1. The Letter Oo The Development of English Presented by Oshra Raviv

2. Change in form

3. Egyptian hieroglyph ir
Proto-Semitic O
Phoenician ayin
Etruscan O
Greek Omicron

5. Change in pronunciation

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

7. 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

8. 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