Re: THEORY: Vowel shift (was: THEORY: Storage Vs. Computation)
| From: | Andrew Smith <hobbit@...> |
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| Date: | Friday, June 18, 1999, 23:30 |
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On Fri, 18 Jun 1999, Raymond A. Brown wrote:
> and I know not :)
>
> I was born & brought up in Southern England, now live there again, and have
> had family (siblings, parents, uncles, aunts, cousins) who've lived there
> all their lives. What is this vowel shift we're supposed to be
> experiencing in this neck of the woods?
>
When I studied socio-linguistics I was told that the shift in
pronunciation of diphthongs was acting virtually as a second great vowel
shift.
ai > Oi
ei > aei
au > aeu
Pardon my translitteration. Essentially the points of articulation is
shifting and it is found in Southern England, and the related English
dialects of the southern hemisphere. The language that I hear being used
suggests that it is a socially confined or circumscribed shift. There are
other mitigating factors.
- andrew.
Andrew Smith, Intheologus hobbit@earthlight.co.nz
Lo! thy dread empire, Chaos! is restored;
Light dies before thy uncreating word:
Thy hand, great Anarch! lets the curtain fall;
And Universal Darkness buries All.
- Alexander Pope, The Dunciad, Book IV.