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Sociolinguistics Week 3
Alexandra Versluijs
Question 1
Read the following two texts and answer the questions (the texts also occur in Crystal
In the texts above identify spelling, vocabulary, and grammar (word order / sentence
Question 2
The Great Vowel shift.
Work out the pronunciation of the following passage in Middle English (Chaucer):
Of which that Britons speken greet honour, ɒv wɪtʃ ðə brɪtəns speɪkən greɪt ɒnu:ə
The elf-queene, with hir joly compaignye, ɪ əlf kweɪn wɪθ ər dʒɒli kɒmpəniə
Daunced ful ofte in many a grene mede; da:nsət fəl ɒft ən məni:ə ə greɪnə meɪnə
This was the olde opinion, as I rede. ðɪz wəz ðə ɒldə ɒpɪnɪən əz i reɪdə
I speke of manye hundred yeres ago; i spɪk əv mani həndrɪd jɪəz əgɔə
And tought it thus a new to greete: (greete should rhyme with sweet)
Doth follow night who like a fiend (fiend should rhyme with end)
The OP (original pronunciation) of Shakespearian work has words like loved/proved, come/doom,
youth/proof that rhyme. Proved would sound like loved, doom would sound like come and youth
would sound like proof. Hour would sound like whore, which could have been a pun. These rhymes
would not have worked in Modern English. Furthermore, a retroflex r can also be heard in the OP.