Poetry is interesting because it often preserves older ways of rhyming, etc. as a stylistic device even after speakers have ceased to pronounce the rhymes the same. Then add to that the fact that there are few more post-Great Vowel Shift changes and you get rhymes that look strange to us landlubbers :)
I enjoyed the article so much, I would like to leave you with a (sophomoric) joke. My linguistics instructor referred to this phenomenon as the Great Vowel Movement. Sorry, not sorry.
I had heard of the Great Vowel shift when I was trying to learn how to con-lang years ago. I find linguistics a fascinating subject even if most of it is way above my head (I'm hopeless at understanding how the IPA works or how some of the sounds are supposed to work, such as frictives - but I was raised in the hills of WV and my accent is a large part of that problem lol)
Anyway, the thing that I was wondering is what led to the Great Vowel shift in the first place? I could have understood if it was happening due to a great demographic shift - if lots of migration was going on in England and pressure from other languages was strong. So I could understand it happening say in 100AD when Latin really influenced the native celtic languages of the Island, or 400AD when the Saxon, Jutes, and Angles started coming in with their Germanic languages, or even with the attacks and settlements coming from the Vikings and their Norse language, or even 1000 AD with the Normans coming in and bringing in the French influence.
But what was going on in Britain from 1400-1650 that scholar think led to this rather rapid change in vowel pronunciation?
Excellent question! Interestingly, linguistic changes don't require social changes in order to happen — sometimes language just drifts, changing over the generations. After enough generations that change can look pretty dramatic. It is, however, often true that big social changes lead to linguistic changes. In this case, there is something social we can point to: there was a lot of internal migration in England at this time from the countryside into cities, especially to London. But it's hard to say for sure whether that caused the shift.
There was, perhaps, a social element driving at least some of the changes.
It seems that as the lower classes began adopting the “refined” articulation and vowel pronunciations, the elite would change as well … to stay “ahead” of them.
That said, since I have no reference to give you, it could be just speculation, but I suspect there could be some validity to the theory. It would be interesting to track… if it’s really possible. Perhaps by chasing the rhymes of the lower classes and poetry of the more elite (if the rhymes can be closely enough dated).
I didn't realize that accent was actually a vowel shift! My husband is from that region and while he himself does not speak that way, his family, especially his mother and his aunts, do. I had thought it was the influence of the Scandinavian immigration to that area; I didn't realize it was actually rather recent (less than 100 years old)
Though while my husband does not normally speak that way, when we do visit "home", his accent does start to thicken
A few years ago on a cross country road trip, my husband and I listened to Bill Bryson’s book, The Mother Tongue, and I was fascinated by something he said - that the language had changed so much between Chaucer (I think, it’s been awhile) and Shakespeare that people would not have been able to understand one another. He just left it there…
When I was in my teens I could read Middle English with little trouble. Having not read any for about fifty years I don’t read so nonchalantly. So, the lesson I learned was that, like learning a foreign language, if you neglect to use it your facility with it is so impaired that your previous knowledge has virtually disappeared. I really enjoyed your article, thank you.
I guess the vowel shift was limited to Britain : Dutch still has the same vowel system as Middle English. (Boot (=boat ) and Bot (=bone) are pronounced the same but in 'boot' with a slightly longer version of the same sound as in 'bot'. Dutch does have diphtongs: they are written as two different vowels next to each other. (ou, oe, au, eu, ui). These generally do not have similar sounds in modern English. Maybe they were lost?
Right, Dutch didn't have the Great Vowel Shift. The Dutch diphthongs and the English ones mostly have different sources. The history of Dutch is just about as complicated as the history of English though, so it'd be a long story to tell!
This was a fascinating read—I’ve been learning more about English spelling the more I write, and this really helped me understand why it’s such a labyrinth.
It also made me think about Persian literature and how the written word evolved in Afghanistan. Unlike English, Persian script remained fluid, shaped by poets, scholars, and calligraphers over centuries. The works of Rumi, Hafez, and Ferdowsi weren’t confined by rigid spelling rules but rather embraced the beauty of expression and adaptation.
Afghanistan, though, has been a country at war with itself for decades, and its literary tradition has suffered immensely. Libraries have been looted, manuscripts burned, and generations have grown up without access to their own literary heritage. Yet, the Persian language lived on. It was the 'English' of the region for centuries—the language of diplomacy, scholarship, and poetry.
