Yes, please. All this is so interesting and instructive and gives a logical sense to so many peculiarities of pronunciation typical of the English language. Thanks so much, cheers!
The way you pronounced the "before GVS" words, sounds so much like how we Norwegians pronounce the exact same words (the meaning are also the same). We pronounce house like "Hoos", bite like "Beet" and knife like "Kneev" with the K pronounced. Everything sounded incredibly Norwegian to my ears which baffled me! I would gladly hear more English in GVS pronunciation because it probably would sound very close to Norwegian or Scandinavian.
@@SiriusMined And both Scandinavian (especially Swedish) and English were affected by French, although in different ways. English was almost replaced by the Norman French language, while the Swedish people took in a great number of French words during the 1400s to 1700s more voluntarily. It was still totally top down though, but more by fashion than oppression. However, unlike in English, the French loans did not affect the vowels of germanic words. Also unlike English, they usually kept some (modern/Paris-) French sounding qualities. Their spellings were also largely adopted to the Swedish system, with some exceptions. Their "French melody" affected some other words though, and were also used for new words. It basically became a third stress pattern and melody in Swedish. Grave accent, acute accent and French end-syllable stress (which technically counts as accute accent, although very different sounding).
I've heard it phrased. "A tomato is technically a fruit, but nutritionally a vegetable." (Same with Avocado) "Intelligence is knowing tomatoes are a fruit, but common sense is knowing they don't belong in a fruit salad."
My mum’s parents were British. She grew up in the States. My dad was American. He grew up in England. Guess what? I pronounce tomato both ways! 😉 Seriously, I love the history of language! More please! I am reading The Loom of Language because you recommended it. Thank you!
Similar happened to me, so instead i have my own pronounciation of tomato. The 'a' is pronounced like the 'a' in bath (american pronounciation) or the way 'a' was pronouced before the vowel shift
Many thanks for sharing this outstanding piece of English pronunciation history. I would like to know more of them. I feel that it is a wonderful way to understand and set apart the different sounds of English for the same vowels. Which is quite tricky by the way!!! Not only are you an excellent teacher, but also a good communicator!! 🤓
House and mouse are still written and pronounced "hus" and "mus" in Scandinavian languages. And English actually does it too, in a commonly used compound word: "husband". Which is a word imported from Scandinavian, which roughly translated means something like the "man of the house" or "master of the house" (as opposed to other men or boys who might live on the same farm for example as hired farmhands). In Scandinavian languages the word is more archaic these days, but the Swedish translation of the famous record label "His Master's Voice" for example is "Husbondens Röst"
I think it's the great strength of English that we have all these variations in speaking. It makes us more receptive to hearing and attuning ourselves to understand all the ways that other people are learning and speaking our language, for all its difficulties and wackiness! We are so fortunate that others want to learn English, difficult as it may be.
Very interesting! I'm from a small and isolated valley in Northern Majorca. We got a road to the other parts of the island in the midle of XIXth century. So we have more relations with Southern France. We spoke a local dialect mixed of catalan and french ( now it's almost extinct). Nor catalans or french could understand us. This dialect has survived for about 200 years, growing and changing very fast, until the arriving of mass media and massive standard education. Now it's finishing its time of life. It has been an amazing and interesting experiment with language. Now I'm trying to make english my second language, with some people here, to avoid the growing of spanish in our land. We prefer to learn english, a far language, than spanish, too nearer to us. I follow all your videos. I'm learning more english than at school. Thank you very much, sir!
As is often said, the Yanks and Brits are separated by a common language. But a very interesting way of separation. More videos like these would be would be greatly appreciated indeed.
In Mexico we have green and red tomatoes. The red ones are called (mainly in central Mexico) "jitomates" (from the nahuatl "xictitomatl", which means "navel tomato"). The green ones are a completely different species and are called "tomates verdes" or just "tomates" or "tomatillos" or "miltomates" (from the nahuatl "miltomatl" which means "tomatoes from the corn fields").
