View source for Great Vowel Shift

{{Short description|Pronunciation change in English between 1350 and 1700}}
{{Use British English|date=June 2020}}
{{English phonology topics}}
{{IPA notice}}
[[File:Great Vowel Shift2b.svg|thumb|Diagram of the changes in English vowels during the Great Vowel Shift|class=skin-invert-image]]
The '''Great Vowel Shift''' was a series of [[English phonology|pronunciation]] changes in the vowels of the [[English language]] that took place primarily between the 1400s and 1600s<ref>{{citation |last=Wells |first=John C. |author-link=John C. Wells |title=Accents of English: Volume 1 |location=[[Cambridge]] |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |year=1982 |isbn=0-521-22919-7 |pages=184–8}}.</ref> (the transition period from [[Middle English]] to [[Early Modern English]]), beginning in southern England and having influenced effectively all dialects of English today. Through this extensive [[vowel shift]], the pronunciation of all Middle English [[long vowels]] altered. Some consonant sounds also changed, specifically becoming silent; the term ''Great Vowel Shift'' is occasionally used to include these consonantal changes.<ref>{{cite book |last=Stockwell |first=Robert |editor1-last=Minkova |editor1-first=Donka |editor2-last=Stockwell |editor2-first=Robert |title=Studies in the History of the English Language: A Millennial Perspective |year=2002 |isbn=3-11-017368-9 |chapter=How Much Shifting Actually Occurred in the Historical English Vowel Shift? |publisher=Mouton de Gruyter |chapter-url=http://www.ling.ohio-state.edu/~ddurian/AWAC/Stockwell%202002.pdf |access-date=2015-07-21 |archive-date=2015-09-05 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150905235250/http://www.ling.ohio-state.edu/~ddurian/AWAC/Stockwell%202002.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Wyld |first=H. C. |title=A Short History of English |orig-year=1914 |year=1957}}</ref>

The standardization of English spelling began in the 15th and 16th centuries; the Great Vowel Shift is the major reason English spellings now often deviate considerably from how they [[Phonemic orthography|represent pronunciations]].<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Denham |first1=Kristin |author1-link=Kristin Denham |last2=Lobeck |author2-link=Anne Lobeck |first2=Anne |title=Linguistics for Everyone: An Introduction |publisher=Cengage Learning |year=2009 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=n0KVSvqvZKYC&pg=PA89 |page=89|isbn=9781413015898 }}</ref>

Notable early researchers of the Great Vowel Shift include [[Alexander J. Ellis]], in ''On Early English Pronunciation, with Especial Reference to Shakspere and Chaucer'' (1869–1889); [[Henry Sweet]], in ''A History of English Sounds'' (1874, revised edition 1888); [[Karl Luick]] from Vienna, in a series of works dating from 1892 and ''Untersuchungen zur englischen Lautgeschichte'' (1896); and [[Otto Jespersen]] (a [[Denmark|Danish]] [[linguist]] and [[Anglicist]]) who first produced a diagram for it and who in Part&nbsp;I (1909) of ''[[A Modern English Grammar on Historical Principles]]'' coined the term.{{refn|group=nb|Jespersen writes "the great vowel-shift": with a hyphen, and not capitalized. {{Cite book | first=Otto | last=Jespersen | authorlink=Otto Jespersen | title=[[A Modern English Grammar on Historical Principles]]. Part 1: Sounds and Spellings | location=London | publisher=George Allen & Unwin | year=1961 | orig-date=1909 | pages=231–247}}}}<ref>{{Cite journal | title=The rise and fall of the Great Vowel Shift? The changing ideological intersections of philology, historical linguistics, and literary history | first=Matthew | last=Giancarlo | journal=Representations | volume=76 | number=1 | date=Fall 2001 | jstor=10.1525/rep.2001.76.1.27 | pages=38–39| doi=10.1525/rep.2001.76.1.27 }}</ref>

==Causes==
{{Disputed section|date=June 2026}}
The causes of the Great Vowel Shift are unknown<ref>{{cite book |last1=Silverman |first1=Daniel |last2=Silverman |first2=Daniel Doron |title=Neutralization |date=16 August 2012 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-19671-0 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=S9py8VQezwMC&dq=great+shift+vowel+reason&pg=PA68 |language=en}}</ref>{{rp|68}} and have been a source of intense scholarly debate; as yet, there is no firm consensus.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Miller |first=Nick |date=2022-05-17 |title=What Was the Great Vowel Shift and Why Did it Happen? |url=https://www.discoveryuk.com/mysteries/what-was-the-great-vowel-shift-and-why-did-it-happen/ |access-date=2025-07-09 |website=Discovery UK |language=en-US}}</ref> The greatest changes occurred during the 15th and 16th centuries, and their origins are at least partly phonetic.