In any case, languages survive not just through rules, but through resilience—and Persian is proof of that.
Thank you for your lovely comment! I was just saying the other day how much I would love to learn Persian one day to be able to read some of that beautiful literature in the original. One day!
I taught our children to spell, here in the States, by reading English and Scottish poetry with them to help them catch the sounds for the way words are spelled.
As a simple example, “been” generally pronounced “bin” in our region, I taught them to read it with the long “e”.
Once we started doing that, spelling difficulties largely evaporated.
Standard Scottish English takes its pronunciation from two main sources - Scots (really an offshoot of the more conservative Northern English) and what was on the arrival of English the older, more established language of Gaelic. The result is pronunciation of vowels pretty well as you describe before the vowel shift - with little diphthongisation and a major distinction between long and short vowel sounds (e.g. 'aunt' and 'ant' respectively). The vowel system is also simpler, omitting for example the /æ/ of English speakers: as a result, Scots are often surprised when they perceive English speakers as saying 'excess' when 'access' is expected. 😄
This explanation makes sense of what I noticed when I moved from SE Pennsylvania to the mountains of Eastern West Virginia 25 years ago. My neighbor still says, "poosh" for "push", as do many other 'old-timers'. Other vowels are sometimes pronounced with what I called a Spanish accent. Since this area was settled by Scots-Irish (along with German) immigrants who were essentially frozen in what I called a 'traditional' culture, this makes sense to me. Sadly, the arrival of the internet has removed most traces of traditional culture and pronunciation in the newer generations.
Thanks for your comment — the history of Scots (not to mention Standard Scottish English) is so fascinating! For anyone reading who isn't familiar, one big difference in how the Great Vowel Shift affected Scots and Standard English is how the Middle English long ū vowel turned into the "ow" of Modern English but remained an "oo" in Scots. So Scots in some ways has a system closer to that of Middle English. More info here for those curious: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Vowel_Shift#Northern_English_and_Scots
This explanation makes sense of what noticed when I moved from SE Pennsylvania to the mountains of Eastern West Virginia 25 years ago. My neighbor still says, "poosh" for "push", as do many other 'old-timers'. Other vowels are sometimes pronounced with what I called a Spanish accent. Since this area was settled by Scots-Irish (along with German) immigrants who were essentially frozen in what I called a 'traditional' culture, this makes sense to me. Sadly, the arrival of the internet has removed most traces of traditional culture and pronunciation in the newer generations.
This is fascinating. Was there an influx of non-native speakers around this time who might not have been able to discern the subtle differences so the native speakers had to shift in order to communicate more clearly?
The exact reason for the Great Vowel Shift is debated — and sometimes sounds just naturally drift over the generations. But I think one extra-linguistic factor was the migration of rural people into the cities (especially London) in this period, which likely played a large role.
Good article. The causes of the vowel shift are still a little unclear. Since language is inherently conservative (talking in the same way as others is essential for understanding) one would expect the presence of external factors driving the change. Internal migration is surely one of them. Royal court fashions, driven by foreign influences likely another. New technologies (some from foreign sources) tend to create jargons of their own that infiltrate into the vernacular. Global maritime trade, particularly with the expansion of colonies and territories yet another. I’m just throwing a few options out there.
I'll have to do another issue on the potential causes of the Great Vowel Shift — although I'll preface it by saying that it's still a matter of debate.
I teach English to a few children (we live in a non English speaking country) and one of them is always so curious about why "ee" or "oo" are spelled like that, and I struggle to give them another explanation other than "language rules, I didn't make them up😆" but now maybe I'll use this very interesting piece of history that I just learned to satisfy their curiosity. very fascinating essay👏👏👏
We have an early American book of nursery rhymes. The only way to make some of them rhyme is to speak like a Scottish pirate.
Poetry is interesting because it often preserves older ways of rhyming, etc. as a stylistic device even after speakers have ceased to pronounce the rhymes the same. Then add to that the fact that there are few more post-Great Vowel Shift changes and you get rhymes that look strange to us landlubbers :)
Arrrgh, Matey!
I enjoyed the article so much, I would like to leave you with a (sophomoric) joke. My linguistics instructor referred to this phenomenon as the Great Vowel Movement. Sorry, not sorry.
10/10. No notes.
