Modern English Phonology

The unstressed e [ə]
sente → sent
keepen → keep
bookes →books
likes [li:kes] → [laiks]
stopped [stoped] → [stopt]

When the root vowel was long, the letter ‘e’ at the end of the word was still written.
‘mute’ e appeared.
There were some words in which ‘mute’ e was added to the end although it had never been there: ston → stone, bon → bone.

The Great Vowel Shift
The Great Vowel Shift was a massive sound change affecting the long vowels of English during the fifteenth to eighteenth centuries.
The long vowels were either narrowed or diphthongized.

The mid-open and open long vowels were narrowed, thus they became closed.
The narrowing of the closed vowels caused their diphthongization.
NB! The Great vowel shift did not affect spelling.

Basically, the long vowels shifted upwards; that is, a vowel that used to be pronounced in one place in the mouth would be pronounced in a different place, higher up in the mouth.

i: → ai time [ti:me] → [taim]
e: → i: keep [ke:p] → [ki:p]
ɛ: → e: → i: sea [sɛ:] → [se:] → [si:]
a: → ei name
ɔ: → ou go
o: → u: moon
u: → au out

The process of change was gradual. Each stage took more than 100 years.

OE [ǣ ] → ME [ɛ:] → [e:] (XVI c.) → [i:] (XVII c.)
ea [i:] ← [e:] ← [ɛ:]
ee [i:] ← [e:]

Shortening of the long vowels
1. Before [d, t, θ]
[ɛ:] → [e]: breed → bread
2. Before [v, d, ð]
[u:] → [u]: glove [glu:ve] → [gluv], blood …
Before [k]: book [bu:k] → [buk]

The development of some long vowels
1) [a] → [a:]
before ‘r’ and voiceless fricatives: hard, fast, path
‘al’ before ‘m, f’: calm, half
2) [ɔ] → [ɔ:] before ‘r’: lord [l ɔ:d]
[ou] → [ɔ:] before ght: brought [brɔ:t]

3) [ǝ:] was the result of the vocalization of ‘r’ after [i, e, u]: first [fǝ:st], her, turn ( in the XVI c.)

Changes of in the system of short vowels
There appeared two short vowels [æ, ʌ ]:
[a] → [æ]: land [land] → [lænd]
[u] → [ʌ]: glove [gluv] → [glʌv]
run [run] → [rʌn]
No change took place if [u] followed labial consonants: put, full, bush. But : but, fun.

New diphthongs
They appeared as the result of the vocalization of ‘r’ between two vowels:
-are care [ka:rə] → [kɛə]
-ere here [he:rə] → [hiə]

Variant 1
Какие события в экономической жизни английского общества способствовали формированию национального английского национального языка?
В связи с чем влияние французского языка на английский оказывается наиболее сильным во второй половине XIV в.?

Variant 2
По каким причинам восточномидлендский диалект становится основой для национального языка?
Какие языки оказывают сильное влияние на развитие английского языка в эпоху Возрождения? Почему?

Variant 3
Какие события в политической жизни английского общества способствовали формированию национального английского национального языка?
Какую реакцию вызвало «наводнение» английского языка латинизмами?