Undeniably, Chaucer's pronunciation differs substantially from Shakespeare's, due to the effects of the Great Vowel Shift. Otto Jespersen- a Danish linguist who coined the word said Vowel length, of course, is the identified duration or amount of a vowel sound and the long vowels in the Middle English, prior to the Great Vowel Transfer were: /i:/ /e:/ /a:/ /o:/ and /u:/.
The necessities of the fantastic Vowel Change are viewed in the diagram below:-
All vowels "become deeper in quality" (Barber, Beal and Shaw 2009:201), aside from /i:/ and /u:/, which already are as close as they can be, meaning they can be articulated with the tongue placed as near to the roof covering of the oral cavity as is possible, without creating any constriction. These two vowels became diphthongized, signifying they truly became "sounds which consist of a activity or glide from one vowel to another" (Roach 2009:17)- /i:/ became /I/, whereas /u:/ became /u/. Within the diagram above, the blue arrows shows where in fact the two diphthongs involved begin and indicates their possible change constantly in place. Subsequently, the other long vowels then 'transferred up' into the space now made available by both of these diphthongs, showed by the dotted arrows. THE CENTER English [e:] grew up to Modern English [i:] (just as meet); Middle British [:] grew up to the vowel [o:], and down the road to the diphthong [‰ ] (as in coat); Middle British [o:] was raised to the present day English [u:] (such as shoot); Middle English [a:] was fronted to [:] and then eventually brought up to [:] and lastly the Middle English vowel [i№] became the diphthong [i], which is highly probable that it was accompanied by [] and then to the present day British [a] (such as rice).
The desk below summarises the effects the Great Vowel Shift acquired on distinguishing the phonology of Middle British to Modern English:-
The second point I wish to address in this article is what facts will there be to suggest the fantastic Vowel Shift been around? The Great Vowel Shift is normally regarded as a turbulent tug-of-war between linguistics on deciding its causes and has succumbed to much discourse and controversy. As John Algeo boasts, "Personally, I believe the most plausible theory to be I believe this to be the most credible theory, as it seems to have evidence lying within problems, for occasion the failed amalgamation of /e:/ with /:/. As Antonio Bertacca points out:
Another theory like the one earlier mentioned, is the fact loan words during the Middle and Early on Modern English durations, coming from Relationship dialects, were the engine motor that drove the turbine in shaping the English vowels during this time. Evidence for this is given through the variance of how vowels of current British are pronounced and created by the anxious vowels in the centre British period.
Based on the evidence, those will be the theories I acknowledge the most with, centered upon the changes of English of this time, that was heavily influenced from languages that were recognized to be of more prestige. Many affects have shaped British from these dialects, such as getting rid of inflections and final vowels. That is why I really believe this to be the most known evidence aiding the ideas of the fantastic Vowel Shift. Although the above theories do seem to be plausible, minus the presence of a time machine, do not require are likely to ever before be testable.
For example, pertaining to spelling, prior to the Great Vowel Transfer, Chaucer rhymed 'food', 'good' and 'bloodstream', pronounced with the vowel /‰ /. In contrast, during Shakespeare's time, however, following the Great Vowel Transfer, the words 'food', 'good' and 'blood' still rhymed, although by that point all of them rhymed with 'food', using the vowel /u:/. Regarding spelling, lots of the rhyming words in Chaucer's poetry, like the Canterbury Tales, no longer rhyme today, for instance In the same way, in the nursery rhyme Jack and Jill, the first stanza is as follows: It is extremely likely that at that time the rhyme was written, 'water' and 'after' will have rhymed, whereas now, the /a:/ vowel in 'drinking water' has shortened to //, which again clearly highlights the result the fantastic Vowel Shift had in distinguishing the linguistic features between the two times.
Another piece of evidence which implies that Great Vowel Shift's life is the actual fact that Shakespeare's puns are only understandable with some understanding of the fantastic Vowel Shift. For instance, in Henry IV, This is a play on what 'reason' and 'raisin', that have been pronounced the same before the Great Vowel Change. There is also proof to suggest the merging of two phonemes. "In the typical language, the same vowel was used in 'sea', 'seize', 'dame' and 'partner'. " (Barber, Beal and Shaw 2009:203). Facts also suggests that "there is a non-standard variant pronunciation heading back to Middle English, where had changed into, or been changed by "". "Within the later seventeenth century, both varieties of pronunciation were in competition, and in the eighteenth century the version pronunciation substituted the other in educated talk" (Barber, Beal and Shaw 2009:203). This facts suggests there have been cultural changes in the period: "the increasing of the center classes were permeating the gentry and may have bought a few of their pronunciations with them" (Barber, Beal and Shaw 2009:203).
However, it's been suggested that which implies the Great Vowel Shift was not entirely a total phonetic shift.
Evidence which supports Crystal's claim that the shift took place as only one rearrangement of the complete system and had not been in-fact impartial isolated changes, is the 'drive' and 'take' theories are two models submit to suggest the pattern of the vowel changes. First of all, the 'pull theory' is whereby top of the vowels moved before the lower vowels and 'taken' them along. As Jean Aitchison explains: On the other hand, the 'push theory' is whereby the lower vowels moved onward and up, which eventually 'pressed' others ahead. In essence, However, I personally don't believe both of these theories are specifically strong, as neither of both provides us with explanations of reasons for the shift. Furthermore, regional variation significantly complicated the real activity of the change of the vowels and thus it will be troublesome to ever before sort out greater than a general design or pattern of moving. An assemblage of vowel pronunciations has as a result resulted from the regional deviation of the change, that are not either Standard Continental nor Standard British.
The Great Vowel Shift is given exceptional prominence in histories of the British language. As British spelling started its journey over a course towards standardisation in the 15th and 16th centuries, the pronunciation of English modified whilst spelling didn't, and thus the fantastic Vowel Change was in charge of numerous peculiar spellings within the English language and so was an exceptionally important historical event. Spellings which were understandable by the guidelines of Middle British pronunciation were kept in Modern English, scheduled to William Caxton, who introduced the printing press in 1476. Take for occasion the misunderstandings of the suffix '-ough'. There are many pronunciations for this combination of characters, which range from 'trough' to 'dough' to 'dough' to 'bough'. Each of these words were standardized at differing times during the Great Vowel Move, and thus the move is symbolical of marking the parting between Middle and Modern British, hence why it is given a lot prominence.
Moreover, THE FANTASTIC Vowel Shift seems to be extremely visible in histories of English, as considering British is one of the very most, if not the most, studied words in historical linguistics, this magnifies the significance of the Switch, and the grandness of the name can be related to that, most notably above all else. However, can it be argued that the prominence of the fantastic Vowel Transfer is exaggerated? Take for occasion the peculiarities it applied into British spelling. Could the change be described as simply a 'historical car accident' which unwisely took place after the intro of the printing press? Additionally, other languages aside from English have had shifts, however they are either unnamed or are called different brands, like the first and the second Germanic sound shifts.
In realization, in the whole background of the English words, it is clear that the Great Vowel Switch was the most sophisticated and influential change in British phonology, which explains why it is termed the 'Great Vowel Switch' and not simply the 'Vowel Shift'. The sources of the shift are usually undiscovered, but its results were vast. It really is undeniable if the Great Vowel Transfer hadn't took place, the spelling British would be a lot simpler, rather than the peculiar and distinctive spellings which we've today, which make the English dialect so unique.
