sound shift

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
Jump to navigation Jump to search

English[edit]

Etymology[edit]

Likely a calque of German Lautverschiebung.

Noun[edit]

sound shift (plural sound shifts)

  1. (linguistics) a regular sound change, especially when several phonemes are synchronously affected in analogous ways, and/or when there are several interlinked phases
    The Great Vowel Shift was the main sound shift shaping modern English.