Sound Change
Sound change refers to the gradual alteration in the pronunciation of sounds within a language over time, driven by factors like social influences or phonetic pressures. This process is fundamental to how languages evolve and diverge, as seen in modern English where shifts have transformed words like 'knight' from their medieval forms, highlighting the dynamic interplay between history and everyday speech.
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One of the most dramatic sound changes, the Great Vowel Shift in English from 1400 to 1700, completely altered the pronunciation of long vowels, turning words like 'mate' from sounding like 'maht' to their current form and paving the way for the distinct accents we hear in Shakespearean plays versus modern speech.
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