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Chain shift
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<h2 id="examples">Examples</h2> <p>During the Great Vowel Shift in the 15th and 16th centuries, all of the long vowels of Middle English, which correspond to <a href="/facts/Tense_vowel/S4IpbaVE">tense vowels</a> in Modern English, shifted pronunciation. The changes can be summarized as follows:<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:6" href="#fn:6"><sup>6</sup></a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:7" href="#fn:7"><sup>7</sup></a> </p> Great Vowel Shift<table><tbody><tr><th rowspan="2">Front vowels</th><td>eːⓘ → i:ⓘ → aɪⓘ</td></tr><tr><td>ɛ:ⓘ → i:ⓘ <i>or</i> eːⓘ</td></tr><tr><th rowspan="2">Back vowels</th><td>ɔːⓘ → oːⓘ → uːⓘ → aʊⓘ</td></tr><tr><td>aːⓘ → eːⓘ</td></tr></tbody></table> <p>Most vowels shifted to a higher <a href="/facts/Place_of_articulation/exCzaxeF">place of articulation</a>, so that the pronunciation of <i>geese</i> changed from /ge:s/ to /giːs/ and <i>broken</i> from /brɔːken/ to /broːkən/. The high vowels /iː/ and /uː/ became <a href="/facts/Diphthongs/K8tWRvsx">diphthongs</a> (for example, <i>mice</i> changed from /miːs/ⓘ to /maɪs/ⓘ), and the low back vowel /aː/ was <a href="/facts/Fronted_(phonetics)/tr1T3A3s">fronted</a>, causing <i>name</i> to change from /naːmə/ⓘ to /neːm/ⓘ.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:8" href="#fn:8"><sup>8</sup></a> </p><p>The Great Vowel Shift occurred over centuries, and not all <a href="/facts/Variety_(linguistics)/QyllMQha">varieties</a> of English were affected in the same ways. For example, some speakers in <a href="/facts/Scotland/VGwbbxB2">Scotland</a> still pronounce <i>house</i> similarly to its sound in Middle English before the shift, as [hu(ː)s].<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:9" href="#fn:9"><sup>9</sup></a> </p><p>A chain shift may affect only one <a href="/facts/Regional_dialect/gJ7uQQoj">regional dialect</a> of a language, or it may begin in a particular regional dialect and then expand beyond the region in which it originated. A number of recent regional chain shifts have occurred in English. Perhaps the most well-known is the <a href="/facts/Northern_Cities_Vowel_Shift/2hPvJBQ7">Northern Cities Vowel Shift</a>, which is largely confined to the "<a href="/facts/Inland_Northern_American_English/2hPvJBQ7">Inland North</a>" region of the United States. Other examples in North America are the <a href="/facts/Western_Pennsylvania_English/st6j8Ljv">Pittsburgh vowel shift</a>, <a href="/facts/Southern_American_English/m752MT8E">Southern vowel shift</a> (in the <a href="/facts/Southern_United_States/ppnGuAtB">Southern United States</a>), the <a href="/facts/California_vowel_shift/uD22o8on">California vowel shift</a> and the <a href="/facts/Canadian_Shift/kz0z8Rqh">Canadian Shift</a> (though the last two may be the same). In England, the <a href="/facts/Cockney/9agMjMmd">Cockney</a> vowel shift among working-class Londoners is familiar from its prominence in plays such as <a href="/facts/George_Bernard_Shaw/roL4nzwc">George Bernard Shaw</a>'s <i><a href="/facts/Pygmalion_(play)/mpJqJ9gn">Pygmalion</a></i> (and the related musical <i><a href="/facts/My_Fair_Lady/dp5PJRfE">My Fair Lady</a></i>): </p> iː → eɪ → aɪ → ɔɪ → oɪ <p>Many chain shifts are <a href="/facts/Vowel_shift/Ee7BJMdn">vowel shifts</a>, because many sets of vowels are naturally arranged on a multi-value scale (e.g. <a href="/facts/Vowel_height/BNhCeFtH">vowel height</a> or frontness). However, chain shifts can also occur in consonants. A famous example of such a shift is the well-known First Germanic Sound Shift or <a href="/facts/Grimm%27s_Law/gnVnHs7J">Grimm's Law</a>, in which the <a href="/facts/Proto-Indo-European_language/cVLNoM3p">Proto-Indo-European</a> <a href="/facts/Voice_(phonetics)/VdqrEGQ3">voiceless</a> <a href="/facts/Stop_consonant/okC9pztc">stop consonants</a> became <a href="/facts/Fricative/1FQuuhfX">fricatives</a>, the plain <a