Jaaaaaa wrote:This kinda shows how low my knowledge is, but...
-The Great Vowel Shift-
(changes in the long vowels from Middle to Modern English)
a: > E: > eI
E: > e: > i:
e: > i:
i: > @i > ai
o: > u
O: > o
u: > @u > au
[y > ju] (bracketed because I'm not sure about this one)
...and that is all that I know. I'll try to get in the Great Consonant Shift when I make sure I got that one right.
There's evidence that this happened in a certain order, gleaned from ceratin regional dialects of English. (you haven't put them in the right order)
Clearly this was a chain shift whereby either:
1. the high vowels diphthongised and 'pulled' the rest of the vowels upwards in the vowel space,
2. the lower vowels raised and 'pushed' the rest of the vowels upwards; when /i:/ and /u:/ couldn't go any higher they diphthongised, or
3. the mid vowels raised, pushing the high vowels to diphthongise and pulling the lower vowels to raise as well.
No English dialect did not undergo the GVS and keep the ME vowels, so there is a problematic situation in which it seems impossible to work out what has happened in what order.
The way to find out the right one is to look at dialects where they still have /u:/ in <house>, for example, particularly in the North.
Here a pre-GVS sound change changed all /o o:/ to /2 2:/, and in some cases this raised with the rest of the GVS to /y:/. However in these selfsame dialects the /u:/ did not diphthongise where /i:/ did (/i:/ diphtongised in all dialects), so this is evidence that the /u:/ was pushed by the /o:/ in most dialects.
Likewise here ME /O:/ is still pronounced /O:/, cf. <no> is /nO:/. This therefore shows that /O:/ was pulled up by /o:/ in most dialects.
Therfore 3. is the correct order of things.
Therefore for front vowels:
1. e: -> i:
2. i: -> @i -> ai
3. E: -> e: -> i:
4. a: -> E: -> e: -> eI
The evidence for the last step is again in northern and Scottish dialects where it is still /e:/ or /e/.
And for back vowels:
1. o: -> u:
2. u: -> @u -> au
3. O: -> o: -> oU
By analogy with the front vowel case, and with evidence from Scots dialects, that last medial step is also correct.
And to get to our modern pronounciation there were extra changes as well, such as /U/ -> /V/, /oU/ -> /@U/ (in RP), etc.
Also, Jhex, /y/ did not partake in the GVS, as during or before ME it had become /i/ (as had /2/ -> /e/).
/y/ that came from French borrowings did become /yu/, but because /y/ was not in English's phonology and this was the best equivalent.
Presumably if it had partaken, though, it would become /@y/ then /&y/ or /Qy/, by analogy with the other high vowels, but only if /2/ had partaken as well.