Concept
Great Vowel Shift
Related concepts (23)
Silent e
In English orthography, many words feature a silent (single, final, non-syllabic ‘e’), most commonly at the end of a word or morpheme. Typically it represents a vowel sound that was formerly pronounced, but became silent in late Middle English or Early Modern English. In a large class of words, as a consequence of a series of historical sound changes, including the Great Vowel Shift, the presence of a suffix on the end of a word influenced the development of the preceding vowel, and in a smaller number of cases it affected the pronunciation of a preceding consonant.
L-vocalization
L-vocalization, in linguistics, is a process by which a lateral approximant sound such as l, or, perhaps more often, velarized ɫ, is replaced by a vowel or a semivowel. There are two types of l-vocalization: A labiovelar approximant, velar approximant, or back vowel: [ɫ] > [w] or [ɰ] > [u] or [ɯ] A front vowel or palatal approximant: [l] > [j] > [i] Examples of L-vocalization can be found in many West Germanic languages, including English, Scots, Dutch, and some German dialects.
International English
International English is the concept of using the English language as a global means of communication similar to an international auxiliary language, and often refers to the movement towards an international standard for the language. Related and sometimes synonymous terms include: Global English, World English, Common English, Continental English, General English, and Engas (English as associate language). Sometimes, these terms refer to the actuality of the situation, where English is spoken and used in numerous dialects around the world.