* '''Population migration''': Some scholars have argued that the rapid migration of people to the southeast of England from the [[East of England]] and the [[East Midlands]] following the [[Black Death]]<ref>{{cite book |last1=Crystal |first1=David |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PBnCDwAAQBAJ&dq=great+vowel+shift+central+midlands&pg=PA55 |title=The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language |date=29 November 2018 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-108-42359-5 |language=en}}</ref> produced a clash of dialects, prompting Londoners to distinguish their speech from that of immigrants arriving from other English cities by changing their vowel system.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Montgomery |first1=Martin |last2=Durant |first2=Alan |last3=Fabb |first3=Nigel |last4=Furniss |first4=Tom |last5=Mills |first5=Sara |title=Ways of Reading: Advanced Reading Skills for Students of English Literature |date=24 January 2007 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-134-28025-4 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=isd_AgAAQBAJ&dq=great+vowel+shift+londoners&pg=PA56 |access-date=14 February 2023 |language=en}}</ref>
* '''French loanwords''': Others argue that the influx of [[French language|French]] [[loanwords]] was a major factor in the shift.<ref>{{cite book |title=A Biography of the English Language |author1=Millward, C. M. |author2=Hayes, Mary |publisher=Wadsworth Publishing |year=2011 |edition=3rd |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nC4_1z292jUC |isbn=978-0495906414 |page=250}}</ref> 
* '''Middle-class hypercorrection''': Yet others assert that because of the increasing prestige of French pronunciations among the middle classes (perhaps related to the English aristocracy's switching from French to English around this time), a process of [[hypercorrection]] may have started a shift that unintentionally resulted in vowel pronunciations that are inaccurate imitations of French pronunciations.<ref>{{cite book |title=The Oxford Handbook of the History of English |editor1=Nevalainen, Terttu|editor2=Traugott, Elizabeth Closs |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2012 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=v92EdN2fLWkC |page=794|isbn=9780199996384}}</ref> 
* '''War with France''': An opposing theory states that the [[Anglo-French Wars|wars with France]] and general anti-French sentiments caused hypercorrection deliberately to make English sound less like French.<ref>{{cite web |title=Great Vowel Shift — part 3 |date=Aug 3, 2010 |author=Asya Pereltsvaig |author-link=Asya Pereltsvaig |url=http://www.languagesoftheworld.info/historical-linguistics/great-vowel-shift-part-3.html |website= a cat!}}</ref>

==Overall changes==
The main difference between the pronunciation of [[Middle English]] in the year 1400 and [[Modern English]] ([[Received Pronunciation]]) is in the value of the [[long vowels]].

Long vowels in Middle English had "[[Continental Europe|continental]]" values, much like those in [[Italian phonology#Vowels|Italian]] and [[Standard German phonology#Vowels|Standard German]]; in standard Modern English, they have entirely different pronunciations.{{Sfn|Lass|2000|p=72}} The differing pronunciations of English vowel letters do not stem from the Great Shift as such but rather because English spelling did not adapt to the changes.{{Clarify|date=March 2026}}

[[German language|German]] had undergone [[Early New High German#Vowels|vowel changes quite similar]] to the Great Shift slightly earlier. Still, the spelling was changed accordingly (e.g., [[Middle High German]] {{lang|gmh|bīzen}} → modern German {{lang|de|beißen}} "to bite").

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"
|-
! rowspan="2" | Word
! colspan="2" | Vowel pronunciation
|-
! Late Middle English<br />before the GVS !! Modern English<br />after the GVS
|-
! b''i''te
| {{IPAblink|iː}} || {{IPA|[aɪ]}}
|-
! m''ee''t
| {{IPAblink|eː}} || rowspan="3" | {{IPAblink|iː}}
|-
! m''ea''t
| rowspan="2" | {{IPAblink|ɛː}}
|-
! ser''e''ne
|-
! m''a''te
| {{IPAblink|aː}} || {{IPA|[eɪ]}}
|-
! ''ou''t
| {{IPAblink|uː}} || {{IPA|[aʊ]}}
|-
! b''oo''t
| {{IPAblink|oː}} || {{IPAblink|uː}}
|-
! b''oa''t
| rowspan="2" | {{IPAblink|ɔː}}
| rowspan="2" | {{IPA|[oʊ]}}
|-
! st''o''ne
|}

