Great Vowel Shift – the change that happened in the 14th – 16th c.and affected all long monophthongs + diphthong [au]. As a result these vowels were:
· diphthongized;
· narrowed (became more closed);
· both diphthongized and narrowed.
ME Sounds | NE Sounds | ME | NE |
[i:] à | [ai] | time [‘ti:mə] | time [teim] |
[e:] à | [i:] | kepen [‘ke:pən] | keep [ki:p] |
[a:] à | [ei] | maken [‘ma:kən] | make [meik] |
[o:] à à | [ou] [u:] | stone [‘sto:nə] moon [mo:n] | stone [stoun] moon [mu:n] |
[u:] à | [au] | mous [mu:s] | mouse [maus] |
[au] à | [o:] | cause [‘kauzə] | cause [ko:z] |
This shift was not followed by spelling changes, i.e. it was not reflected in written form. Thus the Great Vowel Shift explains many modern rules of reading.