U4.

pdf

IsabelGilPerez

Historia de la Lengua Inglesa

3º Grado en Estudios Ingleses

Facultad de Filología
Universidad de Sevilla

Reservados todos los derechos.

No se permite la explotación económica ni la transformación de esta obra. Queda permitida la impresión en su totalidad.
 UNIT 4: CHANGES IN SPELLING AND PHONOLOGY

No se permite la explotación económica ni la transformación de esta obra. Queda permitida la impresión en su totalidad.
A) MAJOR CHANGES FROM OLD TO MIDDLE ENGLISH
B) EARLY MODERN ENGLISH.

MAJOR CHANGES FROM OE TO ME

❖ OLD ENGLISH SPELLING:
I. Pronunciation and spelling were much closer in OE than in MnE.
II. OE spelling did not distinguish long and short vowels; however, modern editors
sometimes place a macron over long vowels to help students.

Reservados todos los derechos.

III.The short vowels i, u, e and o probably varied between tense and lax pronunciations
depending upon the surrounding consonants, just as they do in MnE.
IV. In unaccented syllables, <e> was pronounced /ə/.

a64b0469ff35958ef4ab887a898bd50bdfbbe91a-4416055
a64b0469ff35958ef4ab887a898bd50bdfbbe91a-4416055
2

Respuesta Coca-Cola Zero Azúcar. Demasiado bueno para explicarlo con palabras
Reservados todos los derechos.
No se permite la explotación económica ni la transformación de esta obra. Queda permitida la impresión en su totalidad.
 ❖ FIRST SOUND CHANGES
▪ ME: THE PRINCIPAL CONSONANTAL CHANGES
In Origins and Development, pages 158-60, Pyles lists nine consonantal changes which
occurred during the Middle English period:
1) Loss of [h] before [l], [n] and [r].
OE hlæfdige > ME lady
OE hlæhhan > ME laughen

No se permite la explotación económica ni la transformación de esta obra. Queda permitida la impresión en su totalidad.
OE hnægan > ME neyen (neigh)
OE (h)ræfen > ME raven
2) [g] > [w] after [l] or [r].
OE sorg > ME sorwe (sorrow)
OE swelgan > ME swelwen (swallow)
3) Loss of [w] between consonant and back vowel.
OE eallswa > ME also
OE hwa > ME ho (who)
OE þwong, þwang > ME thong

Reservados todos los derechos.

4) Loss of final [c] in unstressed syllables.
OE ic > ME I
OE laðlic > ME lothely (loathly)
5) Loss of medial [v].

6) Prefix [jɛ] (ge-)> [i] (i-,y-).

OE gicliopad > ME icleped (yclept)
OE genog > ME ynogh (enough)
7) Southern voicing of initial [f], [s] and [θ].
OE þanne , þenne > ME then
OE fana, fona > ME vane (like a flag)
8) Loss of final [n] in many unstressed syllables.
OE æfen > ME eve
OE mægden > ME maide (maid)
OE an (one) > ME o (a)
9) Appearance of [v], [z] and [ð] in initial position because of
o word borrowing.
OF verai > OE very > ME very
OF cenith > OE zenith > ME zenith
o lack of stress.
OE tind > ME zinne (sin)

Respuesta Coca-Cola Zero Azúcar. Demasiado bueno para explicarlo con palabras
a64b0469ff35958ef4ab887a898bd50bdfbbe91a-4416055
 ▪ ME: LENGTHENING AND SHORTENING OF VOWELS
during the late OE period or in early ME times.
- Vowels were LENGTHENED:
a. Before certain consonant sequences: especially mb, nd, ld.
cо̄ld
fēēld ‘field’
grо̄ūnd
hо̄lden ‘to hold’

No se permite la explotación económica ni la transformación de esta obra. Queda permitida la impresión en su totalidad.
wо̄mB
b. In open syllables.
āker ‘acre’
bētel ‘beetle’
bēver ‘beaver’
dо̄re ‘door’
hо̄pe
tāle
[Open syllable: a syllable with a vowel sound and no consonant after the

Reservados todos los derechos.

vowel. That way, the vowel can produce its name, the long sound]
- Vowels were SHORTENED:
a. In closed syllables before two or more consonants (other than those
above).
asken ‘to ask’
blosme ‘blossom’
fedde ‘fed’
naddre ‘adder’
wimmen ‘women’
b. In unstressed syllables.
abiden ‘to abide’
arisen ‘to arise’
the
today
us
c. In a syllable followed by two unaccented syllables.
evere ‘ever’
stiropes ‘stirrups’
sutherne ‘southern’
wepenes ‘weapons’
The results of the lengthening and shortening of vowels in ME words like hidden-hidde
or wīs-wisdom can still be seen in their ModE developments (although now, the vowels
differ primarily in quality and tenseness, rather than in length).

