![]() ![]() The regional variation of the shift has lead to a multitude of vowel pronunciations which are neither standard English nor standard Continental such as this anecdote: Boy in North-East England is sitting by a river, crying. ![]() Neither theory gives us an answer to why the shift happened, and the actual shifting was so complicated by regional variation that it will be difficult to ever sort out more than a general pattern of shifting. Two models of the pattern of vowel change are the 'pull theory' in which the upper vowels moved first and 'pulled' the lower ones along, and the 'push theory' in which the lower vowels moved forward and up, pushing the others ahead. There are theories for why the Great Vowel Shift has occurred, but none are likely ever be testable without a time machine. The Great Vowel Shift is still continuing today in regional dialects many speakers are now trying to move the topmost articulation points farther up, producing new diphthongs. The upshot has been that the Anglo-Saxons lived (like the Scottish still do) in a 'hoose', and the English live in a 'house' the Anglo-Saxons (like the Scottish) milked a 'coo', and the English milk a 'cow' an Anglo-Saxon had a 'gode' day and the English have a 'good' one an Anglo-Saxon had 'feef' fingers on each hand and the English have 'five' they wore 'boats' on their 'fate' while the English wear 'boots' on our 'feet'. The vowels, which began being pronounced at the top, could not be moved farther up (without poking into the nose) they became diphthongs 1. Simply put, the articulation point moved upward in the mouth. Speakers of English gradually changed the parts of their mouth used to articulate the long vowels. The Great Vowel Shift was a gradual process which began in Chaucer's time (early 15th Century) and was continuing through the time of Shakespeare (early 17th Century). Why is this so? The answer is the almost rudely named phenomenon of The Great Vowel Shift of English pronunciation. The French long 'i', for example, is pronounced like the English long 'e'. 'Why do these foreigners all say their vowels wrong?' they must think. ![]() Many English-speaking students of other languages must be confused when confronted with the long vowels of a language such as French. Everything / Languages & Linguistics / Linguistics, Speech & Semantics Finally, the remaining three long vowels /ɛ:/, /ɔ:/ and /a:/ were raised.The Guide to Life, The Universe and Everything.ģ. At the next stage, /e:/ and /o:/ were dragged upwards to fill the empty slots left behind by the diphthongization (Fig. Acoording to some linguists, it started with the diphthongization of /i:/ and /u:/ to /əɪ/ and /əʊ/ respectively (Fig. One of the interpretations of the Great Vowel Shift demonstrates a drag chain. If after this second change a new gap emerges the process of pulling continues resulting in a chain of interrelated changes. This change motivates another change to fill the gap by pulling in some other sound of the phonemic system. In a drag chain, one change creates a gap in the phonemic inventory. Two types of chain shifts can be differentiated: drag chains (also called pull chains) and push chains. A famous example of chain shift is Grimm’s Law. Due to the system-internal pressure to restore the balance, this gap will be filled by some other phoneme which in its turn will create another gap which has to be filled causing thus a chain reaction. Once this symmetry is violated due to some system-external causes there appears a gap. In this view, sound systems are considered to be symmetrical (to have no gaps in the phonemic inventory). The assumption behind the chain shift is that all the phonemes of a language build a balanced system so that a change in one part of the system can cause changes in its other parts. A chain shift is a series of interrelated sound changes.
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