Great Vowel Shift & Doublets Flashcards
From what century to what century did the Great Vowel Shift occur?
From the 15th to 18th century.
What is the cause of the Great Vowel Shift?
The cause is unknown.
What is the change that occurred during the Great Vowel Shift?
It affected only the long vowels. Long vowels underwent an increase in “tongue” height.
Which vowels changed for which sounds?
- [ i: ] and [ u: ] “fell off” to become diphthongs [ ay ] and [ aw ].
- [ a ] fronted to become [ e ].
- [ ɛ ] raised to [ e ].
- [ e ] raised to [ i: ].
- [ ɔ ] raised to [ o: ].
- [ o: ] raised to [ u: ].
What are doublets?
“2 words in a language derived from the same source word, but by different channels/routes.” They are cognates in one and the same language.
During the Great Vowel Shift, what were 2 consonant phonemes added?
[ ŋ ] and [ ʤ ].
During the Great Vowel Shift, what were 2 consonant phonemes lost?
[ x ] and [ h ] leaving only the / gh / spelling.
What happened to consonant clusters during the GVS?
They simplify: [ gn- ] becomes [ n ], [ kn- ] becomes [ n ] and [ -mb ] becomes [ m ].
What are the 4 inflected forms letf in nouns and verbs?
-ed past tense, -s 3rd person singular, -s plural, -s possessive.
Why are central vowels in “threat, head, deaf, death” pronounced with [ ɛ ] and not with [ i: ]?
The [ ɛ ] underwent two distinct developments in Early Modern English. In some cases, words spelled with “ea” and pronounced with [ ɛ ] were not raised to [ e: ] and then to [ i: ] but shoretend to [ e ]. This is the case of threat, head, deaf, death, which may be explained by the
following consonants [d, t, θ].
Why did ME [ o: ] became long [ u: ] in “boot, loose, mood, pool, soon” but short [ u ] in “foot, good, hook, wood” and was shortened to [ ʌ ] in “flood, blood”?
ME [ o: ] became long [ u: ] in: boot, loose, mood, pool, soon, following the standard raising of
vowel sounds characteristic of the Great Vowel Shift. Two subsequent changes can be observed, namely the shortened version [ u ] as in: foot, good, hook, wood, which is probably due to the following consonants [k, d] and the one where it was centralized to [ ʌ ] in words
such as flood, blood.
Why are similar words of French origin sometimes pronounced with a long [ i: ] “police, ravine” and sometimes with [ ai ] “nice, vine”?
Similar words of French origin pronounced with a long [ i: ] “police, ravine”, and sometimes with [ ai ] “nice, vine” reflect their having been borrowed either before or after the effects of the Great Vowel Shift. For example, the words “nice” and “vine” were borrowed during the 13th
century while the word “police” was borrowed in the 15th century and the word “ravine” was borrowed in the 18th century.