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"
|-
! rowspan="2" | Word
! colspan="2" | Diphthong pronunciation
|-
! Late Middle English<br />before the GVS !! Modern English<br />after the GVS
|-
! day
| rowspan="2" | {{IPA|[æɪ]}} || rowspan="2" | {{IPA|[eɪ]}}
|-
! they
|-
! boy
| {{IPA|[ɔɪ]}}
| rowspan="2" | {{IPA|[ɔɪ]}}
|-
! point
| {{IPA|[ʊɪ]}}
|-
! law
| {{IPA|[ɑʊ]}} || {{IPA|[ɔː]}}
|-
! knew
| {{IPA|[eʊ]}} || rowspan="2" | {{IPA|[juː]}}
|-
! dew
| {{IPA|[ɛʊ]}}
|-
! know
| {{IPA|[ɔʊ]}} || {{IPA|[oʊ]}}
|}

=== Timeline ===
{{outdated section|date=April 2026}}
This timeline uses representative words to show the main vowel changes between late Middle English in the year 1400 and [[Received Pronunciation]] in the mid-20th century.{{refn|group=nb|name=GLVid|[[Geoff Lindsey]] has criticised some aspects of this diagram, specifically the use of Gimson's symbols at the top.<ref>{{cite AV media |last=Lindsey |first=Geoff |title=
The English Great Vowel Shift in action!|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mvLYB33f9sg&t=1033s |date=16 December 2025 |access-date=17 December 2025}}</ref>}} The Great Vowel Shift occurred in the lower half of the table, between 1400 and 1600–1700, so the changes after 1700 are not considered part of it. Pronunciation is given in the [[International Phonetic Alphabet]]:<ref>{{cite web |title=Middle English consonant sounds |first=L Kip |last=Wheeler |url=http://web.cn.edu/kwheeler/documents/ME_Pronunciation.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040725082429/http://web.cn.edu/kwheeler/documents/ME_Pronunciation.pdf |archive-date=2004-07-25 |url-status=dead }}</ref>{{fv|date=April 2026|reason=Provided source certainly does not provide or align with the timeline below. Uploader of the image attributes to Stemmler (1965), which is rather outdated for how many studies on GVS have been done.}}

[[Image:Great Vowel Shift.svg|700px|class=skin-invert-image]]

==Details==

===Middle English vowel system===
{{more citations needed section|date=March 2020}}
Before the Great Vowel Shift, Middle English in Southern England had seven long vowels, {{IPA|/iː eː ɛː aː ɔː oː uː/}}. The vowels occurred in, for example, the words ''mite'', ''meet'', ''meat'', ''mate'', ''boat'', ''boot'', and ''bout'', respectively.

{| class="wikitable"
|+ Southern Middle English<br>vowel system
!
! front !! back
|-
! close
| {{IPA|/iː/}}: ''mite'' || {{IPA|/uː/}}: ''bout''
|-
! close-mid
| {{IPA|/eː/}}: ''meet'' || {{IPA|/oː/}}: ''boot''
|-
! open-mid
| {{IPA|/ɛː/}}: ''meat'' || {{IPA|/ɔː/}}: ''boat''
|-
! open
| {{IPA|/aː/}}: ''mate'' || —
|}

The words had very different pronunciations in Middle English from those in Modern English:
* '''Long ''i''''' in ''mite'' was pronounced as {{IPA|/iː/}}, so Middle English ''mite'' sounded similar to Modern English ''meet''.
* '''Long ''e''''' in ''meet'' was pronounced as {{IPA|/eː/}}, so Middle English ''meet'' sounded similar to modern Australian English ''met'' but pronounced longer.
*'''Long ''a''''' in ''mate'' was pronounced as {{IPA|/aː/}}, with a vowel similar to the broad ''a'' of ''ma''.
* '''Long ''o''''' in ''boot'' was pronounced as {{IPA|/oː/}}, so Middle English ''boot'' sounded similar to modern Southern England, Australian and New Zealand English ''bought''.

In addition, Middle English had: 
* '''Long {{IPA|/ɛː/}}''' in ''meat'', like Received Pronunciation ''air'', or modern short ''e'' in ''met'' but pronounced longer.
* '''Long {{IPA|/ɔː/}}''' in ''boat'', with a vowel similar to ''aw'' in modern Northern England English ''law'', or like modern Southern England, Australian and New Zealand English ''bot'' but pronounced longer.
* '''Long {{IPA|/uː/}}''' in ''bout'', similar to Modern English ''boot''.

===Changes===
After around 1300, the long vowels of Middle English began changing in pronunciation as follows:

* '''Diphthongisation''' – The two close vowels, {{IPA|/iː uː/}}, became [[diphthong]]s ([[vowel breaking]]). 
* '''Vowel raising''' – The other five, {{IPA|/eː ɛː aː ɔː oː/}}, underwent an increase in [[Vowel height|tongue height]] ([[raising (phonology)|raising]]).

