ENGL 202
Prof. G. Steinberg
Renaissance

Click here for a web-based PowerPoint presentation on the Great Vowel Shift.

Click here for a web-based PowerPoint presentation on the Renaissance and Modern English.


Examine the following list of words from Modern English.  Given what you know about the Great Vowel Shift, how was each word probably pronounced in Middle English?  Transcribe each word into the International Phonetic Alphabet first as it is pronounced in Modern English and then as you think it was probably pronounced in Middle English.  NOTE:  The spelling “ow” was another way of writing “ou.”  So, treat the combination “ow” as if it were “ou.”  (A “w” is called “double u” because originally it was “uu” -- so that “ow” = “ouu.”)

Word
Modern English
Middle English
date    
doom    
fowl    
foe    
let    
mood    
reach    
pitch    

Click here to go to the course syllabus.