Abstract
This paper argues that Optimality Theory gives a new insight into some aspects of the Great Vowel Shifts circa 1500. In particular, our goal is to show that the structural coherence problem raised by Stockwell and Minkova (1988) is explained in relation to the universal constraint hierarchies and that unlike previous analyses, the simultaneity of high vowel diphthongization and mid vowel raising around the 16th century is synchronically predictable. It will also be demonstrated that an approach with Local Conjunction (Smolensky (1993, 1995)) plays a vital role. As a consequence, our analysis resolves the long-disputed“chain controversy”and captures the typology of vowel shifts in a natural way.