These changes occurred over several centuries and can be divided into two phases. The first phase affected the close vowels {{IPA|/iː uː/}} and the close-mid vowels {{IPA|/eː oː/}}: {{IPA|/eː oː/}} were raised to {{IPA|/iː uː/}}, and {{IPA|/iː uː/}} became the diphthongs {{IPA|/ei ou/}} or {{IPA|/əi əu/}}.{{sfn|Lass|2000|pp=80–83}} The second phase affected the open vowel {{IPA|/aː/}} and the open-mid vowels {{IPA|/ɛː ɔː/}}: {{IPA|/aː ɛː ɔː/}} were raised, in most cases changing to {{IPA|/eː iː oː/}}.{{sfn|Lass|2000|pp=83–85}}

The Great Vowel Shift changed vowels without [[Sound merger|merger]], so Middle English before the vowel shift had the same number of vowel [[phoneme]]s as early modern English after the vowel shift.

After the Great Vowel Shift, some vowel phonemes began merging. Immediately after the Great Vowel Shift, the vowels of ''meet'' and ''meat'' were different, but they are merged in Modern English, and both words are pronounced as {{IPA|/miːt/}}.

However, during the 16th and the 17th centuries, there were many different mergers, and some mergers can be seen in individual Modern English words like ''great'', which is pronounced with the vowel {{IPA|/eɪ/}} as in ''mate'' rather than the vowel {{IPA|/iː/}} as in ''meat''.{{sfn|Görlach|1991|pp=68–69}}

This is a simplified picture of the changes that happened between late Middle English (late ME), [[Early Modern English]] (EModE), and today's English (ModE). Pronunciations in 1400, 1500, 1600, and 1900 are shown.{{sfn|Lass|2000|p=72}} To hear recordings of the sounds, click the phonetic symbols.

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"
|-
! rowspan="3" | Word !! colspan="4" | Vowel pronunciation !! rowspan="3" | Sound file
|-
! late ME !! colspan="2" | EModE !! ModE
|-
! 1400 !! 1500 !! 1600 !! by 1900
|-
! bite
| {{Audio-IPA|Close front unrounded vowel.ogg|/iː/|help=no}} || {{IPA|/ei/}} || {{IPA|/ɛi/}} || {{Audio-IPA|en-us-I.ogg|/aɪ/|help=no}} || [[File:ME-EME-bite.ogg]]
|-
! out
| {{Audio-IPA|Close back rounded vowel.ogg|/uː/|help=no}} || {{IPA|/ou/}}|| {{IPA|/ɔu/}}|| {{Audio-IPA|en-us-ow.ogg|/aʊ/|help=no}} || [[File:ME-EME-out.ogg]]
|-
! meet
| {{Audio-IPA|Close-mid front unrounded vowel.ogg|/eː/|help=no}} || colspan="3" | {{Audio-IPA|Close front unrounded vowel.ogg|/iː/|help=no}} || [[File:ME-EME-meet.ogg]]
|-
! boot
| {{Audio-IPA|Close-mid back rounded vowel.ogg|/oː/|help=no}} || colspan="3" | {{Audio-IPA|Close back rounded vowel.ogg|/uː/|help=no}} || [[File:ME-EME-boot.ogg]]
|-
! meat
| colspan="2" | {{Audio-IPA|Open-mid front unrounded vowel.ogg|/ɛː/|help=no}} || {{Audio-IPA|Close-mid front unrounded vowel.ogg|/eː/|help=no}} || {{Audio-IPA|Close front unrounded vowel.ogg|/iː/|help=no}} || [[File:ME-EME-meat.ogg]]
|-
! boat
| colspan="2" | {{Audio-IPA|Open-mid back rounded vowel.ogg|/ɔː/|help=no}} || {{Audio-IPA|Close-mid back rounded vowel.ogg|/oː/|help=no}} || {{Audio-IPA|en-us-O.ogg|/oʊ/|help=no}} || [[File:ME-EME-boat.ogg]]
|-
! mate
| {{Audio-IPA|Open front unrounded vowel.ogg|/aː/|help=no}} || {{IPA|/æː/}}||  {{Audio-IPA|Open-mid front unrounded vowel.ogg|/ɛː/|help=no}} || {{Audio-IPA|en-us-a.ogg|/eɪ/|help=no}} || [[File:ME-EME-mate.ogg]]
|}

Before [[labial consonant]]s and also after {{IPAc-en|j}},<ref>{{cite book|last1=Labov|first1=William|last2=Ash|first2=Sharon|last3=Boberg|first3=Charles|title=The Atlas of North American English|date=2006|publisher=Mouton-de Gruyter|location=Berlin|isbn=3-11-016746-8|page=14|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qa4-dFqi6iMC&pg=PA14}}</ref> {{IPA|/uː/}} did not shift, and {{IPA|/uː/}} remains as in ''s'''ou'''p''.

