User:Wolfdog/sandbox3
This is a simplified picture of the changes that happened between late Middle English (late ME), Early Modern English (EModE), and today's English (ModE) during the English language's Great Vowel Shift. Pronunciations in 1400, 1500, 1600, and 1900 are shown. To hear recordings of the sounds, click the phonetic symbols.
| Example word | Vowel pronunciation | Sound file | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| late ME | EModE | ModE | |||
| 1400 | 1500 | 1600 | by 1900 | ||
| bite | /i/ (monophthong) |
/ei/ (diphthong) |
/ɛi/ (diphthong) |
/ai/ (diphthong) |
|
| out | /u/ (monophthong) |
/əu/ (diphthong) |
/ɔu/ (diphthong) |
/au/ (diphthong) |
|
| meet | /e/ (monophthong) |
/i/ (monophthong) |
|||
| boot | /o/ (monophthong) |
/u/ (monophthong) |
|||
| meat | /ɛ/ (monophthong) |
/e/ (monophthong) |
/i/ (monophthong) |
||
| boat | /ɔ/ (monophthong) |
/o/ (monophthong) |
/ou/ (diphthong) |
||
| mate | /a/ (monophthong) |
/ɛ/ (monophthong) |
/ei/ (diphthong) |
||