The description Henry Sweet gives to the consonant C
is as follows:

"C had a back(gutteral) and a front (palatal)
pronunciation. The latter is printed ċ in this
book.
C had the sound k before, and when final after, back
vowels and ǚ (pretend that's a Y with the same
symbols above it); sometimes also before Ĕ, in
words which may generally be recognized by their
modern pronunciation with k : cann 'know', cōl
'cool', cuman 'come', cyning 'king', cēne 'bold',
bōc 'book'; also finally after æ: bæc 'back'; and
initially before consonants: cnāwan 'know'.

C had a sound like mdrn. E ch in child when it came
before or between the front vowels ī ĭ
ē and ě , except for special cases mentioned
above; Ċild 'child', ċēosan 'chosen',
miċel 'great'; also finally after ī ĭ
ē and ǽ ; līċ 'body',
bēċ 'books', sprǽċ 'speech'; and
in some words after n and l; þenċan
'think',ǽlċ 'each'

My old english teacher, Dr. Helen Damico, swears by
this book. While she recognizes Dr. Campbell she
believes, with some fervor, his writings possess many
flaws and are much too complicated for beginners.

--- llama_nom <600cell@...> wrote:

>
> > 1. <ce> = [ke] if the <e> is due to i-umlaut of a
> back vowel.
> > 2. <ce> = [ke] within a word, if preceeded by a
> back vowel.
> > 3. <ce> = [ke] if the <e> arose before a
> continuant that was
> > originally syllabic (e.g. æcer "acre" < Proto OE
> *ækr).
> >
> > 4. Otherwise <ce> did result in the affricate
> [tS]. Before a
> > stressed syllable this became <cie> in Early West
> Saxon. In late
> WS
> > the same combination is often spelt <cy> (but also
> <ce>, <cie> and
> > <ci>).
>
>
> Still bearing in mind all those provisos, I'd just
> like to modify 4,
> thus:
>
> 4. Otherwise <ce> did result in the affricate [tS].
> Where the <e>
> is from Proto OE, before a stressed syllable this
> became <cie> in
> Early West Saxon. (In late WS the same combination
> is often spelt
> <cy> (but also <ce>, <cie> and <ci>).) This still
> leaves the
> combinations <cea> from PrOE *kæ, and <céa>
> (=Anglian <cé>) from
> PrOE *kæu < Gmc. *kau, each of which developed the
> pronunciation
> [tS].
>
> Llama Nom
>
>
>
> >
> > Okay, these are the rules for when <ce> = [tSe] in
> OE (not
> counting
> > the combination <sc>), according to Campbell's Old
> English
> Grammar.
> > At least this is how I understand them... They
> work most of the
> > time, but not always. Some exceptions are due to
> analogy with
> parts
> > of the paradigm where different rules applied.
> Another exception
> is
> > the middle consonant of <cieken> "chicken", as
> indicated by the
> > spelling in the Mercian Rushworth Gospells, a
> unique scibal
> attempt
> > at distinguishing the front and back
> pronunciations of <c>. This
> > can't be due to analogy with other parts of the
> paradigm, but
> might
> > be accounted for by dissimilation. Anyway, here
> are the rules.
> > (For <ce>, read <ce> or <cce>.)
> >
> > 1. <ce> = [ke] if the <e> is due to i-umlaut of a
> back vowel.
> > 2. <ce> = [ke] within a word, if preceeded by a
> back vowel.
> > 3. <ce> = [ke] if the <e> arose before a
> continuant that was
> > originally syllabic (e.g. æcer "acre" < Proto OE
> *ækr).
> >
> > 4. Otherwise <ce> did result in the affricate
> [tS]. Before a
> > stressed syllable this became <cie> in Early West
> Saxon. In late
> WS
> > the same combination is often spelt <cy> (but also
> <ce>, <cie> and
> > <ci>).
> >
> > Some OE textbooks print a dot above <c> in words
> like 'bæc'
> > and 'æcer'. This indicates that they are thought
> to have been
> > palatal stops in early OE, something like [c], as
> in
> > Icelandic 'kenna'. According to Campbell, in such
> positions, <c>
> > never evolved into [tS], but instead reverted to
> [k]. Regarding
> > Rule One, don't forget that /æ/ counts as a front
> vowel, so if <e>
> > is due to i-umlaut of /æ/, this would result in
> affrication.
>
>
>
>

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