===First phase===
The first phase of the Great Vowel Shift affected the Middle English close-mid vowels {{IPA|/eː oː/}}, as in ''beet'' and ''boot'', and the close vowels {{IPA|/iː uː/}}, as in ''bite'' and ''out''. The close vowels {{IPA|/iː uː/}} became diphthongs and the close-mid vowels {{IPA|/eː oː/}} became close {{IPA|/iː uː/}}. The first phase was completed in 1500, meaning that by that time, words like ''beet'' and ''boot'' had lost their Middle English pronunciation and were pronounced with the same vowels as in Modern English. The words ''bite'' and ''out'' were pronounced with diphthongs, but not the same diphthongs as in Modern English.{{sfn|Lass|2000|pp=80–83}}
{| class="wikitable"
|+ First phase of the Great Vowel Shift
! rowspan="2" | Word !! colspan="2" | Vowel pronunciation
|-
! 1400 !! 1550
|-
! bite
| {{IPA|/iː/}} || {{IPA|/ɛi/}}
|-
! meet
| {{IPA|/eː/}} || {{IPA|/iː/}}
|-
! out
| {{IPA|/uː/}} || {{IPA|/ɔu/}}
|-
! boot
| {{IPA|/oː/}} || {{IPA|/uː/}}
|}

Scholars agree that the Middle English close vowels {{IPA|/iː uː/}} became diphthongs around 1500, but disagree about what diphthongs they changed to. According to Lass, the words ''bite'' and ''out'' after diphthongisation were pronounced as {{IPA|/beit/}} and {{IPA|/out/}}, similar to American English ''bait'' {{IPA|/beɪt/}} and ''oat'' {{IPA|/oʊt/}}. Later, the diphthongs {{IPA|/ei ou/}} shifted to {{IPA|/ɛi ɔu/}}, then {{IPA|/əi əu/}}, and finally to Modern English {{IPA|/aɪ aʊ/}}.{{sfn|Lass|2000|pp=80–83}} This sequence of events is supported by the testimony of [[orthoepists]] before Richard Hodges in 1644.

However, many scholars such as {{harvcoltxt|Dobson|1968}}, {{harvcoltxt|Kökeritz|1953}}, and {{harvcoltxt|Cercignani|1981}} argue for theoretical reasons that, contrary to what 16th-century witnesses report, the vowels {{IPA|/iː uː/}} were immediately centralised and lowered to {{IPA|/əi əu/}}.{{refn|group=nb|Centralizing to /ɨi ɨu/ and then lowering to /əi əu/ argued by Stockwell (1961).}}

Evidence from Northern English and Scots ([[#Northern English and Scots|see below]]) suggests that the close-mid vowels {{IPA|/eː oː/}} were the first to shift. As the Middle English vowels {{IPA|/eː oː/}} were raised towards {{IPA|/iː uː/}}, they forced the original Middle English {{IPA|/iː uː/}} out of place and caused them to become diphthongs {{IPA|/ei ou/}}. This type of sound change, in which one vowel's pronunciation shifts so that it is pronounced like a second vowel, and the second vowel is forced to change its pronunciation, is called a [[push chain]].{{sfn|Lass|2000|pp=74–77}}

However, according to professor [[Jürgen Handke]], for some time, there was a phonetic split between words with the vowel {{IPA|/iː/}} and the diphthong {{IPA|/əi/}}, in words where the Middle English {{IPA|/iː/}} shifted to the Modern English {{IPA|/aɪ/}}. For an example, ''high'' was pronounced with the vowel {{IPA|/iː/}}, and ''like'' and ''my'' were pronounced with the diphthong {{IPA|/əi/}}.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zyhZ8NQOZeo |title=PHY117 – The Great Vowel Shift |author=Jürgen Handke |date=Dec 7, 2012 |publisher=The Virtual Linguistics Campus |website=YouTube}}</ref> Therefore, for logical reasons, the close vowels {{IPA|/iː uː/}} could have diphthongised before the close-mid vowels {{IPA|/eː oː/}} raised.  Otherwise, ''high'' would probably rhyme with ''thee'' rather than ''my''. This type of chain is called a [[chain shift|drag chain]].