Respuesta Coca-Cola Zero Azúcar. Demasiado bueno para explicarlo con palabras
a64b0469ff35958ef4ab887a898bd50bdfbbe91a-4416055
 No se permite la explotación económica ni la transformación de esta obra. Queda permitida la impresión en su totalidad.
ModE developed from an ME ModE developed from an ME
form with a long vowel form with a short vowel
bathe bath (short in AmE)
bleed bled
break breakfast
clean cleanse
creep crept
dear ‘beloved’ darling (short in AmE)
deep depth
glaze glass (short in AmE)
goose gosling, gooseberry

Reservados todos los derechos.

heal health
lead ‘guide’ led
mead ‘grassland’ meadow
shade shadow
shoe shod
white Whit Sunday

- Rhoticity.
Rhotic dialects: Irish, Scottish, general American.
Non-rhotic dialects: English, Australian, South African.
➢ /a:/ (long) in some contexts because preconsonantal /r/ is dropped.
We do not know exactly when this started happening.
o ‘bark’ had and /r/ still with Shakeapeare.
o Later, in the 19th century, teachers tried to avoid the r-drop; but it had
become fashionable.

a64b0469ff35958ef4ab887a898bd50bdfbbe91a-4416055
 ❖ CHANGES IN SPELLING (hand-out)
- Middle English has a very different appearance to Old English because of:
• Collapse of the West-Saxon standard.
• Development of local graphology.
• Influence of French conventions.
- Variability of spelling in Middle English.

No se permite la explotación económica ni la transformación de esta obra. Queda permitida la impresión en su totalidad.
‘might’: mihte, myhte, micht.

▪ SPELLING CHANGES = SOUND CHANGES (that do not)

OE: tо̄þ, tо̄ð - /to:θ/
ME: tooth, tothe - /to:θ/
PdE: tooth - /tu:θ/
1) OE sum /sʊm/. → ME some /sʊm/
son < OE sunu
love < OE lufu

Reservados todos los derechos.

➢ to differentiate <u> from adjacent minims.
Anglo-Norman scribes wrote the letters in strokes called minims.
Sometimes, similar strokes next to each in a word could lead to
confusion.
➢ pronunciation didn’t change.
Not because of the re-spelling. It would change in the 17th
century.
2) OE a bufan [v] → ME abuuen (above)
ME [v]: <u> and <v> were used interchangeably, though with a preference
for this orthographic distinction:
o <v> in initial position: loanwords from Latin and French
vain, vice, vnder
No native Anglo-Saxon words begin in v- except vane, vat, vixen,
altered by the southwestern England habit of replacing initial f- with
v- (and initial s- with z-).
Confusion of -v- and -w- also was a characteristic of 16th c. Cockney
accents.
o <u> in medial position:
euer, loue, full
<v> and <u> were only distinguished in this sense. The distinction into
consonant and vowel identities was not established in English until 1630,
under influence of continental printers. Into the 19th c. some dictionaries
and other catalogues continued to list -u- and -v- words as a single series.

Respuesta Coca-Cola Zero Azúcar. Demasiado bueno para explicarlo con palabras
a64b0469ff35958ef4ab887a898bd50bdfbbe91a-4416055
 3) Substitutions from French
o French convention of using <ou> for /u:/
OE ūt → ME out
OE fūl → ME ful, fule, fole, foul(e)
OE nū → ME nu, nou, now
➢ The re-spelling did not affect the pronunciation.
Medieval scribes were French (Normans). They heard /u:/ and

No se permite la explotación económica ni la transformación de esta obra. Queda permitida la impresión en su totalidad.
associated it to the French spelling <ou>. It would later move to /aʊ/
with the GVS but the spelling changed before that and had nothing to
do with reflecting that change. It was never pronounced /ou/: the
orthography is misleading, chaotic because of the mixture of
languages.
OE hus /u:/>ME house /u:/>eModE house /aʊ/. German Haus /aʊ/
o ME <th> for OE <þ>
Originated in classical words e.g. Lat. thronus → French trone →
ME t-, th-.

Reservados todos los derechos.

