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Question Practice 2

The Great Vowel Shift

The Great Vowel Shift was a major change in pronunciation that occurred in the English
language in the 15 th century, marking a change in how long vowel sounds were pronounced. This
term was first coined in the 20 th century by the Danish linguist Otto Jespersen, and this major
development not only caused a shift in pronunciation, but it also marked the end of Middle English
and the beginning of Modern English.

. This shift from Middle English pronunciation to Modern English pronunciation gradually
occurred over about a century. The reason for its occurrence is unclear, although several theories
have been postulated . One theory suggests that the British desired to distinguish their
pronunciation from French pronunciation. Another theory claims that the change in pronunciation
was related to the Black Plague that swept through Europe in the 15 th century. According to this
theory, the epidemic forced many people from different regions to migrate into big cities such as
London. Within these urban areas, people who spoke multiple regional English dialects gradually
merged their speech into a single, standardized dialect that could be understood by everyone.
Later, this new dialect spread from the metropolitan areas into the countryside. The
transformation of the German language at this time supports this theory, for German people
similarly fled to their cities and subsequently developed a standardized pronunciation.

. The shift in pronunciation can, perhaps, be best seen by comparing Middle English to
Modern English. After the Great Vowel Shift, vowels that had once been pronounced similarly in
both French and English were now pronounced differently. For example, the “i” sound in Middle
English had always been pronounced as the vowel sound in “tree,” but in some words in Modern
English it is pronounced as the vowel sound in “eye,” combining its previous pronunciation with
the “ah” sound. This longer-sounding vowel, made by the combination of two vowels, is called a
diphthong. The Great Vowel Shift triggered the change of single vowel sounds into several
diphthongs, although Middle English pronunciation persists in some places ---people in Scotland,
for example, commonly use Middle English pronunciation for many vowel sounds.

The Great Vowel Shift also affected English spelling and is responsible for some of the
seemingly illogical spellings of certain English words. The reason for this is that English spelling
was in the process of being standardized while the Great Vowel Shift was going on. The printing
press had recently been developed, and books needed to have standardized spellings that
everyone could understand. However, the Great Vowel Shift inundated English with many
perplexing spelling conventions, such as the use of a silent “e”. For instance, in Middle English, the
word “make” was spelled and pronounced as “mak,” but, in Modern English, “make” and similar
words are spelled with an “e” at the end to indicate a long vowel sound. As a result of standardized
spelling, other words that appear to have similar spellings are all pronounced differently. For
instance, the words “meat”, “great”, and “threat” would be pronounced like “great” in Middle
English because they all have the vowel combination “ea,” but in Modern English they are all
pronounced differently.

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