I had heard of the Great Vowel shift when I was trying to learn how to con-lang years ago. I find linguistics a fascinating subject even if most of it is way above my head (I'm hopeless at understanding how the IPA works or how some of the sounds are supposed to work, such as frictives - but I was raised in the hills of WV and my accent is a large part of that problem lol)
Anyway, the thing that I was wondering is what led to the Great Vowel shift in the first place? I could have understood if it was happening due to a great demographic shift - if lots of migration was going on in England and pressure from other languages was strong. So I could understand it happening say in 100AD when Latin really influenced the native celtic languages of the Island, or 400AD when the Saxon, Jutes, and Angles started coming in with their Germanic languages, or even with the attacks and settlements coming from the Vikings and their Norse language, or even 1000 AD with the Normans coming in and bringing in the French influence.
But what was going on in Britain from 1400-1650 that scholar think led to this rather rapid change in vowel pronunciation?
Excellent question! Interestingly, linguistic changes don't require social changes in order to happen — sometimes language just drifts, changing over the generations. After enough generations that change can look pretty dramatic. It is, however, often true that big social changes lead to linguistic changes. In this case, there is something social we can point to: there was a lot of internal migration in England at this time from the countryside into cities, especially to London. But it's hard to say for sure whether that caused the shift.
There was, perhaps, a social element driving at least some of the changes.
It seems that as the lower classes began adopting the “refined” articulation and vowel pronunciations, the elite would change as well … to stay “ahead” of them.
That said, since I have no reference to give you, it could be just speculation, but I suspect there could be some validity to the theory. It would be interesting to track… if it’s really possible. Perhaps by chasing the rhymes of the lower classes and poetry of the more elite (if the rhymes can be closely enough dated).
A similar vowel chain shift is under way in the Northern US today. What's really amazing to me is that it is surviving and continuing in the face of modern media. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inland_Northern_American_English
Just about to say that, too. It’s in western Canada. A bunch of Northerners moved to southern Alaska, an woon’cha know, brought it to Wasilla.
I didn't realize that accent was actually a vowel shift! My husband is from that region and while he himself does not speak that way, his family, especially his mother and his aunts, do. I had thought it was the influence of the Scandinavian immigration to that area; I didn't realize it was actually rather recent (less than 100 years old)
Though while my husband does not normally speak that way, when we do visit "home", his accent does start to thicken
A few years ago on a cross country road trip, my husband and I listened to Bill Bryson’s book, The Mother Tongue, and I was fascinated by something he said - that the language had changed so much between Chaucer (I think, it’s been awhile) and Shakespeare that people would not have been able to understand one another. He just left it there…
Your discussion has lifted the veil!
I'm so glad to hear that — talk about a cliffhanger on Bryson's part!
Father: In MY day, we pronounced it "boht", the way it's SUPPOSED to be. Not like you lazy youngsters and your ridiculous "boot".
Kid: Sure, dad, whatEVER. <rolls eyes>
"Ok, bōmer"
When I was in my teens I could read Middle English with little trouble. Having not read any for about fifty years I don’t read so nonchalantly. So, the lesson I learned was that, like learning a foreign language, if you neglect to use it your facility with it is so impaired that your previous knowledge has virtually disappeared. I really enjoyed your article, thank you.
Very true! But I suspect it'd come back to you before too long with a little practice. Thanks very much for your kind words!
Just teaching Language Change to my A level students so have shared this :) thank you!
Amazing! I hope you create a few etymologically obsessed monsters!
I guess the vowel shift was limited to Britain : Dutch still has the same vowel system as Middle English. (Boot (=boat ) and Bot (=bone) are pronounced the same but in 'boot' with a slightly longer version of the same sound as in 'bot'. Dutch does have diphtongs: they are written as two different vowels next to each other. (ou, oe, au, eu, ui). These generally do not have similar sounds in modern English. Maybe they were lost?
Right, Dutch didn't have the Great Vowel Shift. The Dutch diphthongs and the English ones mostly have different sources. The history of Dutch is just about as complicated as the history of English though, so it'd be a long story to tell!
This was a fascinating read—I’ve been learning more about English spelling the more I write, and this really helped me understand why it’s such a labyrinth.
It also made me think about Persian literature and how the written word evolved in Afghanistan. Unlike English, Persian script remained fluid, shaped by poets, scholars, and calligraphers over centuries. The works of Rumi, Hafez, and Ferdowsi weren’t confined by rigid spelling rules but rather embraced the beauty of expression and adaptation.
