Great Vowel Shift and Trisyllabic Laxing
The Great Vowel Shift was a series of chain shifts that affected historical long vowels but left short vowels largely alone. It is one of the primary causes of the idiosyncrasies in English spelling.
The shortening of ante-penultimate syllables in Middle English created many long–short pairs. The result can be seen in such words as,
| Middle English | from long V | from short V |
|---|---|---|
| ī : i | child /aɪ/ divine mine |
children /ɪ/ divinity mineral |
| ē : e ea : e |
serene /iː/ dream |
serenity /ɛ/ dreamt |
| ā : a | nation /eɪ/ sane |
national /æ/ sanity |
| ō : o | goose /uː/ school |
gosling /ɒ/ scholarly |
| oa : o ō : o (Latin) |
holy /oʊ/ cone know* |
holiday /ɒ/ conical knowledge |
| ū : u | south /aʊ/ pronounce |
southern /ʌ/ pronunciation |
*Middle English /ou/ merged with /o/.
Read more about this topic: Phonological History Of English Vowels
Famous quotes containing the words vowel and/or shift:
“Brute animals have the vowel sounds; man only can utter consonants.”
—Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772–1834)
“What is the life of man! Is it not to shift from side to side?—from sorrow to sorrow?—to button up one cause of vexation!—and unbutton another!”
—Laurence Sterne (1713–1768)