href="/facts/Voiced/VdqrEGQ3">voiced</a> stops became voiceless, and the <a href="/facts/Breathy_voice/ynD4GYNn">breathy voiced</a> stops became plain voiced: </p> bʱ → b → p → f dʱ → d → t → θⓘ ɡʱ → ɡ → k → h, x <p>Another is the <a href="/facts/High_German_consonant_shift/B4LuIgoe">High German consonant shift</a> which separated <a href="/facts/Old_High_German/Vr3YC8sW">Old High German</a> from other <a href="/facts/West_Germanic_languages/PbeIH9Jz">West Germanic dialects</a> such as <a href="/facts/Old_English/9rsmQG2a">Old English</a>, <a href="/facts/Old_Frisian/nSCvktGf">Old Frisian</a>, and <a href="/facts/Old_Saxon/9DDedJAM">Old Saxon</a>: </p> <table><tbody><tr><td>dⓘ → tⓘ → ts, sⓘ</td></tr><tr><td>ɡⓘ → kⓘ → kx, xⓘ</td></tr><tr><td>bⓘ → pⓘ → pf, fⓘ</td></tr></tbody></table> <p>The Romance languages to the north and west of central Italy (e.g. <a href="/facts/French_language/qe1DnaQh">French</a>, <a href="/facts/Spanish_language/95BgYNfv">Spanish</a>, <a href="/facts/Portuguese_language/vr3Fwzw3">Portuguese</a>, <a href="/facts/Catalan_language/W2uTbK8Q">Catalan</a> and various northern Italian languages) are known for a set of chain shifts collectively termed <i><a href="/facts/Lenition/htEV4TwT">lenition</a></i>, which affected <a href="/facts/Stop_consonant/okC9pztc">stop consonants</a> between vowels: </p> pp → p → b → βⓘ, v tt → t → d → ðⓘ (or vanishes) kk → k → ɡ → ɣⓘ, j (or vanishes) <p>In this case, each sound became weaker (or more "lenited"). </p> <h2 id="synchronic-shifts">Synchronic shifts</h2> <p>It is also possible for chain shifts to occur synchronically, within the <a href="/facts/Phonology/qWAsvnok">phonology</a> of a language as it exists at a single point in time.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:10" href="#fn:10"><sup>10</sup></a> </p><p><a href="/facts/Nzebi_language/dqczhnW4">Nzebi</a> (or Njebi), a <a href="/facts/Bantu_languages/6xKvpQ1a">Bantu language</a> of <a href="/facts/Gabon/RKDffnwV">Gabon</a>, has the following chain shift, triggered morphophonologically by certain tense/aspect suffixes: </p> <table><tbody><tr><td>a</td><td>→</td><td>ɛ</td><td>→</td><td>e</td><td>→</td><td>i</td></tr><tr><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td>ə</td><td>→</td><td>i</td></tr><tr><td></td><td></td><td>ɔ</td><td>→</td><td>o</td><td>→</td><td>u</td></tr></tbody></table> <p>Examples follow:<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:11" href="#fn:11"><sup>11</sup></a> </p> <table><tbody><tr><th>Underlying form</th><th>Chain-shifted form</th></tr><tr><td>sal "to work"</td><td>sal-i → sɛli</td></tr><tr><td>βɛɛd "to give"</td><td>βɛɛd-i → βeedi</td></tr><tr><td>bet "to carry"</td><td>bet-i → biti</td></tr><tr><td>bis "to refuse"</td><td>bis-i → bisi</td></tr><tr><td>kolən "to go down"</td><td>kolən-i → kulini</td></tr><tr><td>tɔɔd "to arrive"</td><td>tɔɔd-i → toodi</td></tr><tr><td>suɛm "to hide oneself"</td><td>suɛm-i → suemi</td></tr></tbody></table> <p>Another example of a chain from Bedouin Hijazi Arabic involves vowel raising and deletion:<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:12" href="#fn:12"><sup>12</sup></a> </p> <table><tbody><tr><td>a</td><td>→</td><td>i</td><td>→</td><td><i>deletion</i></td></tr></tbody></table> <p>In nonfinal open syllables, /a/ raises to /i/ while /i/ in the same position is deleted. </p><p>Synchronic chain shifts may be circular. An example of this is <a href="/facts/Amoy_dialect/TugV19mT">Xiamen tone</a> or <a href="/facts/Taiwanese_Hokkien/C8257EsU">Taiwanese tone</a> <a href="/facts/Sandhi/LvGAGrxb">sandhi</a>:<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:13" href="#fn:13"><sup>13</sup></a>: fn 348 [<i>better source needed</i>] </p> <table><tbody><tr><td>53</td><td>→</td><td>44</td><td>→</td><td>22</td><td>→</td><td>21</td><td>→</td><td>53</td></tr></tbody></table> <p>The contour tones are lowered to a lower tone, and the lowest tone (21) circles back to the highest tone (53). </p><p>Synchronic chain shifts are an example of the theoretical problem of <a href="/facts/Phonological_opacity/312SycRH">phonological opacity</a>. Although easily accounted for in a derivational rule-based phonology, its analysis in standard parallel <a href="/facts/Optimality_Theory/TIJlsvcg">Optimality Theory</a> is problematic.