16th Century Changes
By 1600 the following changes had occurred:
- The long vowel /ɔː/ of boat had been raised to /oː/ as a result of the Great Vowel Shift.
- The diphthong /ɑʊ/ found in words such as cause, law, all, salt, psalm, half, change, chamber, dance had become an open back diphthong /ɔ(ː)ʊ/.
- The diphthong /ɔʊ/ found in low and soul had become /oʊ/.
- Before nonprevocalic /r/, short /ɔ/ had become lowered to /ɒ/, thus corn, /kɒrn/.
There were thus three low back monophthongs at this time: /ɔ/ as in dog, /ɔː/ as in low and (before /r/), in more and /ɒ/ in corn.
Read more about this topic: Phonological History Of English Low Back Vowels
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