Culture · 6 pages · 12 min
How the Great Vowel Shift changed English
The long vowels of English moved upward, and the highest ones became diphthongs.
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From the opening
The Great Vowel Shift was a chain of changes in the long vowels of English, running mostly from the fifteenth century into the eighteenth. High long vowels became diphthongs, and long vowels below them moved up into the space that opened. The opening covers high long vowels became diphthongs, lower long vowels raised behind them, and spelling kept the older letter values.
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Inside
- High long vowels became diphthongs
- Lower long vowels raised behind them
- Spelling kept the older letter values
- Not every dialect finished every step
- Where the idea stops applying
- A distinction worth keeping
Sources
- The Great Vowel Shift in the long vowels of English
- Middle English vowel qualities retained in spelling