This came up on a thread the other day and I just can’t get my head around what happened and why. I can’t read IPA which obviously isn’t helping my reading
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Disclaimer: Not a linguist
The thing to keep in mind is the great vowel shift didn’t come all in one night, this was a 300 year process, with many contributing factors. The black death, migration, outside cultural influences, and deliberate spelling reform were all key components.
Our brains are pattern seeking, and generally we only tolerate a certain amount of disorder before we feel the need to clean things up. This is the case in language, as well. During the medieval age and later, a large amount of french loan words were entering into English vocabulary due to the nobles primarily speaking Anglo-norman. Norman began to sound more like english, and english began to sound more like norman, as the high class and low class interacted more throughout the years. It was only natural that the two began to mix to reduce inconsistencies.
It’s also important to keep in mind that nobody could read during this time, except for nobility and clergy. Then, in 1439, a guy in germany invented a printer, and suddenly everyone was learning to read. This means you need standardization so everyone is reading things the same way. This was a large factor in the move from middle english to modern english, but even during the early modern english era, spelling was mostly the same as today but pronunciation was very different. As more anglo-norman words entered the early modern english language, its influence showed more and more. Most literaturists at this time even still wrote in french.
Cue 300 more years of development, and by 1650-1700 you have modern english, of which nearly 30% of words are of french origin.
tldr; 400 years of french influence with social implications of those influences will drastically change the way you speak.
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