===Second phase===
The second phase of the Great Vowel Shift affected the Middle English open vowel {{IPA|/aː/}}, as in ''mate'', and the Middle English open-mid vowels {{IPA|/ɛː ɔː/}}, as in ''meat'' and ''boat''. Around 1550, Middle English {{IPA|/aː/}} was raised to {{IPA|/æː/}}. Then, after 1600, the new {{IPA|/æː/}} was raised to {{IPA|/ɛː/}}, with the Middle English open-mid vowels {{IPA|/ɛː ɔː/}} raised to close-mid {{IPA|/eː oː/}}.{{sfn|Lass|2000|pp=83–85}}
{| class="wikitable"
|+ Second phase of the Great Vowel Shift
! rowspan="2" | Word !! colspan="3" | Vowel pronunciation
|-
! 1400 !! 1550 !! 1640
|-
! meat
| {{IPA|/ɛː/}} || {{IPA|/ɛː/}} || {{IPA|/eː/}}
|-
! mate
| {{IPA|/aː/}} || {{IPA|/aː/}}, {{IPA|/æː/}} || {{IPA|/ɛː/}}
|-
! boat
| {{IPA|/ɔː/}} || {{IPA|/ɔː/}} || {{IPA|/oː/}}
|}

===Later mergers===
During the first and the second phases of the Great Vowel Shift, long vowels were shifted without merging with other vowels, but after the second phase, several vowels merged. The later changes also involved the Middle English diphthong {{IPA|/ɛj/}}, as in ''day'', which often (but not always, see the [[Pane-pain merger|''pane-pain'' merger]]) monophthongised to {{IPA|/ɛː/}}, and merged with Middle English {{IPA|/aː/}} as in ''mate'' or {{IPA|/ɛː/}} as in ''meat''.{{sfn|Görlach|1991|pp=68–69}}

During the 16th and 17th centuries, several different pronunciation variants existed among different parts of the population for words like ''meet'', ''meat'', ''mate'', and ''day''. Different pairs or trios of words were merged in pronunciation in each pronunciation variant. Four different pronunciation variants are shown in the table below. The fourth pronunciation variant gave rise to Modern English pronunciation. In Modern English, ''meet'' and ''meat'' are merged in pronunciation and both have the vowel {{IPA|/iː/}}, and ''mate'' and ''day'' are merged with the diphthong {{IPA|/eɪ/}}, which developed from the 16th-century long vowel {{IPA|/eː/}}.{{sfn|Görlach|1991|pp=68–69}}<!-- Görlach cites Samuels (1972: 147) for variants I, II, and III, and adds the pronunciation given by John Hart. In the table below, Hart's variant is number 1, and Görlach's I, II, II are numbers 3, 2, 4. -->
{| class="wikitable"
|+ Meet-meat mergers
! rowspan="2" | Word !! rowspan="2" | Middle<br>English !! colspan="4" | 1500s pronunciation variants
|-
! 1 !! 2 !! 3 !! 4
|-
! meet
| {{IPA|/eː/}} || {{IPA|/iː/}} || {{IPA|/iː/}} || {{IPA|/iː/}} || rowspan="2" | {{IPA|/iː/}}
|-
! meat
| {{IPA|/ɛː/}} ||  rowspan="2" | {{IPA|/ɛː/}} || rowspan="3" | {{IPA|/eː/}} || {{IPA|/eː/}}
|-
! day
| {{IPA|/ɛj/}}|| rowspan="2" | {{IPA|/ɛː/}} || rowspan="2" | {{IPA|/eː/}}
|-
! mate
| {{IPA|/aː/}} ||  {{IPA|/æː/}}
|}

Modern English typically has the [[Meet–meat merger|''meet''–''meat'' merger]]: both ''meet'' and ''meat'' are pronounced with the vowel {{IPA|/iː/}}. Words like ''great'' and ''steak'', however, have merged with ''mate'' and are pronounced with the vowel {{IPA|/eɪ/}}, which developed from the {{IPA|/eː/}} shown in the table above. Before historic {{IPA|/r/}} some of these vowels merged with {{IPA|/ə/}}, {{IPA|/ɛ/}}, {{IPA|/ɪ/}}, {{IPA|/ʊ/}}

==Northern English and Scots==
The Great Vowel Shift affected other dialects and the standard English of southern England but in different ways. In [[English in northern England|Northern England]], the shift did not operate on the long [[back vowel]]s because they had undergone an earlier shift.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Wales |first=K |year=2006 |title=Northern English: a cultural and social history |place=Cambridge |publisher=Cambridge University |page=48}}</ref> Similarly, the [[Scots language|dialect]] in [[Scotland]] had a different vowel system before the Great Vowel Shift, as {{IPA|/oː/}} had shifted to {{IPA|/øː/}} in [[Early Scots]]. In the Scots equivalent of the Great Vowel Shift, the long vowels {{IPA|/iː/}}, {{IPA|/eː/}} and {{IPA|/aː/}} shifted to {{IPA|/ei/}}, {{IPA|/iː/}} and {{IPA|/eː/}} by the [[Middle Scots]] period and {{IPA|/uː/}} remained unaffected.<ref>{{Citation |last1=Macafee |first1=Caroline |last2=Aitken |first2=A. J. |title=A History of Scots to 1700 |series=DOST |volume=12 |url=http://www.dsl.ac.uk/about-scots/history-of-scots/ |pages=lvi–lix}}</ref>

