/ae_g` > eME ei and OE i_g`/ig` > eME i_; also OE medial g /G``/ > eME y` (sory`e) and cy% /dZ`/ > gg while /gg/ > ggh; OE intervocalic f > eME v; note that ModE qu, wh, ch are unchanged

Ormulum

c 1161; short vowels are indicated by doubling the following consonant; similar to eME but with the following differences: OE sc > sh, OE hw > wh and OE verbal prefix g`e- is retained; so OE g`eha_ten, weg`, ha_lig` > Orm y%ehatenn, wey%y%, haliy%; OE c` /tS`/ > ch, before e, i and at the end of a word, while OE final c /k/, remains as c; OE fricative g /G``/ > eME y%h` (sory%h`e) and cy% /dZ`/ > gg while /gg/ > ggh`

Ormulum (mod.)

c 1161; a modified version of the Ormulum spelling above; differs only in two respects: short vowels are not indicated by doubling the following consonant; instead, long vowels are indicated by an acute accent; also - /gg/ appears as ǥǥ

Peterborough Chron. 1

c 1122-31; Peterborough Chronicle; for each sound, it takes the most conservative spelling found in PC2; Features: similar to eME, but OE palatal g` /j/, OE combinations - vowel + g` - aeg`, ae_g`, eg`, e_g`, ig`, i_g` and OE noun prefix g`e- are all retained; a dot marks palatal c` & g` and /dZ`/ is c`g`; <k> is replaced by <c> in all contexts; macrons indicate long vowels

Peterborough Chron. 2

c 1150; for each sound, it takes the most progressive spelling found in PC2; Features: similar to alternate eME, but OE palatal g` /j/ > i and OE diphthong aeg` > aei; OE fricative g /G``/ > ch (sorche); <c> before e, i and at the end of a word is pronounced /tS`/; <k> is used for /k/ at the end of a word; OE cw sw hw > cu su uu, respectively

Proclamation Henry III

c 1260; similar to alt eME but with the following differences: OE sc > sch, OE medial or final h /x/ or /C``/ > y` and OE ae_ > ea; other long vowels are indicated by an acute accent: e__ i__ o__ u__; OE long back a_ > long open oa, reflects a post-1200 sound change

Sir Orfeo

c 1300; similar to Proclamation Henry III (PH3), but OE long back a_ > long open ò; post-1200 diphthongs appear: OE ah oh eh/e_h/e_ah > auy` ouy` eiy`; other differences from PH3: OE long vowels ae_ u_ i_ > e` ou ii and the verbal prefix g`e- > y; also - the development of OE voiced fricative g /G``/ towards /w/, is reflected in wh` (sorwh`e); note - <ii> is reduced to <i> finally

Chaucer

c 1380; similar to Sir Orfeo (SO), but initial <y`> /j/ appears as y, while medial and final <y`> (/J`/ or /x/ or /C``/) appears as gh; also - OE e_ > ee, OE i_ > y, OE o_ > oo, OE sc` > sh, OE t` > th, OE voiced fricative g /G``/ > w (sorwe), and OE c /k/ at the end of a word > eME k

late ME

c 1450; similar to Chaucer but uses ASCII (basic Latin) characters only; OE ae_ > ea and OE a_ > oa or o*e; also - in stressed open syllables in dysyllabic words, OE e is lengthened to ea

source text (ascii)

c 1200; similar to eME but uses ASCII (basic Latin) characters only; OE t` > th, OE g` > y, OE verbal prefix g`e- > y and OE combinations of vowel + g` are retained as ay a:y ey e:y eay iy i:y; also - long vowels are marked by a following colon (e.g. cwe:n), but OE ae_ > ea

* all options except last two (late ME & ascii) require a unicode font with Latin ext B

All spelling options are based on the East Midland dialect (pre 1300).
Abbreviations: PC2 - Peterborough Chronicle 2nd cont.(EM 1154), Orm - Ormulum Homily (EM 1161), Owl - Owl & Nightingale (SW 1200?), Lmn - Layamon's Brut (WM 1220?), AW - Ancrene Wisse (WM 1220?), PH3 -Proclamation of Henry III (SW 1258), SO - Sir Orfeo (EM 1300?)