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:14" href="#fn:14"><sup>14</sup></a> </p> <h2 id="see-also">See also</h2> <ul><li><a href="/facts/Isogloss/5BA2RsAr">Isogloss</a></li> <li><a href="/facts/Sound_change/NU6EyI1u">Sound change</a></li></ul> <h2 id="references">References</h2> <ol> <li id="fn:1"><p>Murray, Robert (2001). "Historical linguistics: The study of language change". In W. O'Grady; J. Archibald; M. Aronoff; J. Rees-Miller (eds.). Contemporary Linguistics An Introduction. Bedford St. Martin. pp. 287–346. ISBN 0-312-24738-9. <a href="0-312-24738-9" target="_blank">0-312-24738-9</a> <a href="#fnref:1" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:2"><p>Fromkin, Victoria; Rodman, Robert (1993). An Introduction to Language. Harcourt Brace. pp. 326–327. ISBN 0-03-054983-3. <a href="0-03-054983-3" target="_blank">0-03-054983-3</a> <a href="#fnref:2" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:3"><p>Łubowicz, Anna (2011). "Chain shifts". The Blackwell Companion to Phonology. pp. 1–19. doi:10.1002/9781444335262.wbctp0073. ISBN 9781444335262. <a href="9781444335262" target="_blank">9781444335262</a> <a href="#fnref:3" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:4"><p>Łubowicz, Anna (2011). "Chain shifts". The Blackwell Companion to Phonology. pp. 1–19. doi:10.1002/9781444335262.wbctp0073. ISBN 9781444335262. <a href="9781444335262" target="_blank">9781444335262</a> <a href="#fnref:4" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:5"><p>Winkler, Elizabeth Grace (2007). Understanding Language. London: Continuum. p. 187. ISBN 978-0-8264-84826. <a href="978-0-8264-84826" target="_blank">978-0-8264-84826</a> <a href="#fnref:5" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:6"><p>Murray, Robert (2001). "Historical linguistics: The study of language change". In W. O'Grady; J. Archibald; M. Aronoff; J. Rees-Miller (eds.). Contemporary Linguistics An Introduction. Bedford St. Martin. pp. 287–346. ISBN 0-312-24738-9. <a href="0-312-24738-9" target="_blank">0-312-24738-9</a> <a href="#fnref:6" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:7"><p>Fromkin, Victoria; Rodman, Robert (1993). An Introduction to Language. Harcourt Brace. pp. 326–327. ISBN 0-03-054983-3. <a href="0-03-054983-3" target="_blank">0-03-054983-3</a> <a href="#fnref:7" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:8"><p>Fromkin, Victoria; Rodman, Robert (1993). An Introduction to Language. Harcourt Brace. pp. 326–327. ISBN 0-03-054983-3. <a href="0-03-054983-3" target="_blank">0-03-054983-3</a> <a href="#fnref:8" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:9"><p>Winkler, Elizabeth Grace (2007). Understanding Language. London: Continuum. p. 187. ISBN 978-0-8264-84826. <a href="978-0-8264-84826" target="_blank">978-0-8264-84826</a> <a href="#fnref:9" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:10"><p>Kirchner, Robert. (1996). Synchronic chain shifts in Optimality Theory. Linguistic Inquiry, 27, 341-350. <a href="#fnref:10" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:11"><p>Guthrie, Malcolm. (1968). Notes on Nzebi (Gabon). Journal of African Languages, 7,101-129. <a href="#fnref:11" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:12"><p>Kirchner, Robert. (1996). Synchronic chain shifts in Optimality Theory. Linguistic Inquiry, 27, 341-350. <a href="#fnref:12" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:13"><p>Kirchner, Robert. (1996). Synchronic chain shifts in Optimality Theory. Linguistic Inquiry, 27, 341-350. <a href="#fnref:13" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:14"><p>Kirchner, Robert. (1996). Synchronic chain shifts in Optimality Theory. Linguistic Inquiry, 27, 341-350. <a href="#fnref:14" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> </ol>