Chapters in this book

1. Frontmatter i
2. Contents v
3. Acknowledgements x
4. Abbreviations and symbols xii
5. A note on the Companion to A Historical Phonology of English xv
6. 1 Periods in the history of English 1
7. 2 The sounds of English 24
8. 3 Discovering the earliest links: Indo- European – Germanic – Old English 54
9. 4 Consonantal histories: Old English 74
10. 5 Consonantal developments in the second millennium 99
11. 6 The vowels in Old English: spelling, pronunciation. PDE alternations traced back to OE 151
12. 7 The vowels in Middle English. Dialects. Spelling innovations. Vowel quality and quantity. PDE alternations traced back to ME 184
13. 8 Vowel quality and quantity in Early Modern English and later 234
14. 9 The evolution of the English stress system 284
15. 10 Early English verse forms: from Cædmon to Chaucer 323
16. Bibliography 367
17. Word Index 396
18. Name Index 412
19. Subject Index 417