Lecture 5

Great Vowel Shift

Preliminary remarks
• Only long vowels are a ected = raised or diphtongnised

• GVS begins in the North as early as the letter half of the 13th century reaches the south around
1500 and is still pertain in the 17th century

• The reason for todays spelling being di erent from pronunciation

Mechanism

Great vowel shift

-> long because is does not apply to any short vowels

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The great vowel shift

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4. This 15th century development applies to the long vowels in items like tyme and bite (ME (I:)) as
well as droughte and loud (ME (u:))

5. Much later these new diphthongs lower further

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7. Much later these new diphthongs lower further and ultimately (18th century) reacher their
present values: (ay) in time and bite and (aw) in drought and loud

8. These further developments are often taken to not belong to the great vowel shift proper

9. Note that despite their di erent pronunciation there orthography remains (almost) identical: they
are still written like in middle english times!

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 13. As soon as in ME (i :) and (u:) quit their positions these are taken over by items with ME (e:)
and (o:) respectively

14. This a ects words like sweet or feet (ME (e:)) and roote and fool (ME (o:)), which acquire (i :)
and (u:) respectively which some keep as their modern pronunciation

15. Note that despite their di erent pronunciation their orthography remains (almost) identical:
they are still written like in middle english times!

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17. How do we know when this happened and that it happened at all?

18. There is a French word with a long (i :) that is loaned into English during this period and is
written with <ee> which is the way to write long (e:) in ME but long (i :) in early modern english
since writing didn’t change when pronunciation did - French estimer thus becomes English
esteem

19. This obviously only makes sense if (e:) became (i :) before estimer was given its English form

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22. At the very end of the 15th century and the beginning of the 16th century i.e. after the times
with (e:) and (o:) had changed into times with (i :) and (u:) the long vowels in items like heeth or
mete (ME (E:)) and open or boat (ME ( ):) raised to (e:) and (o:) respectively

23. ME orthography didn’t treat these vowels very systematically but often used <ea> and <oa>
to mark them as di erent from the ones written <ee> and <oo>

24. Note that despite their di erent pronunciation their orthography remains (almost) identical:
they are still written like in ME times

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26. Early in this period vowels were raised in items with long (a:) such as name or tale as well as
ones with (aj) such as day or tail, making them items with (ae:) and (aej ) respectively



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28. At least for a brief interval, after which they continue to rise

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30. Note that despite their di erent pronunciation their orthography remains (almost) identical:
they are still written like in ME times

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32. During the 17th century the stragglers repeat what the forerunners accomplished earlier

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34. During the 17th century the stragglers repeat what the forerunners accomplished earlier yet
less systematically

35. heeth having moved from (E:) to (e:) already no goes on to (i :) similar grete however remains at
the level of (e:) (in diphtongform (ey) )

36. The low front vowels nonetheless all raise to the middle diphthong form,

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39. Which is why great, tale and tail all have the same vowels in them today

40. Numerous writers work in the Elizabethan and Jacobean periods of the late 16th and early
17th century I.e. at a time where early changes have taken e ect but late ones haven’t

41. Which you have to keep in mind if you try to look at - say- Shakespeare: that the three witches
are there on the heath to meet Macbeth is a failure to rhyme in PDE but not in Shakespeare’s EME

42. In the 1579 the poet Spenser shaped the following lines

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51. Some reasons why English orthography is so weird:

• The writing fashions of London writers guild based on ME phonology

• Printers (1476 .) taking over those fashions despite the fact that they were not longer really
tting at the time because of the great vowel shifts

• Failed attempts at reform and further GVS in uence in the 16th and 17th century: ME writing
fashions are kept despite their inappropriateness

• 18th century standardisations xing ME orthography despite modern English phonology

52.

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 53. A nal note: the great vowel shift began (more or less) with he transition from modern English
to early modern english and it was completed (more or less) with the transition of early modern
English to modern English -> so EME could almost be characterised as the “Great Vowel Shift
Period”

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