Claim: Phonological history of Old English (  is necessarily somewhat speculative since Old English is preserved only as a written language,Nevertheless, there is a very large corpus of the language, and the orthography indicates phonological alternations quite faithfully, so it is not difficult to draw certain conclusions about the nature of Old English phonology).
Evidence: Old English phonology is necessarily somewhat speculative since Old English is preserved only as a written language. Nevertheless, there is a very large corpus of the language, and the orthography apparently indicates phonological alternations quite faithfully, so it is not difficult to draw certain conclusions about the nature of Old English phonology.