SHORT VOWELS IN EModE - The History of the English Language

DATES OF GVS CHANGES
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Table
6.1.
• ME 1300 1400 1500 1600 1700 ModE
• [i:] rise(n) [ii] [ai] [ai] rise
• [u:] mouth [uu] [au] [au] mouth
• [e:] feet [i:] [i:] feet
• [o:] goos [u:] [u:] goose
• [ε:] beeme [e:] [i:] beam
• [o:] ston [o:] [ou] [әu] stone
• [a:] name [æ :] [ε:] [e:] [ei] name
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As we see, 5 out of 7 vowels became closer in their articulation, and only the two
closest sounds — [ī ] and [ū] — developed into diphthongs with an open first element.
The names of the letters of the English alphabet also serve as examples. The Latin
letter a was, as in other languages, called [a:] before the Vowel Shift. The letter k was
called |ka:j and the letter h was [a:t∫].After the Shift they became [ei], [kei] and [eit∫]
respectively. The letter b was [bē], the letter d was [dē], p was [pē]. Now they are
[bi:], [di:], and [pi:] respectively. In the same way о became [ou], і became [ai], etc.
In words like head, bread, sweat, breath etc., where the digraph ea shows that the
vowel before the Shift was [ę:], we should have expected [i:]. But the fact is that in
some cases, chiefly before [d], [t] or [θ], the sound was shortened in its [ē] stage and
did not develop into [i:]. Similarly, [u:] was later shortened before [d], [t], [k] in
words like good, foot, book, etc.