Editing Chain shift (section)

{{Short description|Sound changes affecting each other}}
{{more citations needed|date=July 2010}}
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{{Sound change}}

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.<ref name="Murray">{{cite book|last=Murray|first=Robert|chapter=Historical linguistics: The study of language change|title=Contemporary Linguistics An Introduction|editor=W. O'Grady |editor2=J. Archibald |editor3=M. Aronoff |editor4=J. Rees-Miller|publisher=Bedford St. Martin|year=2001|pages=[https://archive.org/details/contemporaryling00ogra/page/287 287–346]|isbn=0-312-24738-9|chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/contemporaryling00ogra/page/287}}</ref> 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.{{specify|date=February 2017|reason=This does seem to happen sometimes, but I can't find a source suggesting it is necessarily true.}} The changes making up a chain shift, interpreted as rules of [[phonology]], are in what is termed ''[[counterfeeding order]]''.{{clarify|date=February 2017}}

A well-known example is the [[Great Vowel Shift]], which was a chain shift that affected all of the [[long vowel]]s in [[Middle English]].<ref name="Fromkin">{{cite book|last1=Fromkin|first1=Victoria|last2=Rodman|first2=Robert|title=An Introduction to Language|publisher=Harcourt Brace|year=1993|pages=[https://archive.org/details/introductiontola00from_0/page/326 326–327]|isbn=0-03-054983-3|url=https://archive.org/details/introductiontola00from_0/page/326}}</ref> The changes to the [[front vowel]]s may be summarized as follows:

: {{IPA|aː}} → {{IPA|eː}} → {{IPA|iː}} → {{IPA|aɪ}}

A '''drag chain''' or '''pull chain''' is a chain shift in which the phoneme at the "leading" edge of the chain changes first.<ref name="Łubowicz">{{cite encyclopedia|year=2011|last=Łubowicz|first=Anna|title=Chain shifts|encyclopedia=The Blackwell Companion to Phonology|pages=1–19|doi=10.1002/9781444335262.wbctp0073|isbn=9781444335262}}</ref> In the example above, the chain shift would be a pull chain if {{IPA|/i:/}} changed to {{IPA|/aɪ/}} first, opening up a space at the position of {{IPA|[i]}}, which {{IPA|/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 {{IPA|/aː/}} moved toward {{IPA|[eː]}}, a "crowding" effect would be created and {{IPA|/e:/}} would thus move toward {{IPA|[i]}}, and so forth.<ref name="Łubowicz"/> It is not known which phonemes changed first during the Great Vowel Shift; many scholars believe the [[high vowel]]s such as {{IPA|/i:/}} started the shift, but some suggest that the [[low vowel]]s, such as {{IPA|/aː/}}, may have shifted first.<ref name="Winkler">{{cite book|last=Winkler|first=Elizabeth Grace|title=Understanding Language|location=London|publisher=Continuum|year=2007|page=187|isbn=978-0-8264-84826}}</ref>