OE tо̄þ, tо̄ð → ME tooth
o ME <ch> for OE <c>
Lat. capitale > ONF catel, OF chattel
OE cild → ME child

4) OE sc- → ME sc-, sch-, sh-, s-, ss-…

• Early French didn’t have /ʃ/ (or <sh>). This is not a change from
French.
• Orm was an early user of <sh>, according to OED.
Orm, also called Ormin, was an Augustinian canon and the author of
an early Middle English book of metrical homilies on the
Gospels: Ormulum. The work (dated on linguistic evidence c. 1200)
is of little literary interest but of great value to linguists, because Orm
invented an individual and remarkably consistent orthography based
on phonetic principles, intended to help preachers when reading his
work aloud. For example:
o It shows the length of the vowels by doubling a consonant after a
short vowel in a closed syllable.
o It distinguishes by three separate symbols sounds that in the
Anglo-Celtic or insular script of Old English were all represented
by a single symbol.

Respuesta Coca-Cola Zero Azúcar. Demasiado bueno para explicarlo con palabras
a64b0469ff35958ef4ab887a898bd50bdfbbe91a-4416055
 5) OE hw- → ME hw-, qu-, qw-, wh-, w-
➢ OE <hw> /hw/ was cognate with Romance <qu> /kw/. PIE *qwos,
*qwes is the ancestor of English who and Latin quis, quid.
➢ Orm was the first regular user of , according to OED.
➢ OE /hw/ → ME /hw/ and /w/

No se permite la explotación económica ni la transformación de esta obra. Queda permitida la impresión en su totalidad.
▪ MARKING OF LONG VOWELS
I. final -e, once it had become grammatically meaningless.
OE on līfe → ME aliue (-e former dative inflection)
II. vowel sometimes doubled.
meet and boot
maad and tijm
III. <i>
- developed ‘dot’ (or ‘tittle’) first in early medieval Latin, near <n>, <m>.

Reservados todos los derechos.

ingenii → all <i>s
- had variant forms: <y> and <j>
OE þīn, ðīn > ME þi, thi, þy, thy
city, cities
IV. <a> = open vowel
- to distinguish ‘close’ /e/ from ‘open’ /ɛ:/
OE cēpan → ME kepe(n), keep(en) /e/
OE clæne → ME clene, cleen, clean /ɛ:/
- to distinguish ‘close’ /o/ from ‘open’ /ɔ:/
OE bōt → ME bote, boote /o/
OE bāt → ME bote, boote, boat /ɔ:/

▪ SPELLING OF CONSONANTS
Phonemicization of voiced fricatives and its effect on spelling
OE:
- <f> for [f, v]
- <s> for [s, z]
- /ð/: <þ> for [θ]. <ð> for [ð]

Respuesta Coca-Cola Zero Azúcar. Demasiado bueno para explicarlo con palabras
a64b0469ff35958ef4ab887a898bd50bdfbbe91a-4416055
 ME:

No se permite la explotación económica ni la transformación de esta obra. Queda permitida la impresión en su totalidad.
- new digraph: <th> for /ð/ - did not and still does not distinguish voicing.
e.g. thin, thine
- new phonemes: /z/ and /v/ in initial position because of word-borrowing from
French:
zenith, zeal, virtue, very
<h>
✓ Word-initially:
- OE: never pronounced.
- ME: sometimes spelled but not pronounced in loanwords from French (<
Latin)

Reservados todos los derechos.

(h)oste, (h)onour
✓ Post-vocalically:
- OE: <h> [ç, x]
- ME: <h>, <ȝ>, < ȝh>, …eventually <gh>
see OED: riht, riȝt, ryȝht, ryth, ryght…

Distribution of <c> and <g>

It changed with French conventions.
OE:
- <c>
• /k/ cunnan, cuman, cwen
• /tʃ/ cēosan, cild, cinn
ME:
- <c>: /k/ in environment of back vowels (can, come) and near front vowels.
- <k>: /k/ in environment of front vowels: kin, king
- <ch>:
• /tʃ/ in OF loans chattel and chase
• /tʃ/ in native terms: choose, child, chin
- <c>: /s/ near front vowels in loans cellar, city
(this affected some native words like OE īs ‘ice’)
o /kw/: OE <cw> cwen → ME <qu> queen
o /-Ck/: OE <_Cc> weorc → ME <Ck> work

a64b0469ff35958ef4ab887a898bd50bdfbbe91a-4416055
 Yogh
OE:
- yogh <ʒ>
• /g/ god
• /j/
Near front vowels: -ge, gē, forgeat

No se permite la explotación económica ni la transformación de esta obra. Queda permitida la impresión en su totalidad.
• /ɣ/ halgan, folgian, sorgan
ME:
- <g> for /g/
OE ʒod → ME God.
- <g> for /ʤ/ in loanwords
gem, gentle, generacioun.
Also finally: college

Reservados todos los derechos.