Afghanistan, though, has been a country at war with itself for decades, and its literary tradition has suffered immensely. Libraries have been looted, manuscripts burned, and generations have grown up without access to their own literary heritage. Yet, the Persian language lived on. It was the 'English' of the region for centuries—the language of diplomacy, scholarship, and poetry.
In any case, languages survive not just through rules, but through resilience—and Persian is proof of that.
Thank you for your lovely comment! I was just saying the other day how much I would love to learn Persian one day to be able to read some of that beautiful literature in the original. One day!
I taught our children to spell, here in the States, by reading English and Scottish poetry with them to help them catch the sounds for the way words are spelled.
As a simple example, “been” generally pronounced “bin” in our region, I taught them to read it with the long “e”.
Once we started doing that, spelling difficulties largely evaporated.
It’s all about the vowels.
Standard Scottish English takes its pronunciation from two main sources - Scots (really an offshoot of the more conservative Northern English) and what was on the arrival of English the older, more established language of Gaelic. The result is pronunciation of vowels pretty well as you describe before the vowel shift - with little diphthongisation and a major distinction between long and short vowel sounds (e.g. 'aunt' and 'ant' respectively). The vowel system is also simpler, omitting for example the /æ/ of English speakers: as a result, Scots are often surprised when they perceive English speakers as saying 'excess' when 'access' is expected. 😄
This explanation makes sense of what I noticed when I moved from SE Pennsylvania to the mountains of Eastern West Virginia 25 years ago. My neighbor still says, "poosh" for "push", as do many other 'old-timers'. Other vowels are sometimes pronounced with what I called a Spanish accent. Since this area was settled by Scots-Irish (along with German) immigrants who were essentially frozen in what I called a 'traditional' culture, this makes sense to me. Sadly, the arrival of the internet has removed most traces of traditional culture and pronunciation in the newer generations.
Thanks for your comment — the history of Scots (not to mention Standard Scottish English) is so fascinating! For anyone reading who isn't familiar, one big difference in how the Great Vowel Shift affected Scots and Standard English is how the Middle English long ū vowel turned into the "ow" of Modern English but remained an "oo" in Scots. So Scots in some ways has a system closer to that of Middle English. More info here for those curious: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Vowel_Shift#Northern_English_and_Scots
This explanation makes sense of what noticed when I moved from SE Pennsylvania to the mountains of Eastern West Virginia 25 years ago. My neighbor still says, "poosh" for "push", as do many other 'old-timers'. Other vowels are sometimes pronounced with what I called a Spanish accent. Since this area was settled by Scots-Irish (along with German) immigrants who were essentially frozen in what I called a 'traditional' culture, this makes sense to me. Sadly, the arrival of the internet has removed most traces of traditional culture and pronunciation in the newer generations.
This is fascinating. Was there an influx of non-native speakers around this time who might not have been able to discern the subtle differences so the native speakers had to shift in order to communicate more clearly?
The exact reason for the Great Vowel Shift is debated — and sometimes sounds just naturally drift over the generations. But I think one extra-linguistic factor was the migration of rural people into the cities (especially London) in this period, which likely played a large role.
This was wonderful!. Thank you.
Thank you, I'm glad you enjoyed reading it!
Good article. The causes of the vowel shift are still a little unclear. Since language is inherently conservative (talking in the same way as others is essential for understanding) one would expect the presence of external factors driving the change. Internal migration is surely one of them. Royal court fashions, driven by foreign influences likely another. New technologies (some from foreign sources) tend to create jargons of their own that infiltrate into the vernacular. Global maritime trade, particularly with the expansion of colonies and territories yet another. I’m just throwing a few options out there.
I'll have to do another issue on the potential causes of the Great Vowel Shift — although I'll preface it by saying that it's still a matter of debate.
Look forward to it! 👍
This is a fascinating account. Thanks!
Thank you for the kind words!
Very interesting read. Thank you for sharing! I love learning about the history of languages and English in particular!
Thank you!
I teach English to a few children (we live in a non English speaking country) and one of them is always so curious about why "ee" or "oo" are spelled like that, and I struggle to give them another explanation other than "language rules, I didn't make them up😆" but now maybe I'll use this very interesting piece of history that I just learned to satisfy their curiosity. very fascinating essay👏👏👏
Thank you! I hope it helps them make some sense of English's bizarre spelling system.