I. Loss of vowels in unstressed syllables. The vowels æ, a, e(result of umlaut) in open syllable were lost.
Goth. magaÞs > OE mæ™den
Goth. haitada > OE hatte
The vowel u was lost in disyllabic words with a long vowel in the stressed syllable.
OE scipu (pl. of scip) but sceap
scipu remained because i is a short sound, sceapu was lost.
II. Shortening of long vowels.All long vowels became short in unstressed syllable.
ī > iīisi™ (льодяний) ī™ > i™
æ > æ > estānæ > stānæ > stāne
ū > uūþ > uþ, oþ; e.g. huntoþ (полювання)
III. Reduction of vowelsoccurred in the 8-th – 9-th centuries.
æ, e, o > eDat. sing. stānæ > stāne
[æ] turned into sound, expressed in spelling be e.
u > oblæcust > blacost (superlative degree of black)
OLD ENGLISH GRAMMAR
