Vowel shift

Vowel shift

A vowel shift is a systematic sound change in the pronunciation of the vowel sounds of a language.

The best-known example in the English language is the Great Vowel Shift, which began in the 15th century.

Other examples of ongoing vowel shifts are the Southern vowel shift in the southern United States, the California vowel shift in California English, or the Northern cities vowel shift in Michigan, Chicago, and parts of upstate New York.

The Greek language also underwent a vowel shift near the beginning of the Common Era, which included iotacism.

Among the Semitic languages, the Canaanite languages underwent a shift in which Proto-Semitic *ā became ō in Proto-Canaanite (a language likely very similar to Biblical Hebrew).

A vowel shift can involve a merger of two previously different sounds, or it can be a chain shift, where vowels might seemingly at random change places and can be said to be "playing musical chairs".

ee also

*High German consonant shift

External links

* [http://www.ic.arizona.edu/~lsp/Features/SVS.html A page on the Southern Vowel Shift]


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Look at other dictionaries:

  • vowel shift — noun a phonetic change in a vowel or vowels. ↘(the Great Vowel Shift) a series of changes between medieval and modern English affecting the long vowels of the standard language …   English new terms dictionary

  • vowel shift — phonetic phenomenon of changing pronunciation of vowels …   English contemporary dictionary

  • vowel shift — …   Useful english dictionary

  • Great Vowel Shift — The Great Vowel Shift was a major change in the pronunciation of the English language that took place in England between 1350 and 1500.[1] The Great Vowel Shift was first studied by Otto Jespersen (1860–1943), a Danish linguist and Anglicist, who …   Wikipedia

  • Northern cities vowel shift — Three isoglosses identifying the NCVS. In the brown areas /ʌ/ is more retracted than /ɑ/. The blue line encloses areas in which /ɛ/ is backed. The red line encloses area …   Wikipedia

  • Great Vowel Shift — Als Great Vowel Shift (auch Tudor Vowel Shift) fasst man die Vokalveränderungen der englischen Sprache zusammen, die sich zwischen 1400/1450 und 1700/1750 ereigneten und damit die Phase des Frühneuenglischen umfassen. Meist werden damit nur die… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Tudor Vowel Shift — Als Great Vowel Shift (auch Tudor Vowel Shift) fasst man die Vokalveränderungen der englischen Sprache zusammen, die sich zwischen 1400/1450 und 1700/1750 ereigneten und damit die Phase des Frühneuenglischen umfassen. Meist werden damit nur die… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Great English Vowel Shift — Great English Vowel Shift, = Great Vowel Shift. (Cf. ↑Great Vowel Shift) …   Useful english dictionary

  • Great Vowel Shift — n. the complex series of sound developments (c. 1400 to c. 1750) which changed the vowel system of Middle English into that of Modern English: Middle English long high vowels (ē and o͞o) changed to Modern English diphthongs (ī and ou), and long… …   English World dictionary

  • Great Vowel Shift — Ling. a series of changes in the quality of the long vowels between Middle and Modern English as a result of which all were raised, while the high vowels /ee/ and /ooh/, already at the upper limit, underwent breaking to become the diphthongs /uy/ …   Useful english dictionary

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