VOWEL SHIFT

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VOWEL SHIFT. A term in philology and phonetics for a process under which a set of VOWELS undergoes changes. The term GREAT VOWEL SHIFT is used for a number of longterm changes which affected the English VOWEL system during the 15c–17c. In this shift, the long vowels in reed, rood changed from [eː, oː] to [iː, uː], and close vowels became diphthongs, the vowels in five, house changing from [iː, uː] to [aɪ, ɑʊ]. The degree to which vowels have shifted varies from one variety of English to another: for example, conservative dialects of Scotland, Ireland, and the North of England retain a monophthong [eː, oː] in words like raid, road, whereas these vowels have generally become diphthongs elsewhere, as in RP [eɪ, əʊ]. See ABLAUT.

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