Introduction of Printing

The invention of printing had immediate effect on the language development. Printing was invented in 1438 in Germany by Johann Gutenberg. The first printer of English books was William Caxton who learned the method of printing during his first visit to Cologne and in 1473 he opened his own printing press in Bruges. The first English book was printed in 1475. It was Caxton’s translation of the story of Troy. A few years late he brought his press to England and set it up in Westminster, not far from London. Among the earliest publications were the poems of Geoffrey Chaucer. In preparing manuscripts for publication William Caxton and his followers edited them and brought them into conformity with the London form of English. In such a way Caxton’s spelling was more normalized than the chaotic spelling of the manuscripts. The written form of many words remains unchanged to the present day in spite of many changes in the pronunciation. Caxton’s spelling reproduced the spelling of the preceding century and was conservative even in his days.

With the introduction of printing a new influence of great importance in the dissemination of London English came into play. From the beginning London has been the center of book publishing in England.

Me Spelling Changes

The system of letters inherited from OE was modified in the course of time and enriched by foreign traditions.

In ME the runic letters passed out of use:

Þ (thorn) and D (eth) were replaced by the digraph th

Þ (wynn) was replaced by “double u” w

x (xsh) was no longer used and was replaced by e, ea, e

Z (yogh) was replaced by g ( OE Zod →ME god)

After 1300 Z representing /j/ was gradually replaced by y when Z represented a velar or a palatal spirant it was replaced by gh: e.g. right, brought.

Sometimes h alone replaced Z as in riht, briht, brouht.

Many innovations in ME spelling testify to the influence of French. The digraphs ou, ie and ch which occurred in many French borrowings were adopted to indicate sounds [H], [e:] and [C].

E.g. ME double ['dVblq]

out [Ht]

chief [Ce:f]

child [CJltd]

much [mVC]

The letters “j”, “k”, “v”, “q” were probably first used in imitation of French manuscripts. The use of “g” and “c” which has survived today goes back to French. These letters stood for [G] and [s] before front vowels and for [g], [k] before back.

Other changes cannot be traced directly to French influence. There was a tendency to wider use if digraphs:

 sh (ssh, sch) to indicate [S]

ME ship – OE scip

 dg [G]

ME edge [eGq]

 wh replaced OE hw

ME what [hwQt] – OE hwxt

Long sounds were shown by double letters.

e.g. ME book [bLk]

Long [e:]could be indicated by ie and ee

o was used not only for [o] but also to indicate short [V] alongside with the letter u. Thus OE munuc > ME monk [mVNk].

The letter y was used as an equivalent of i and it was preferred when i could be confused with the surrounding letters m, n and others.

w was interchangeable with u in the digraphs ou, au.

e.g. ME doun, down [dHn]

and w was preferred in final position:

ME how [hH]

now [nH]