What did English sound like before the Great Vowel Shift?

What did English sound like before the Great Vowel Shift?

Before the Great Vowel Shift, Middle English in Southern England had seven long vowels, /iː eː ɛː aː ɔː oː uː/. The vowels occurred in, for example, the words bite, meet, meat, mate, boat, boot, and out, respectively.

What are the dialects of Middle English?

The dialects of Middle English are usually divided into three large groups: (1) Southern (subdivided into Southeastern, or Kentish, and Southwestern), chiefly in the counties south of the River Thames; (2) Midland (corresponding roughly to the Mercian dialect area of Old English times) in the area from the Thames to …

What happened to the vowels of English during the Great Vowel Shift?

The Great Vowel Shift was a massive sound change affecting the long vowels of English during the fifteenth to eighteenth centuries. Basically, the long vowels shifted upwards; that is, a vowel that used to be pronounced in one place in the mouth would be pronounced in a different place, higher up in the mouth.

Which English is the form of the English language spoken since the Great Vowel Shift in England?

Modern English
Modern English (sometimes New English or NE (ME) as opposed to Middle English and Old English) is the form of the English language spoken since the Great Vowel Shift in England, which began in the late 14th century and was completed in roughly 1550.

When did Middle English transition to Modern English?

Transition from Middle English to Early Modern English. The death of Chaucer at the close of the century (1400) marked the beginning of the period of transition from Middle English to the Early Modern English stage.

How did the Great Vowel Shift influence the modern pronunciation of words?

The great vowel shift changed the way that the English language was spoken. The shift affected the pronunciation of all Middle English long vowels, as well as the sound of some consonants, which became silent.

What English did Shakespeare?

Elizabethan English
The language in which Shakespeare wrote is referred to as Early Modern English, a linguistic period that lasted from approximately 1500 to 1750. The language spoken during this period is often referred to as Elizabethan English or Shakespearian English.

How is Middle English different than Modern English?

Middle English is much closer to Modern English. Spelling has not yet been formalized in a systematic way, and many Latinate terms such as “substance” (Latin substantia) and “temptation” (Latin temptatio) have entered English through intermediary French influences under the Norman conquerors in 1066.

How did the long vowels change in pronunciation between Middle English times?

Between Middle English times and our own day, all of the long vowels changed in pronunciation in a regular manner, called The Great Vowel Shift . Those changes are apparent in the following chart, which also provides a guide to the pronunciation of Chaucer’s “long vowels”:

What is the Great Vowel Shift?

These changes in the pronunciation of the “long vowels” are due to what is called The Great Vowel Shift. Between Middle English times and our own day, all of the long vowels changed in pronunciation in a regular manner, called The Great Vowel Shift .

What is the correct way to pronounce final e in English?

As said above, your ear will soon become your best guide to pronunciation. In the meantime, follow the rule that final -e is always pronounced unless a vowel (or h- or w-) follows, and inflectional e in -ed, -es, -en is always pronounced. Words of three syllables and more are frequently slurred in pronunciation, as often happens in modern English.

When did long stressed vowels change their articulation?

Beginning in the twelfth century and continuing until the eighteenth century (but with its main effects in the fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries) the sounds of the long stressed vowels in English changed their places of articulation (i.e., how the sounds are made).