The first step in the Great Vowel Shift in Northern and Southern English is shown in the table below. The Northern English developments of Middle English {{IPA|/iː, eː/}} and {{IPA|/oː, uː/}} were different from Southern English. In particular, the Northern English vowels {{IPA|/iː/}} in  ''bite'', {{IPA|/eː/}} in ''feet'', and {{IPA|/oː/}} in ''boot'' shifted, while the vowel {{IPA|/uː/}} in ''house'' did not. These developments below fall under the label "older" to refer to Scots and a more [[conservative (linguistics)|conservative]] and increasingly rural Northern sound,{{sfn|Lass|2000|pp=76}} while "younger" refers to a more mainstream Northern sound largely emerging just since the twentieth century.
{| class="wikitable"
|-
!rowspan="3" |  Word !! colspan="4" | Vowel
|-
! rowspan="2" |  Middle English !!  colspan="3" | Modern English 
|-
!{{small|Scots/ Northern (older)}}!! {{small|Northern (younger)}} !! {{small|Southern}}
|-
! bite
| {{IPA|/iː/}} || {{IPA|/ɛj/}}|| {{IPA|/aj/}}|| {{IPA|/ɑj/}}
|-
! feet
| {{IPA|/eː/}} || {{IPA|/iː/}} || {{IPA|/iː/}} || {{IPA|/ɪj/}}
|-
! house
| {{IPA|/uː/}} || {{IPA|/uː/}} || {{IPA|/ɐw/~/aw/}}|| {{IPA|/aw/}}
|-
! boot
| {{IPA|/oː/}} || {{IPA|/iː/}} || {{IPA|/yː/~/uː/}}|| {{IPA|/ʉw/}}
|}

The vowel systems of Northern and Southern Middle English immediately before the Great Vowel Shift were different in one way. In Northern Middle English, the back close-mid vowel {{IPA|/oː/}} in ''boot'' had already shifted to front {{IPA|/øː/}} (a sound change known as [[fronting (phonetics)|fronting]]), like the long ''{{lang|de|ö}}'' in German {{wikt-lang|de|hören}} {{IPA|de|ˈhøːʁən||De-hören.ogg}} "hear". Thus, Southern English had a back close-mid vowel {{IPA|/oː/}}, but Northern English did not:{{sfn|Lass|2000|pp=74–77}}
{|
|
{| class="wikitable nowrap" style="text-align: center;"
|+ Southern Middle English<br>vowel system
!
! front !! back
|-
! close
| {{IPA|iː}} || {{IPA|uː}}
|-
! close-mid
| {{IPA|eː}} || {{IPA|oː}}
|-
! open-mid
| {{IPA|ɛː}} || {{IPA|ɔː}}
|-
! open
| {{IPA|aː}} || —
|}
|
{| class="wikitable nowrap" style="text-align: center;"
|+ Northern Middle English<br>vowel system
!
! front !! back
|-
! close
| {{IPA|iː}} || {{IPA|uː}}
|-
! close-mid
| {{IPA|eː, øː}} || —
|-
! open-mid
| {{IPA|ɛː}} || {{IPA|ɔː}}
|-
! open
| {{IPA|aː}} || —
|}
|}
In Northern and Southern English, the first step of the Great Vowel Shift raised the close-mid vowels to become close. Northern Middle English had two close-mid vowels – {{IPA|/eː/}} in ''feet'' and {{IPA|/øː/}} in ''boot'' – which were raised to {{IPA|/iː/}} and {{IPA|/yː/}}. Later on{{when|date=September 2024}}, Northern English {{IPA|/yː/}} changed to {{IPA|/iː/}} in many dialects (though not in all, see {{section link|Phonological history of Scots|Vowel 7}}), so that ''boot'' has the same vowel as ''feet''. Southern Middle English had two close-mid vowels – {{IPA|/eː/}} in ''feet'' and {{IPA|/oː/}} in ''boot'' – which were raised to {{IPA|/iː/}} and {{IPA|/uː/}}.

In Southern English, the close vowels {{IPA|/iː/}} in ''bite'' and {{IPA|/uː/}} in ''house'' shifted to become diphthongs, but in Northern English, {{IPA|/iː/}} in ''bite'' shifted but {{IPA|/uː/}} in ''house'' did not.

