Chain shift

rdf:langString Chain shift

rdf:langString February 2017

rdf:langString This does seem to happen sometimes, but I can't find a source suggesting it is necessarily true.

rdf:langString This is just a passing mention in a footnote.

rdf:langString In historical linguistics, a chain shift is a set of sound changes in which the change in pronunciation of one speech sound (typically, a phoneme) is linked to, and presumably causes, a change in pronunciation of other sounds as well. The sounds involved in a chain shift can be ordered into a "chain" in such a way that after the change is complete, each phoneme ends up sounding like what the phoneme before it in the chain sounded like before the change. The changes making up a chain shift, interpreted as rules of phonology, are in what is termed counterfeeding order. A well-known example is the Great Vowel Shift, which was a chain shift that affected all of the long vowels in Middle English. The changes to the front vowels may be summarized as follows: a → e: → i: → aɪ A drag chain or pull chain is a chain shift in which the phoneme at the "leading" edge of the chain changes first. In the example above, the chain shift would be a pull chain if /i:/ changed to /aɪ/ first, opening up a space at the position of [i], which /e:/ then moved to fill. A push chain is a chain shift in which the phoneme at the "end" of the chain moves first: in this example, if /a/ moved toward [e], a "crowding" effect would be created and /e:/ would thus move toward [i], and so forth. It is not known which phonemes changed first during the Great Vowel Shift; many scholars believe the high vowels such as /i:/ started the shift, but some suggest that the low vowels, such as /a/, may have shifted first.