- <j> for /ʤ/ in loanwords (Latin i-, g-)
judge, Jesus, joy .
- <gu> gor /g/ before front vowels in loan words
guide, guile
extended to other words e.g. ON guest
- <ʒ> for /j/ near front vowels (like in OE).
Later, <y>.
forʒete: modern forget (/g/ is a substitution from the North)
- <ʒ> for the reflex of OE [γ]
Later, <w>, <u>.
OE boʒa → ME boʒa, boghe → bowe

10

Respuesta Coca-Cola Zero Azúcar. Demasiado bueno para explicarlo con palabras
a64b0469ff35958ef4ab887a898bd50bdfbbe91a-4416055
 ▪ ME: SUMMARY OF CHANGES
Characteristics of ME spelling compared to OE
The nature of the bee = N. Sir John Mandeville = M. Robert of Gloucester = G
ME OE Examples
1 <th> used alongside <þ> <þ> N the (1), with (1), thaym (2),
anothire (3), erthe (3, 10) etc.
for /θ/ and /ð/
(voiceless and voiced dental

No se permite la explotación económica ni la transformación de esta obra. Queda permitida la impresión en su totalidad.
fricatives)
2 <sch> <sc> N scho (1), schewand (8), schorte
(34). M schall (1), flesch (6).
for /ʃ/
3 <ch> <c> charyté (12), charge (37)
for /tʃ/
(voiceless post-alveolar affricate)
4 <gh> <h> N noghte (2, 24), feghtande (14),
thoght (23), moghte (24).

Reservados todos los derechos.

/ç/ and /x/ (PdE /Ø/ or /f/)
M þough (4, 6), allþough (7).
(palatal and velar voiceless fricatives)

5 <c> <s> conciens (12), afforces (15),

contemplacyone (39), affeccyons
for /s/
(39)
(voiceless alveolar fricative)
<k> <c> N kyndis (1), kepes (4) mekill (19),
kan (20), wylke (24), kane (33).
for /k/
M kingdom (3), kutten (5)
(voiceless velar stop)

6 <u> and <v> <f> N neuer (6), heuene (9), heuy, (23),
seruis (29). M Haue (2, 7),
for /v/: medial vs. initial position /v/bu
merueyllous (7), merueyllous (8)
(voiced labiodental fricative /v/)
N vile (10), vaynité (11)
7 <v> <u> vs (16), vndirstandynge (37)
for /ʊ/ in initial position
(lax high back rounded vowel)
8 <y> alonside <i> <i> thaym (2), ydyllness (6) wynges
(11) etc.
for /i/
(tense high front unrounded vowel)

11

Respuesta Coca-Cola Zero Azúcar. Demasiado bueno para explicarlo con palabras
a64b0469ff35958ef4ab887a898bd50bdfbbe91a-4416055
 Features of the spelling/phonology that can help identify a dialect:
• Northern (the nature of the bee)
Spelling
- <f> instead of <u> / <v>
lufes (6), lufe (17, 18…), hafe (13, 37)
- <u> instead of <o(o)>

No se permite la explotación económica ni la transformación de esta obra. Queda permitida la impresión en su totalidad.
gude (7)
- single <s> instead of <sch> for /ʃ/
sulde (15)
- unpalatalised /k/
swylke (20), wylke (24)
Pronunciation
- <a> instead of <o> points to
➢ retention of OE long /a:/ that was /o:/ in the South already

Reservados todos los derechos.

fra (9), halde (10), blawene (11), twa (12), swa (15), forgaa (24),
gaa (32), ane (33).
Contrast PdE forms (to and) fro, hold, blow, two, so, forgo, go,
and one.
• Southern (Gloucester)
Pronunciation
- Rounding of /a/ to /o/ → reflected in spelling: <o> for PdE <a>
engelond (1), hond (1), lond (4), conne (6, 10), mon (11)
- Voicing of initial fricatives
• /f/ → /v/
vor, uor (for) (6, 10, 11)
Initial <u>: Remember than any rule in ME is not
categorical, it is a tendency.
French influence (la vie): an initial /v/ was impossible in OE. [f]
and [v] used to be allophones before; but when it appears initially,
[v] becomes a phoneme (‘ferry’ vs. ‘very’).
In the North, initial <v> appears not only in French loans, but on
English words, reflecting a voicing of the initial fricative /f/. This
was not etymologically correct and was criticised by Shakespeare.
• /θ/ → /ð/
• /s/ → /z/
• /ʃ/ → /ʒ/

12

Respuesta Coca-Cola Zero Azúcar. Demasiado bueno para explicarlo con palabras
a64b0469ff35958ef4ab887a898bd50bdfbbe91a-4416055
 No se permite la explotación económica ni la transformación de esta obra. Queda permitida la impresión en su totalidad.
• Western: West-Midlands and South-Western (Gloucester)
Pronunciation
- OE /y/ > ME /u/: rounding.
PdE <i> or <e>
dude (did), þulk (the ilk=the same), lute (little), ȝute (yet)

▪ eModE: ETYMOLOGICAL RESPELLING AND

SPELLING PRONUNCIATION booklet p49

Reservados todos los derechos.

