The Letter Oo The Development of English Presented by Oshra Raviv

Change in form

Egyptian hieroglyph ir Proto-Semitic O Phoenician ayin Etruscan O Greek Omicron http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/O

Change in pronunciation

The Greek Omega The Greek Omicron (large O) (small o) Represented the Represented the long sound short sound

The great vowel shift *Took place in the south of England between 1450 and 1750 *One of the historical events marking the separation of Middle and Modern English. *The Great Vowel Shift affected only the long vowels. The short vowels were not affected. *Front vowel chain of the Great Vowel Shift: /long a/-->/long e/-->/long i/--/aj/ Back vowel chain of the Great Vowel Shift /long o/ -->/long u/ -->/aw/ (O.E) “mon” – (M.E) moon (O.E) “rot”- (M.E) root

Modern English: Short sound *Back quality- for example: gone, lost *Central quality- for example: son, love, brother Long sound *Diphthongal quality- for example: go, yellow, old *Pure quality- for example: do, who, move *Commonly doubled: moon, good *Occasionally silent: people *Regional variation in “o” forms: US color vs. UK colour