If the vowel systems at the time of the Great Vowel Shift caused the difference between the Northern and Southern vowel shifts, {{IPA|/uː/}} did not shift because there was no back mid vowel {{IPA|/oː/}} in Northern English. In Southern English, shifting of {{IPA|/oː/}} to {{IPA|/uː/}} could have caused diphthongisation of original {{IPA|/uː/}}, but because Northern English had no back close-mid vowel {{IPA|/oː/}} to shift, the back close vowel {{IPA|/uː/}} did not diphthongise.

==See also==
* [[Canaanite Shift]]
* [[Chain shift]]
* "[[The Chaos]]"—a poem using the irregularity of English spelling and pronunciation
* [[Grimm's law]]
* [[High German consonant shift]]
* [[History of English]]
* [[Ingvaeonic nasal spirant law]]
* [[Phonological history of English vowels]]
* [[Slavic palatalization (disambiguation)|Slavic palatalisation]]
* [[Vowel shift]]

== Explanatory notes ==
{{Reflist|group=nb}}

==Sources==

=== Citations ===
{{Reflist}}

=== General and cited sources ===
{{refbegin|indent=yes|30em}}
* {{cite book |last1=Baugh |first1=Alfred C. |last2=Cable |first2=Thomas |date=1993 |title=A History of the English Language |edition=4th |location=Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey |publisher=Prentice-Hall }}
* {{cite book |last=Cable |first=Thomas |date=1983 |title=A Companion to Baugh & Cable's History of the English Language |location=Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey |publisher=Prentice-Hall }}
* {{cite book |last=Cercignani |first=Fausto |date=1981 |author-link=Fausto Cercignani |title=Shakespeare's Works and Elizabethan Pronunciation |location=Oxford |publisher=Clarendon Press }}
* {{Cite web |last=Dillon |first=George L. |title=American English vowels |url=http://faculty.washington.edu/dillon/PhonResources/newstart.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130705151529/http://faculty.washington.edu/dillon/PhonResources/newstart.html |archive-date=5 July 2013 |url-status=dead}} [https://web.archive.org/web/20130329084214/http://faculty.washington.edu/dillon/PhonResources/PhonResources.html Studying Phonetics on the Net].
* {{cite book |last=Dobson |first=E. J. |date=1968 |title=English Pronunciation 1500–1700 (2 vols) |edition=2nd |location=Oxford |publisher=Clarendon Press }} (See vol. 2, 594–713 for discussion of long stressed vowels)
* {{cite book |last=Freeborn |first=Dennis |date=1992 |title=From Old English to Standard English: A Course Book in Language Variation Across Time |location=Ottawa, Canada |publisher=[[University of Ottawa Press]] }}
* {{cite book |last=Görlach |first=Manfred |date=1991 |title=Introduction to Early Modern English |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] }}
* {{cite book |last=Kökeritz |first=Helge |date=1953 |title=Shakespeare's Pronunciation |location=New Haven |publisher=[[Yale University Press]] }}
* {{cite book |last=Lass |first=Roger |date=2000 |chapter=Chapter 3: Phonology and Morphology |editor-first=Roger |editor-last=Lass |title=The Cambridge History of the English Language, Volume III: 1476–1776 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |pages=56–186 }}
* {{cite book |last=Millward |first=Celia |year=1996 |title=A Biography of the English Language |edition=2nd |location=Fort Worth |publisher=Harcourt Brace }}
* {{cite book |last1=Pyles |first1=Thomas |last2=Algeo |first2=John |date=1993 |title=The Origins and Development of the English Language |edition=4th |location=Orlando, FL |publisher=Harcourt Brace & Co }}
* {{Cite web |last=Rogers |first=William 'Bill' |title=A Simplified History of the Phonemes of English |publisher=Furman |url=http://www.furman.edu/~wrogers/phonemes |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20020803010924/http://www.furman.edu/~wrogers/phonemes/ |archive-date=2002-08-03 }}
{{refend}}

==External links==
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zyhZ8NQOZeo Great Vowel Shift Video lecture]
* {{Cite web |last=Menzer |first=M. |department=Great Vowel Shift |publisher=[[Furman University]] |title=What is the Great Vowel Shift? |url=http://www.furman.edu/~mmenzer/gvs/ |access-date=2010-09-07 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20020810224758/http://www.furman.edu/~mmenzer/gvs/ |archive-date=2002-08-10 |url-status=dead }}
* {{Cite web |url=http://www.courses.fas.harvard.edu/~chaucer/vowels.html |title=The Great Vowel Shift |department=The [[Geoffrey Chaucer]] Page |publisher=[[Harvard University]] |access-date=2007-05-17 |archive-date=2013-04-01 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130401141215/http://www.courses.fas.harvard.edu/%7Echaucer/vowels.html |url-status=dead }}

{{History of English}}
{{Germanic languages}}
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[[Category:History of the English language]]
[[Category:Vowel shifts]]
[[Category:Germanic sound laws]]