- Etymological respelling:
The influence of Latin in eModE extended to the remodelling of existing
loanwords. Word forms were realigned in conformity with their supposed
classical roots, often with the insertion of (silent) letters.
OE iegland > ME ilond > PdE island
(the word does not come from Lat. insula, like isle does)
- Spelling pronunciation:
These letters could affect pronunciation.
ME amiral > eModE admiral and the <d> is pronounced

13

a64b0469ff35958ef4ab887a898bd50bdfbbe91a-4416055
 LONG VOWEL SHIFTS (later)

❖ THE “GREAT VOWEL SHIFT” (1450-1700)

It is a series of allegedly related sound changes which affected the Middle English long
vowels.
“A set of related changes like this one is called a chain shift, and you can see

No se permite la explotación económica ni la transformación de esta obra. Queda permitida la impresión en su totalidad.
why we call it that. Chain shifts are by no means rare in vowel systems, and they
occasionally even happen in consonant systems. But why should such an
amazing rearrangement occur at all? What started the GVS, and why did it keep
going until all seven vowels had moved to different places in the vowel space?”
Trask (2015: 79)
- A chain shift: the changes are related and affect each other.
- Something unique to English as well as unique within English.
- It was said to mark the change between ME and eModE (happened 1450-1700).

Reservados todos los derechos.

Middle English long vowels

In the so-called Great Vowel Shift, the seven long monophthongs of ME were all
changed in their phonetic realisations:

14

Respuesta Coca-Cola Zero Azúcar. Demasiado bueno para explicarlo con palabras
a64b0469ff35958ef4ab887a898bd50bdfbbe91a-4416055
 No se permite la explotación económica ni la transformación de esta obra. Queda permitida la impresión en su totalidad.
- A shift in tongue-height.
- A regular change: it affected all long vowels.
- An unconditioned change: the sounds change independently from the phonetic
context. There is no visible phonetic reason: unknown origin.

• ME /i:/ > eModE /əi/ > /aɪ/: white, like, mice

Reservados todos los derechos.

• ME /e:/ > eModE /i:/: deed, green, see, queen
• ME /ɛ:/ > eModE/e:/: deal, quean, sea, steal
• ME /a:/ > eModE /æ:/ > /e:/ > /eɪ/: dame, take, bake, take
• ME /u:/ > eModE /əu/ > /aʊ/: house, brown
• ME /o:/ > eModE /u:/: tooth, moon
• ME /ɔ:/ > eModE /o:/ > /oʊ/ > /əʊ/: stone, home

- The changes were gradual and happened across generations, during hundreds of
years. Some changes happened later than others.
We do not know when every change happened, we can only look for proof in
texts written throughout those years. Diphthongisation happened at a much later
stage than the rest.
- Some sounds underwent much more change than others, e.g. /a:/
➢ Some originally different sounds merged into one same sound with different
spellings and histories.
➢ The letters in English do not correspond to their Continental values:
<a> represents /a:/ in Swedish, Norwegian and German, but /eɪ/ in English

15

Respuesta Coca-Cola Zero Azúcar. Demasiado bueno para explicarlo con palabras
a64b0469ff35958ef4ab887a898bd50bdfbbe91a-4416055
 ▪ THEORIES ABOUT THE GVS
a) Is there any evidence that the GVS is a chain shift? No…
b) Does the available evidence support the traditional dating? No…
c) What exactly happened in the GVS, and why?

Recently:

No se permite la explotación económica ni la transformación de esta obra. Queda permitida la impresión en su totalidad.
• ROGER LASS (1999)
- 14th century, East Midlands: first innovating spellings reflecting the beginning of
the GVS are found.
- c. 1500: /i:/, /u:/, /e:/, and /o:/ finished raising.
- the rest of the long vowels shifted later.
- c. 1650: the GVS was over.
- The ontology of the GVS has been questioned by Gjertrud Stenbrenden. 2016.
Long-Vowel Shifts in English, c. 1050-1700: Evidence from Spelling.

Reservados todos los derechos.

THE TRADITIONAL ACCOUNT:
• OTTO JESPERSEN (1860-1943): THE DRAG CHAIN
The Great Vowel Shift was a drag chain.
1) Diphthongization of /i:/ and /u:/ to /əɪ/ and /əʊ/, respectively. (top vowels)

2) /e:/ and /o:/ were dragged upwards to fill the notional vowel space vacated
by the diphthongization.

