The Great Vowel Shift: The Evolution Of The English Language

The comprehension or understanding of the English language, and its broad vocabulary, has always been difficult for non-native speakers. The English language has gone through a continuous evolution and dramatic changes throughout its three major periods: Old English (roughly from 450 to 1100), Middle English (from 1100 to 1500), and Modern English (from 1500 to present day). The changes have occurred in all areas of the language. The Great Vowel Shift is one of the most significant changes which took place in the English language in a century or two during and after Chaucer’s lifetime. The GVS was perhaps the most important process in the change from Middle English to Modern English. Without the shift, it would be impossible to explain the

Starting with the invasion of the Romans, who brought Latin to the area. Then came the Germanic migration that brought with it the Saxon language. The merging of the Roman and Saxon languages became none as Anglo-Saxon or Old English. At this time England was Pagan by religious standards. The introduction of Christianity to England in the early 6th century brought Latin, Greek and Hebrew languages to the population. Scandinavian languages known as ‘Old Norse’, were brought over by the Viking invasions that took place from the 8th to 11th century (Gill, 2016).

Following the battle of Hastings in 1066, a pivotal part of English history, saw the reemergence of Latin, with the introduction of the French language for the first time. The English ruling class was replaced with a Norman French speaking ruling class. With an introduction of a new King, King Henry the 8th, there was a review of the English language (Handke, 2012).

The Great Vowel shift was a drastic change in the pronunciation of the long vowels in the English language. However, short vowels were mainly not affected by this change (Shallberg & Skoul, 2016).

It was first studied by the Danish linguist and Otto Jespersen (1860-1946), who named the shift. He specialized in the study of grammar in the English language (Great Vowel Shift,

During the change, the pronunciation moved to the back of the mouth and shifted upwards. That is, a vowel that used to be pronounced in one place in the mouth would be pronounced in a different place. The Great Vowel Shift has had long-term implications in the areas of, orthography, the teaching of reading, and the understanding of any English-language text written before or during the Shift (Silberman) .

The Great Vowel Shift started in the early 15th century and ended in the early 18th century around the period of Chaucer and Shakespeare. The (GVS) brought about everlasting changes to the English vocabulary and how people speak the language today. Linguists still ponder about the reasons for the shift. Not much is known about why the changes occurred, for such an important part of the development of the English language (Menzer, 2000).

How do linguists know of the changes? They use supposition to explain them. They use the spelling of words, letters, songs and misspellings to surmise how words were spoken before and after the shift (Hutchinson,