The Early Modern English Period

5. The Great Vowel Shift

• mismatch between spelling and pronunciation: begun in ME, spelling fixed by early XVI century, but the sound kept changing).
• change of quality of all long vowels (stressed syllables)
• standardization of the language: synthetic -> analytic
• most significant of all phonological developments in English
• change in pronunciaion of verb tense

6. What kind of social relationship does the usage of singular you and thou reflect in Elizabethan society?

• used to express power relations
• thou becoming an exceptional form
• you used in order to show respect (everyone regarded due to his/her social status)
  • children addressing their parent as you and being addressed as thou
• Bruti: use of you/thou based on social distance and emotional attitude
  • inferiors addressed as thou, equals as you/thou and superiors as you
  • anger/contempt or familiarity/intimacy expressed by the use of thou, neutrality/indifference with you

GRAMLEY STEPHAN. The history of English: an introduction. New York: Routledge, 2012, xxv, 123-154 pp.

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