3) The remaining three long vowels /ɛ:/, /ɔ:/ and /a:/ were raised.

The GVS was triggered by “a chain that starts with the introduction of some holes
which drags other segments into them, thereby creating more holes which in turn drag
other segments into them, and so on” (Trask 2015: 80)

16

Respuesta Coca-Cola Zero Azúcar. Demasiado bueno para explicarlo con palabras
a64b0469ff35958ef4ab887a898bd50bdfbbe91a-4416055
 • KARL LUICK (1965-1935): THE PUSH CHAIN

No se permite la explotación económica ni la transformación de esta obra. Queda permitida la impresión en su totalidad.
Viennese scholar. He established English historical linguistics on the continent. His
main contribution is his Historische Grammatik der englischen Sprache.
He argued that the GVS was a push chain.
1) Pushing: the trigger of the change was the raising of the mid vowels /e:/ and
/o:/. On their way upwards, they evicted /i:/ and /u:/ from their slots.

Reservados todos los derechos.

2) Dragging: this was then followed by a drag of lower vowels upwards

- The GVS was triggered by “a chain that starts with movement of one segment
dangerously close to a second one, causing that second one to move out of the
way and do the same thing to a third segment” (Trask 2015: 80)
- Roger lass supported this theory.
Scottish accent: house /u:/ and book /o:/
➢ He proposed that /u:/ > /əu/ did not happen because /o:/ > /u:/ did not
happen.

▪ THE GVS DISPROVED:

- Both Jespersen and Luick assumed that language change is regular and targeted
at “filling gaps” to optimize the system.
- These were theories/hyphoteses. They could not be proved.
- Neither of the two traditional positions can be maintained now.

17

a64b0469ff35958ef4ab887a898bd50bdfbbe91a-4416055
 GERTRUDE STENBRENDEN (2016)
- The raising of the close-mid vowels and the close vowels were simultaneous
➢ the close vowels did not diphthongise to avoid mergers, as it was
thought.
If both changes were simultaneous, it cannot be argued that the GVS was
triggered by either a push or a drag change meant to optimize the vowel
system.

No se permite la explotación económica ni la transformación de esta obra. Queda permitida la impresión en su totalidad.
- Stenbrenden’s proof:
The reflexes of the close vowels and the close-mid vowels did not merge. It is
now known that the close-mid vowels were raising by the second half of the 13th
century (much earlier than it had been earlier believed); because there is no
merger, the close vowels must have started to diphthongise at the same time.
- “Irregular spellings indicating early vowel shift are quite numerous, as the
present work has shown, and they suggest that the changes conventionally
subsumed under the ‘GVS’ started in the mid-to-late thirteenth century.”
(Stenbrenden 2016: 308)

Reservados todos los derechos.

- Since the 70s, the debate on the GVS had been lively and heated. Stenbrenden
put an end to it.
➢ Roger Lass has retracted from his statements about the chronology of the
GVS.
➢ Linguists who keep writing on the topic do not call it GVS anymore, but
‘long vowel shifts’.

18

Respuesta Coca-Cola Zero Azúcar. Demasiado bueno para explicarlo con palabras
a64b0469ff35958ef4ab887a898bd50bdfbbe91a-4416055
 ❖ LONG VOWEL SHIFTS
The GVS is only a diagrammatic summary of two temporally extended processes:
1)
i. Early raising of the mid-close (or mid-high) vowels.
ii. Simultaneous diphthongisation of the close ones.
iii. Later raising of the mid-open and low vowels.

No se permite la explotación económica ni la transformación de esta obra. Queda permitida la impresión en su totalidad.
2) A second raising.
Second raising of ME /ɛ:/
(took place in the 15th c., in the Northern dialects, 17th c. in the South).
➢ leads to merger with ME /e:/: both are ModE /i:/.
➢ Does not go to completion → a split within ME /ɛ:/ (will merge with ME /a:/)
▪ The meet-meat merger.
[ME open / ɛ:/ and closed /e:/]

Reservados todos los derechos.

Looking at the outcome of the long vowel shifts, we can see that:
• words like meet and meat had distinct qualities in eModE.
meet: ME /e:/ > eModE /i:/
meat: ME /ɛ:/ > eModE /e:/
So they did not rhyme at Shakespeare’s time.
• Their vowels only merged around 1700: (second raising of /ɛ:/).
the half-close (mid-high) vowel /e:/ deriving from /ɛ:/ was raised to /i:/ in
Southern dialects (became the standard)
meet: ME /e:/ > eModE /i:/
meat: ME /ɛ:/ > eModE /e:/ > 1700 /i:/
They did rhyme for John Dryden and others.
➢ This vowel coalescence increased the number of /i:/ words.
please, speak
➢ It created homophones.
see-sea
beet-beat
tee-tea
piece-peace
Words that had ME /e:/ are usually spelled with <ee>, <eCe> or <ie>.
Words that had ME /ɛ:/ are usually spelled with <ea>.
Parallelly, the two o’s could have merged into u; but it did not happen.

