Great-vowel-shift
noun, Linguistics.
1.
a series of changes in the quality of the long vowels between Middle and Modern English as a result of which all were raised, while the high vowels (ē) and (o̅o̅), already at the upper limit, underwent breaking to become the diphthongs (ī) and (ou).
noun
1.
(linguistics) a phonetic change that took place during the transition from Middle to Modern English, whereby the long vowels were raised: (eː became iː , oː became uː), etc. The vowels (iː) and (uː) underwent breaking and became the diphthongs (aɪ) and (aʊ)
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