OLD ENGLISH "SHORT A"

SOURCE
CHANGE

/a/

Spelling:

abbod "abbot"
bana "murderer"

Low, central, unrounded short vowel. The vowel of PDE father, but shorter; the vowel of Modern High German Mann.

SOUND

 
CHANGE
REFLEX
Germanic */a/
>>>>
>>>>
 ME /a/
Umlaut OE /e/

Raising before a nasal

OE /o/
Raising of OE /a/ to OE /æ/ OE /æ/
ME diphthongization ME /au/
Lengthening before consonants
Lengthening in open syllables 		ME /a:/