Utilizing the rules for the Great Vowel Shift (GVS), decipher the Early Modern E

Question

Utilizing the rules for the Great Vowel Shift (GVS), decipher the Early Modern English form of the Middle English word. Below you have been given words in Middle English in IPA. You'll then use 8 Some words may retain their length after the GVS. However, you will not be required to selected these words carefully. The GVS was an ongoing process and many words showed vowels that shifted more than once. This is not the case in these words. Each vowel should only move once. You might also find the lecture video about the GVS helpful for this exercise. Sound out the word and you should be able to come up with the modern English word that this process derives.

Explanation / Answer

House (/u?/ becomes /a?/) Life (/i?/ becomes /a?/) Mead (/e?/ becomes /i?/ note that /e:/ becomes /i:/ which sounds like a long “E” like in meet) Down (/u?/ becomes /a?/) Five (/i?/ becomes /a?/) Route (/o?/ becomes /u?/) Sweet (/e?/ becomes /i?/) Goose (/o?/ becomes /u?/) Food (/o?/ becomes /u?/) About (/u?/ becomes /a?/) Doom (/o?/ becomes /u?/) Heel or Heal (/??/ becomes RP /??/, GA /o?/ - please double check this.) Graze (/a?/ becomes /e?/) Nose (/??/ becomes RP /??/, GA /o?/) Saw (/u?/ becomes /a?/)

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