GREAT VOWEL SHIFT
Concise Oxford Companion to the English Language
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1998
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© Concise Oxford Companion to the English Language 1998, originally published by Oxford University Press 1998. (Hide copyright information)
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GREAT VOWEL SHIFT. A sound change that began
c.1400 and ended
c.1600, changing late
MIDDLE ENGLISH long, stressed
MONOPHTHONGS from something like the sounds of mainland European languages to those that they now have: for example, Middle English
fine had an
i like Italian
fino. Words that entered English after the completion of the shift have often retained the original sound, as in
police: compare
polite, which entered earlier. In terms of articulation, the Middle English front
VOWELS raised and fronted and the back vowels raised and backed; vowels already at the top became
DIPHTHONGS with
ah as the first element and the old vowel as the second, as in
fine (see diagram). The shift marked a major change in the transition to
EARLY MODERN ENGLISH, and is one reason the works of Geoffrey
CHAUCER and his contemporaries sound so unlike present-day English. Chaucer's
a in
fame sounded much like the
a in present-day
father, his
e in
see like the
a in
same, the
i in
fine like the
ee in
fee, the
o in
so like the
aw in
saw, the
o in
to like the
oe in
toe, and the
ou or
ow in
crowd like the
u in
crude. See
E,
LATIN,
JESPERSEN, VOWEL SHIFT. Compare GRIMM'S LAW.
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Law enforcement turns to face-recognition technology.
Magazine article from: Information Today; 5/1/2007; ; 700+ words
; ...face-recognition biometrics system analyzes the characteristics...the late 19th century's Bertillon measurement system. In the...Parisian anthropologist Alphonse Bertillon pioneered the system based...remains unchanged after age 20. Bertillon focused much of his work on...
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A Rogues' Gallery in the Home of the Mug Shot
Newspaper article from: International Herald Tribune; 2/26/2000; ; 700+ words
; ...a native genius, Alphonse Bertillon, a Paris police functionary...techniques and in 1879 to propose a system of identifying and classifying...foot length and ear shape (Bertillon, who was twice photographed...centimeters long). The ear, Bertillon explained, was really the...
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Killer Instincts; National Library of Medicine Exhibit Sheds Sometimes Grisly Light on Forensic Medicine [Correction 2/22/06]
Newspaper article from: The Washington Post; 2/14/2006; ; 700+ words
; ...toxicology and new imaging systems have vastly improved our ability...understood, and the court systems of Europe began to mature...century Frenchman Alphonse Bertillon developed an elaborate classification system for identifying "rogues...their physical features. Bertillon also set ...
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 "The Post-Standard (Syracuse, NY)")
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COPPER JOHN GETS NEW LOOK; ALBANY ORDERS PRISON STATUE REDUCED DURING RENOVATION.(Local)
Newspaper article from: The Post-Standard (Syracuse, NY); 8/28/2004; 700+ words
; ...selling for $11 each. Copper John's bertillon French criminologist Alphonse Bertillon, 1853-1914, devised a system of identifying criminals by body measurements. Copper John's bertillon, according to the state Department...
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Scene of the crime
Magazine article from: The Village Voice; 6/16/1998; ; 700+ words
; ...France in the 1870s. Alphonse Bertillon, a Paris police clerk, is credited...originals of which are on display. Bertillon also developed a series of measurements...fingerprinting would quickly supplant Bertillon's system, it was a natural outgrowth...
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Casting doubt
Newspaper article from: The Press; 3/6/2004; ; 700+ words
; ...eventually became ubiquitous, and the system has not changed substantially since...perfect replacement for the flawed Bertillon System then employed to identify criminals...already a prisoner with identical Bertillon measurements called William West...
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Genetics, biosocial groups & the future of identity.
Magazine article from: Daedalus; 9/22/2006; ; 700+ words
; ...police dogs), developed a system to identify criminals using...fingerprints. He adapted his system from the Indian Civil Service...Galton's rival, Alphonse Bertillon, who invented the French system...the photo thereon conforms to Bertillon's demand that an ear always...
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 "The Birmingham Post (England)")
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Antiques: Making the most of a mistake; Harry Hawkes reports on the US post office's move to reprint some of the country's most spectacular postal faux pas.
Newspaper article from: The Birmingham Post (England); 7/21/2001; 700+ words
; ...Scotland Yard was founded - a system which was to last for a full...villains the world over. The system, based on a series of loops...method devised by Alphonse Bertillon, Prefect of Police in Paris...sceptical about the accuracy of the Bertillon system, and in 1896 ordered...
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Rogues' Gallery
Magazine article from: The Village Voice; 10/11/2006; ; 700+ words
; ...proved largely useless without a system of classification. Around...Parisian policeman, Alphonse Bertillon, set the standard that has...identify repeat offenders. While Bertillon's followers were measuring...often serving to highlight the system's inherent prejudice...
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Andrea Goulet and Susanna Lee, eds. Crime Fictions.(Book review)
Magazine article from: Symposium; 9/22/2007; ; 700+ words
; ...Nanette Fornabai sees in the protean criminal hero a debunking of Alphonse Bertillon's contemporary anthropometrics, which attempted to establish identification based on a system of physical measurements. For Tom Gunning, the films Louis Feuillade...
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Alphonse Bertillon
Encyclopedia entry from: Encyclopedia of World Biography
...a doctor and statistician. Bertillon devised a system of identification of criminals...fingerprinting began to replace the Bertillon system and has now superseded it throughout the world. Bertillon died on Feb. 13, 1914, in...
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Bertillon, Alphonse
Book article from: World of Forensic Science
...a doctor and statistician. Bertillon devised a system of identification of criminals...fingerprinting began to replace the Bertillon system and has now superseded it throughout the world. Bertillon died Paris at the age of 60...
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Bertillon system
Book article from: The Oxford Companion to the Body
Bertillon system The Bertillon System, invented by French criminologist Alphonse Bertillon in 1879, was a technique for describing individuals on the basis of a catalogue of physical measurements, including standing height, sitting height...
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International Classification of Diseases
Encyclopedia entry from: Encyclopedia of Public Health
...a sort of an early warning system against the onset of bubonic...committee headed by Dr. Jacques Bertillon (1851 – 1922...recommended the adoption of Bertillon's list in the United States...Conference for the Revision of the Bertillon or International Classification...
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Vucetich, Juan
Book article from: World of Forensic Science
...French criminalist Alphonse Bertillon (1853 – 1914...the method established by the Bertillon. Subsequently, the Police...refined his classification system and was able to categorize...procedure of the classification system was originally called Icnofalangometr...
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