11/14/2023 0 Comments Great vowel shift and high tiders![]() The strut lexical set is often transcribed with the /ʌ/ symbol, especially in broad transcriptions as found in dictionaries, and that symbol and the vowel of the strut lexical set are of known as wedge, caret, hat or hut (which is my personal preference!). In discussing pronunciations of strut, we’ll assume that we’re considering the split version that is differentiated from foot. Examples in stressed syllables include: such, above, does, flood, undone, enough examples of words with strut in unstressed syllables include: product, anyone, income, lifeblood, thermocouple. Many words within the strut set are spelled “u” before a consonant (C), or ‹uC› as in cut, bun, husk. in both stressed and unstressed syllables.☑️ Checked: requires a following consonant, and cannot exist on its own.In many varieties of English today, strut is a mid-open vowel ranging from central to back, with its most different pronunciations ranging from in Cockney, to a mid-open central vowel in parts of the US South, to a unrounded mid-close back vowel in parts of the North of England. all strut words used to sound like foot words before the split!) In the North of England, where the split didn’t take place or may be incomplete, what appears to be a merger of foot/ strut is actually just the pre-existing condition (i.e. As such, strut words and foot words Splitinto two lexical sets in the 17th century. Historically, most of the words in strut evolved from the short /u/ vowel, though a small number of strut words (usually spelled ‹oo› or ‹ou›) evolved from /o/. Traditionally, strut is known as the “Short U” vowel. However, some accents have little difference, apart from stress, between strut and comm a, and in those cases, strut is typically considered the stressed form of comm a. Thus “made” would have been pronounced “mah-duh”.The strut lexical set is a part of the Checked vowels group, and is capable of being in stressed syllables, and in some accents, in some unstressed syllables as well. ![]() The Great Vowel Change was accompanied by the loss of the pronunciation of the final “e”. ![]() This means that Modern English spellings tend to reflect Middle English pronunciation rather than Modern English pronunciation. As French lost status, there would have been social pressures to develop a new prestige for English.įor those who have difficulty with English spelling, it should be pointed out that spelling began to be standardized before the Great Vowel Change. The mix of dialects coming into close contact may have resulted in social pressures to create pronunciations which would have new social status and prestige.Īnother factor at this time is the loss of prestige for French and the growing prestige for English. Linguists have documented the fact that the Great Vowel Shift happened, but the intriguing question is why did it happen? In answering this question, linguists offer two non-exclusive hypotheses.įirst, at the time of the Great Vowel Change there were migrations in English which brought people from the Midlands into contact with people from London. Linguists summarize that in the Great Vowel Shift: (1) front vowels were raised and fronted (2) back vowels were raised and retraced and (3) high vowels were made into diphthongs. Thus the modern English word “so” would have been pronounced “saw” in Middle English. The long open “o” which was pronounced “aw” became the long “o”. The modern word “name” would have been pronounced “nahm” in Middle English. In Middle English “feet” would have been pronounced “fate”.Īnother mid-vowel is “o” as in “do” which would have been pronounced “dough” in Middle English. The vowel “e” as in “feet” is considered a mid-vowel. ![]() It then evolved into “mah-oose” and then finally into the dipthong which we have today in “mouse”. The modern word “mouse” would have been pronounced “moos” in Middle English. In Middle English “mice” would have been pronounced “mees”. The vowel “i” as in “mice” is a high front vowel. For the non-linguist, what I have just written probably sounds like academic gobbledygook, so let’s look at some specific examples. The Great Vowel Shift involved six vowels: all were long, stressed monophthongs - vowels in stressed positions which were pronounced long and had a pure sound.
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