19

Respuesta Coca-Cola Zero Azúcar. Demasiado bueno para explicarlo con palabras
a64b0469ff35958ef4ab887a898bd50bdfbbe91a-4416055
 These mergers may be the result of the coming together over time of two
processes that have no particular ‘conceptual relation’: “Apparent
historical patternedness and directionality are typically accidental”
Lass (2006)

Second raising of ME /a:/

(In the latter half of the 17th century – John Dryden)

No se permite la explotación económica ni la transformación de esta obra. Queda permitida la impresión en su totalidad.
➢ Leads to merger
a) With the original ME /e:/ when it had not raised yet. (speak-make)
b) With the original ME /ɛ:/ that did not undergo the second rising.
They are all eModE /e:/

▪ a) The speak-make merger (ME /a:/ and ME /e:/)

John Dryden and others could rhyme words like speak and make.

Reservados todos los derechos.

make: the mid-low (half-open) /ɛ:/ [from the raising and fronting of /a:/] had
become higher - /e:/
meat, sea, speak: /e:/ words that had had not yet been raised to /i:/.

BUT the meat-words changed as their high-mid (half-close) /e:/ raised to /i:/;
while the /e:/ in the make-words (original /a:/) did not continue to raise for a third
time.
➢ these rhymes did not persist.
/e:/ in the make-words, instead of raising for a third time, gave way to /eɪ/ in the
Southern mainstream dialect at the end of the 18th c.
A parallel process of diphthongisation was undergone by /o:/ in words like boat
and home.

b) With the original ME /ɛ:/ that did not undergo the second rising.
Some mergers of that /ɛ:/ with ME /a:/ [and later with ME /ai/].
the stressed vowels of name, take, cake (from ME /a:/) merged with
those of break, steak, great (from ME /ɛ:/).
OE nama: a: > æ > ɛ: > e: > eɪ
The sound /e:/ went forward, it became the diphthong as if it had come
from /a:/.

20

Respuesta Coca-Cola Zero Azúcar. Demasiado bueno para explicarlo con palabras
a64b0469ff35958ef4ab887a898bd50bdfbbe91a-4416055
 No se permite la explotación económica ni la transformación de esta obra. Queda permitida la impresión en su totalidad.
- In some words, the vowel /ɛ:/ was shortened to /ɛ/ and so missed out on the
Long Vowel shifts:
bread, dead, dread, head, lead (n.), spread, thread, tread, red, shred,
sweat, threat, fret, let, breath, death.
- A few /ɛ:/ words conserved a tendency to keep the two long e’s distinct – they
fall in with the development of ME /a:/ - [a: > æ: > ɛ: > e: > eɪ], giving rise to
homophone pairs in PdE such as
great – grate; steak – stake; break – brake
But these are relics.
Rhymes such as these were still possible, for some speakers at least, as late as

Reservados todos los derechos.

the early 18th c.:
And now she weeps, and now she fain would speak, /e:/
And now her sobs do her intendments break. /e:/
(Shakespeare, Venus and Adonis)

Here Thou, great Anna! Whom three Realms obey /e:/

Dost sometimes Counsel take and sometimes Tea. /e:/
(Pope ‘Rape of the Lock’)
- The diphthongisation to /eɪ/ happened later.
✓ Example of an exercise on GVS (mock exam)
Why is the following rhyme no longer possible in Present-day English?
Thou chidest me well: proud Bolingbroke, I come
To change blows with thee for our day of doom
(Shak. Richard II)
OE cuman > ME cum > EModE /u/. As it was short, it did not undergo “GVS”. It would
later change into pronunciation we know today.
OE doom > ME doom (pronounced /o:/) > eModE “GVS” /u:/ (closed o to closed u, if it
was open o it would have ended as /dəum/, like dome)
It doesn’t matter that they are long and short they still count as rhyme.
➢ How do I know the sound process if I do not know the original form of
the word?
In this case, I can use the trick of working backwards.
PdE come: /ʌ/. I know /ʌ/ < /u:/ always. So ‘come’ was pronounced with
/u:/.

