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AN OUTLINE OF ANGLO-SAXON GRAMMAR.
VOWELS AND DIPHTHONGS.
3. An approximate pronunciation of the vowels is indicated in the following table:
| a | As in German Mann | |
| ā | the preceding sound lengthened. | |
| æ | like a in at, man. | |
| ǣ | the preceding sound lengthened. | |
| e | as in let, men | |
| ę | ||
| ē | the preceding sound lengthened, as in they. | |
| i | as in hit, sit, in. | |
| ī | the preceding sound lengthened, as in machine. | |
| o | as in German Gott. | |
| ō | the preceding sound lengthened, as in German so. | |
| ǫ | as in not. | |
| u | as in full, put. | |
| ū | the preceding sound lengthened, as in rule. | |
| y | like ü in German: hübsch, Brücke. | |
| ȳ | the preceding sound lengthened, as in German grün. | |
| œ̄ | like ö in German schön. | |
| ie | These diphthongs (long and short) receive the stress upon the first element; the second elements, being unaccented, is very much obscured in pronunciation. The sound of ea, ēa is approximately that of æ+a, ǣ+a (perhaps more nearly æ+uh); otherwise the component parts of these diphthongs are to be pronounced as indicated above. | |
| īe | ||
| ea | ||
| ēa | ||
| eo | ||
| ēo | ||
| io | ||
| īo |
Note.—The diphthongs ie, īe are peculiar to EWS, where they, however, begin to change into i, ī; in LWS the most usual representation is y, ȳ. (S. §§ 22, 31, 41, 97.)
