Phonological Change Flashcards
What is the biggest example of Phonological Change?
The Great Vowel Shift
When did the Great Vowel Shift take place?
Between 1400 and 1600
What was the main feature of the Great Vowel Shift?
The pronunciation of long vowel sounds to shorter sounds which we still have today
Example of words affected by the Great Vowel Shift
moos -> mouse
heer -> her
weef -> wife
What is the reason behind phonological change?
Sometimes it is unclear why change happens, such as the Great Vowel Shift.
Social Factors are a common example of why change happens.
How do social factors impact phonological change?
We imitate the speech of the people we admire and this is how the change spreads.
Who came up with the stages of phonological change?
Aitchison (1991)
How many stages of change did Aitchison suggest there was?
4
What were the stages of change that Aitchison devised?
- Speech of particular group differs in some way to the regional pronunciation
- Second social groups arises, and imitates the speech of the first group (unconsciously)
- The imitated way of speaking becomes a regular part of the second group’s accent
- A third group forms and imitates the speech of the second group….
Repeat process.
What are the two examples of recent change that Aitchison discovered in our language (1991)?
Words like “mistake”, “astronomy” were pronounced like “merstake”, “erstornomy”
Replacing a |t| phoneme with a glottal stop e.g. “foo’ball”
Who did another study on phonological change in 1963?
Labov
What did Labov’s study look at?
The language used on Martha’s Vineyard (an island off the American mainland) and how the language used by the locals slowly changed overtime
What did Labov find in his study?
The local’s language (mainly that of the fisherman and 30-45 year old residents) were slowly changing their pronunciation from the mainland (although always slightly different).
Why did Labov believe the locals were changing their language?
To distance themselves from the holidaymakers that came in the summer. The fishermen and 30-45 year olds regarded themselves as “true islanders” and resented the tourists
Were the locals changing their accent deliberately?
No, they were unaware of the changes that were happening
