Religion and Ethics Forum

General Category => Literature, Music, Art & Entertainment => Topic started by: Steve H on January 09, 2025, 06:53:27 PM

Title: The Great American Vowel Shift
Post by: Steve H on January 09, 2025, 06:53:27 PM

The original great vowel shift was a series of changes in how English is pronounced that took place between the 14th and 16th Centuries - Chaucer would have heard the beginning of it, Shakespeare the end. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Vowel_Shift
Modern American dramas suggest that another gvs is happening over there, perhaps manly in New York: short o is changing to short a ("hat dag"); short a to long e ("hat" becomes "heat") and long e to I know not what. Anyone else noticed this??

Title: Re: The Great American Vowel Shift
Post by: Nearly Sane on January 10, 2025, 07:43:51 AM

Can't say I have noticed it but I would suspect that such changes would be much more likely with greater mobility, and mass communication. The change in accent, and vowels of someone like the late Queen Elizabeth is obvious when you hear recordings over time.