The Great Vowel Shift.

[Kiki5435]

The Great Vowel Shift ostensibly transformed the course of both English language and literature. I have read that if you can understand the displacement you can re- read Chaucer and see the verse in his work.

Can somene please explain, in layperson`s terms if possible, what exactly the great vowel shift was, when it happened, was it abrupt or an evolutionary process, and why it happened. Possibly a question for a humanities forum rather than a writing forum. But there maybe some experts on English medieval literature who can shed light on me. Many thanks.

 

[sparkchaser]

Interesting question.

Aside from the Wiki article, I think Polly Parrot could share a thing or two on the subject.

 

[Polly Parrot]

I'll get back to you later, don't have time right now.

 

[Polly Parrot]

The Great Vowel Shift ostensibly transformed the course of both English language and literature. I have read that if you can understand the displacement you can re- read Chaucer and see the verse in his work.

Can somene please explain, in layperson`s terms if possible, what exactly the great vowel shift was, when it happened, was it abrupt or an evolutionary process, and why it happened. Possibly a question for a humanities forum rather than a writing forum. But there maybe some experts on English medieval literature who can shed light on me. Many thanks.

OK, here goes. Note that this explanation is nowhere near complete.

The Great Vowel Shift was the process of the changes in the pronunciation of vowels. Before, vowels had a "continental" value, meaning you pronounce them like you would in, say, French.
It was a lengthy process that spanned over 200 years from 1500 and 1700 - all changes in a language take a long time to settle and fully set in.

Changes in short vowels weren't quite as drastic as those in long vowels.

When reading Chaucer, you should try to apply the continental values to the vowels. So a word like "time" would be pronounced like "teem" and green like "grain". If you use this reading-technique you should be able to see the rhyming scheme in Chaucer's work.

There is no consensus on why the Great Vowel Shift happened.