21

a64b0469ff35958ef4ab887a898bd50bdfbbe91a-4416055
 ❖ North-South SPLITS
- /a/ - /æ/.
/a/ moved up to /æ/ by the mid-17th c.
• North of England, AmE: it has remained there.
• South: the vowel was lengthened and backed to /a:/
➢ Split

No se permite la explotación económica ni la transformación de esta obra. Queda permitida la impresión en su totalidad.
castle, past, bath, last, master, path
- /ʊ/ - /ʌ/.
• Shortening of /u:/ [from /o:/ in the ‘GVS’] to /ʊ/.
book, foot, good, look.
OE fо̄t /fo:t/ > ME foot /fo:t/ > eModE /fu:t/ > eModE /fʊt/
• South: lowering and unrounding of /ʊ/ into /ʌ/.
cut, dull, fun, luck

Reservados todos los derechos.

➢ Split: Northern /ʊ/ in those words.
Still today, the North still pronounces it like in Chaucer’s time.
Exceptions:
Unrounding did NOT occur: /ʊ/ preceded by a labial consonant (/p, f, b/)
and followed by /l, ʃ, tʃ/.
bull, push, bush, full, put &, wolf.
In the 17th c., ME /u/ developed into two distinct phonemes in Southern varieties
of English (and so in what would later be RP):
• If <oo> (/o:/ > /u:/) shortened early → /ʌ/
blood, flood.
➢ Split: Northern /ʊ/ in those words.
• If <oo> (/o:/ > /u:/) shortened later → /ʊ/
brook, hood, stood, took, wood, book, look.
Preserved the distinction between pairs book / buck, look / luck
(because these <oo>’s are of the late shortened variety that did not
unround to /ʌ/, while the <u>’s did unround).

22

Respuesta Coca-Cola Zero Azúcar. Demasiado bueno para explicarlo con palabras
a64b0469ff35958ef4ab887a898bd50bdfbbe91a-4416055
 ❖ CONSONANTS: simplifications (lenition, weakening) and new arrivals
(eModE)
- <gh> /ç/ and /x/
• fall silent mainly
bough, plough, slough, drought
bought, brought, ought, thought

No se permite la explotación económica ni la transformación de esta obra. Queda permitida la impresión en su totalidad.
dough
bright, night, sigh, thigh, light
through
• survive as /f/ in some cases (no rule)
chough, rough, tough, cough, enough /ʌf/
→ In this respect, PdE is more complex than ME.

Reservados todos los derechos.

- [g] and [k] in [gn] and [kn] are lost.
gnat, gnash, gnaw, gnarl, gnostic, gnomic
knave, knot, knife, knee, knell, know, knead, knit, knock
They are preserved in Scandinavian languages, no simplification.
- [b] in [mb] is lost.
dumb, climb, thumb, numb, lamb, comb, bomb, womb, tomb, plumb
Applies to other forms of the words: climbing, plumber.
- [w] lost in:
• C + w + rounded back vowel.
two, sword
Exception: swore – probably by analogy with the infinitive ‘swear’.
• w+r
write
- Initial [h] unstable and often dropped in pronunciation
(still pronounced in some parts of Scotland)
• Remodelling restored the [h] to originally h-less French loans.
erbe, umble, abit
➢ This encouraged /h/ pronunciation.

23

Respuesta Coca-Cola Zero Azúcar. Demasiado bueno para explicarlo con palabras
a64b0469ff35958ef4ab887a898bd50bdfbbe91a-4416055
 • [hw] simplified to [w] → homophones
wail / whale; wine / whine; witch / which; weather / whether.
- [g] (voiced velar stop) dropped after velar nasal in [ŋg]
This gave phonemic status to /ŋ/ (opposition to alveolar /n/):
sin /n/ vs. sing /ŋ/; ran /n/ vs. rang /ŋ/
➢ Last phoneme to be aquired. A gain because of a loss.

No se permite la explotación económica ni la transformación de esta obra. Queda permitida la impresión en su totalidad.
- Assimilation (coalescence):
alveolar sounds + palatal [j] → palatoalveolar fricative or affricate.
sj > ʃ zj > ʒ tj > tʃ dj > dʒ
palatoalveolar, palatoalveolar, palatoalveolar, palatoalveolar,
voiceless fricative voiced fricative voiceless affricate voiced affricate
mission vision stew dew
vicious measure tune duke
social pleasure future dune
nation decision Christian immediately

Reservados todos los derechos.

pension cohesion fortune educate
mansion disclosure digestion graduate
ratio casual creature soldier

The new phoneme also appears in word-final position:

entourage, sabotage, beige, rouge, garage.

24

Respuesta Coca-Cola Zero Azúcar. Demasiado bueno para explicarlo con palabras
a64b0469ff35958ef4ab887a898bd50bdfbbe91a-4416055