great vowel shift

great vow·el shift

G g

Definitions of great vowel shift words

noun great vowel shift 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 (ē) and (o̅o̅), already at the upper limit, underwent breaking to become the diphthongs (ī) and (ou). 1
noun great vowel shift a phonetic change that took place during the transition from Middle to Modern English, whereby the long vowels were raised (eː became iː , oː became uː , etc). The vowels (iː ) and (uː ) underwent breaking and became the diphthongs (aɪ ) and (aʊ ) 0
noun great vowel shift 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 ( (i) ; ē) and ; u) ; o̅o) ) changed to Modern English diphthongs (; aɪ) ; ī) and ; aʊ) ; ou) ), and long mid and low vowels (; eɪ) ; ā) , ; oʊ) ; ō) , and ; ɑ) ; ä) ) were raised in their tongue positions to the Modern English sounds (; i) ; ē) , ; u) ; o̅o) , and ; eɪ) ; ā) ), but the orthography remained largely the same 0

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This term is known only to a narrow circle of people with rare knowledge. Only 1% of English native speakers know the meaning of this word.

According to our data most of word are more popular. This word is almost not used. It has a much more popular synonym.

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