(xii) sh : sch: ss are all found for modern sh, OE. sc: shuld I 50; schert II 230; sserte III 40; but sal 'shall', suld 'should' in Northern texts represent the actual Northern pronunciation in weakly stressed words.
(xiii) v : w: In late Northern MSS. v is often found for initial w: vithall X 9, Valter X 36. The interchange is less common in medial positions: in swndir X 106.
(xiv) wh- : qu(h)-: w-:—wh- is a spelling for hw-. In the South the aspiration is weakened or lost, and w is commonly written, e.g. VIII b. In the North the aspiration is strong, and the sound is spelt qu(h)-, e.g. quhelis 'wheels' X 17. Both qu- and wh- are found in Gawayne. The development in later dialects is against the assumption that hw- became kw- in pronunciation.
See also § 5.
The whole system of ME. spelling was modelled on French, and some of the general features noted above (e.g. ii, iii, v, vi, x) are essentially French. But, particularly in early MSS., there are a number of exceptional imitations. Sometimes the spelling represents a French scribe's attempt at English pronunciation: foret in XV g 18 stands for forþ, where -rþ with strongly trilled r was difficult to a foreigner; and occasionally such distortions are found as knith, knit, and even kint (Layamon, Havelok) for kniȝt, which had two awkward consonant groups. More commonly the copyist, accustomed to write both French and English, chose a French representation for an English sound. So st for ht appears regularly in XV e: seuenist 'sennight', and XV g: iboust 'bought', &c. The explanation is that in French words like beste 'bête', gist 'gît', s became only a breathing before it disappeared; and h in ME. ht weakened to a similar sound, as is shown by the rimes with Kryste 'Christ' in VI 98-107. Hence the French spelling st is occasionally substituted for English ht. Again, in borrowings from French, an + consonant alternates with aun: dance or daunce; change or chaunge (p. 273); and by analogy we have Irlande or Irlaunde in XV d. Another exceptional French usage, -tz for final voiceless -s, is explained at p. 219, top.
§ 7. SOUND CHANGES. (a) Vowel Quantity. No fourteenth-century writer followed the early example of Orm. Marks of quantity are not used in fourteenth-century texts; doubling of long vowels is not an established rule; and there are no strictly quantitative metres, or treatises on pronunciation. Consequently it is not easy to determine how far the quantity of the vowels in any given text has been affected by the very considerable changes that occurred in the late OE. and ME. periods.
Of these the chief are:
(i) In unstressed syllables original long vowels tend to become short. Hence ŭs (OE. ūs), and bŏte (OE. būtan) 'but', which are usually unstressed.
(ii) All long vowels are shortened in stressed close syllables (i.e., usually, when they are followed by two consonants): e.g. kēpen, pa. t. kĕpte, pp. kĕpt; hŭsband beside hous; wĭmmen (from wĭf-men) beside wīf.
Exception. Before the groups -ld, -nd, -rd, -rð, -mb, a short vowel is lengthened in OE. unless a third consonant immediately follows. Hence, before any of these combinations, length may be retained in ME.: e.g. fēnd 'fiend', bīnden, chīld; but chĭldren.