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The Great Vowel Shift was a major change in the pronunciation of the English language, generally accomplished in the fifteenth century, although evidence suggests it began as early as the fourteenth century. The shift continued for some time into the sixteenth century, spreading toward the non-metropolitan and non-port areas. It represented a change in the long vowels (i.e., a vowel shift).
The values of the long vowels form the main difference between the pronunciation of Middle English and Modern English, and the Great Vowel Shift is one of the historical events marking the separation of Middle and Modern English. Originally, these vowels had "continental" values much like those remaining in liturgical Latin. However, during the Great Vowel Shift, the two highest long vowels became diphthongs, and the other five underwent an increase in tongue height with one of them coming to the front.
The principal changes (with the vowels shown in IPA) are roughly as follows. However, exceptions occur, the transitions were not always complete, and there were sometimes accompanying changes in orthography:
- → (as in make)
- → or (as in break or beak)
- → (as in feet)
- → (as in mice)
- → (as in boat)
- → (as in boot)
- → (as in mouse)
This means that the vowel in the English word make was originally pronounced as in modern English father, but has now become a diphthong, as it is today in standard pronunciations of British English (see Received Pronunciation); the vowel in feet was originally pronounced as a long Latin-like e sound; the vowel in mice was originally what the vowel in feet is now; the vowel in boot was originally a long Latin-like o sound, which has been preserved in "door"; and the vowel in mouse was originally what the vowel in moose is now, but has now become a diphthong.
The Great Vowel Shift was first studied by the Danish linguist Otto Jespersen (1860–1943), who coined the term.
The effects of the shift were not entirely uniform, and differences in degree of vowel shifting can sometimes be detected in regional dialects both in written and spoken English, for example in the speech of much of Scotland. The surprising speed and the exact cause of the shift are continuing mysteries in linguistics and cultural history, but some theories attach the cause to the mass immigration to South East England after the Black Death, where the difference in accents led to certain groups modifying their speech to allow for a standard pronunciation of vowel sounds. The different dialects and the rise of a standardized middle class in London led to changes in pronunciation, which continued to spread out from London. Other theories point to the sudden social mobility after the Black Death, with people from lower levels in society moving to higher levels (the pandemic hit the aristocracy too). Another theory highlights the language of the ruling class - the medieval aristocracy had spoken French, but by the early fifteenth century they were using English. This may have caused a change to the "prestige accent" of English, either by making pronunciation more French in style, or by changing it in some other way, perhaps by hypercorrection to something thought to be "more English" (England was at war with France for much of this period). Yet another theory points to the great political and social upheavals of the fifteenth century, which were largely contemporaneous with the Great Vowel Shift.
Because English spelling was becoming standardised in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, the Great Vowel Shift is responsible for many of the peculiarities of English spelling. Spellings that made sense according to Middle English pronunciation were retained in Modern English.
German, Icelandic, and Dutch also experienced sound changes resembling the first stage of the Great Vowel Shift: long i changed to (as in Eis and ijs, 'ice'), and long u to and the Dutch (as in Haus and huis, 'house'). This is why in German "ei" and in Dutch "ij" are pronounced closer to ; however, otherwise, those languages kept their spellings far more consistent.
See also
External links
- Great Vowel Shift website created by Melinda J. Menzer and Andrea S. Bean of Furman University
- "What is the Great Vowel Shift?" from the same site
- "The Great Vowel Shift" page from the Geoffrey Chaucer section of the Harvard University website
"Great Vowel Shift"