THE GREAT VOWEL SHIFT
Great Vowel Shift is the change that happened in the 14th – 16th c. and affected all long monophthongs + diphthong [au].
As a result these vowels were: 1.diphthongized; 2.narrowed (became more closed); 3.both diphthongized and narrowed.
|
ME Sounds |
NE Sounds |
ME |
NE |
|
[i:] à |
[ai] |
time [‘ti:mə] |
time [taim] |
|
[e:] à |
[i:] |
kepen [‘ke:pən] |
keep [ki:p] |
|
[a:] à |
[ei] |
maken [‘ma:kən] |
make [meik] |
|
[o:] à à |
[ou] [u:] |
stone [‘sto:nə] moon [mo:n] |
stone [stoun] moon [mu:n] |
|
[u:] à |
[au] |
mous [mu:s] |
mouse [maus] |
|
[au] à |
[o:] |
cause [‘kauzə] |
cause [ko:z] |
The spelling remained unchanged.
lt should be obvious from the chart and the table that the Great Vowel Shift did not add any new sounds to the vowel system.
