The Early Modern English Period

5. The Great Vowel Shift [1]

  • 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[2]350px-GVS.jpg
  • GRAMLEY STEPHAN. The history of English: an introduction. New York: Routledge, 2012, xxv, 123-154 pp.
  • glottopedia.org