 the great vowel shift was a major change in the pronunciation of the english language that took place in england between 1350 and 1700. the great vowel shift was first studied by otto jespersen (1860â1943), a danish linguist and anglicist, who coined the term. because english spelling was becoming standardized in the 15th and 16th centuries, the great vowel shift is responsible for many of the peculiarities of english spelling. ==effect==   the main difference between the pronunciation of middle english and modern english is in the value of the long vowels, described as the great vowel shift. vowels of middle english had "continental" values much like those remaining in spanish and  liturgical latin. however, during the great vowel shift, the two highest long vowels became diphthongs, and the other five underwent an increase in  tongue height. 700px the principal changes (with the vowels shown in ipa) are roughly as follows. however, exceptions occur, the transitions were not always complete, and there were sometimes accompanying changes in orthography: {| class="wikitable" ! style="width: 50%" | changes to the long front vowels ! style="width: 50%" | changes to the long back vowels |- | middle english {{audio-ipa|open front unrounded v
History_of_the_English_language Language_histories Vowel_shifts