Please, please give us more about the history of the English language! The GVS is fascinating, and nothing like that was ever taught in my achools. What a helpful clarifier that would have been while learning and accepting all the irregularities of English! Thank you for what you do!
Except Gideon's comments about Canada are off. Gee! He got a Norwegian to speak Norwegian. He should have gotten a Canadian to say "about" and "boot". The American kids up at the lake used to ask my daughter to talk because they thought she talked funny. They were from Pennsylvania. An teacher from Florida used to correct my pronunciation: VAY-hickel not VE hicle! Honey, there's an E in vehicle not an AY.
This channel is fascinating! I could hear you talk aaall day... Plus I've noticed significant difference to my pronanciation... As a music teacher I guarantee you have an exquisite music ear... It's a wonder you're not a soloist, with that ability... But then again, in fact you are...your instrument is the language... I can only feel gratitude for your lessons...
Hello, Gideon! Your videos about history of English language, accents and pronunciation are absolutely stunning, it's such a pleasure to know more about beautiful English language and culture! Thank you for your work 🤩 That would be just awesome to watch more ☺
Following your channel is one of the best decisions I've made. It is not anymore about learning English but understanding it together with a pinch of history. In school we learned english english. (From sussex )
The most amazing English history video I've seen. As a native Spanish speaker, British pronounciation make more sense seeing the GVS and the historical development. Delightful!
Never heard about the GVS before, to know a bit more about it would be absolutely brilliant. Also always wondered about the differences between the pronunciations of tomato and this video explains it very well. Thanks
My Canadian husband says his Canadian grandmother used to say, "tomato" not toMAYto. Modern Canadian say "To MAY to" and would think that "tomato" was British. Perhaps, that song from the Gershwins indicates that some Americans did say, "Tomato" at one time.
Very interesting video! As a South African, our "aspirational" accent when speaking English is RP. School kids are influenced by American TV and UA-cam videos, and teachers often correct them when they pronounce words like "grass" like an American. What I find interesting though, is that the dialects in the North of England pronounce the "a" in "grass" similar to the Americans. I've read that this pronunciation was common throughout England until the Southerners starting changing the vowel to sound more posh, but the Northerners and Americans either didn't get the memo, or they just didn't care! 😂 I'd like for you to talk about "archaic" English pronunciations that survives in the USA.
Yes, I agree! I'd love to learn more about the GVS! I'm from the USA. My son -in-law is from Australia. He says we have lazy vowels in the USA. I reply that they have lazy consonants in Australia, especially the R. Then we all have a big laugh.
The wonderful Gershwin song is really a comment on how some upper class or upper class want to be Americans would affect some aspects of posh British speech in the early to mid twentieth century. You covered this in your brilliant video on the "mid- Atlantic" or "transatlantic" accent. These people would sometimes over compensate and say things like "po-taahto" believing this was how the British aristocracy would say it to rhyme with "tomaahto" I certainly remember people in my grandmother's generation going this. Would love to hear more about the GVS. Thanks for the wonderful videos.
I think some people decades ago just said, "tomato", not "to MAY to". My husband's Grandmother apparently did. She would have died in the 1960s or so, I think. My husband just remembers that she did because it wasn't the usual pronunciation in Eastern Ontario. She wasn't English either.
I'm feeling a bit puzzled now! as both German (Haus, Maus) and Dutch (Huis, Muis) diptongue those words, sounding much more similar to current English than to the older pronunciation 🤯
German and Dutch vowels have changed too though not necessarily in the same direction. It could be a coincidence. I'm not an expert on Dutch/German vowel changes.
A lot of that can be explained in the German vowel / consonant shift, as mapped and comment on by the Brothers Grimm. The farther north and west you go (in Germany) the deeper you get into Plattdeutsch territory.
Hus and Mus are also pronounced without diphtongue in Alemanic, i.e. Swiss German (and Vorarlberg, Luxemburg, southern parts of Swabia, Baden and Allsace). There are surprisingly many similar words between Scandinavian and Alemanic that are different in standard German.
That was fascinating! I didn't know "po-tah-to" was an actual thing before the Great Vowel Shift, because no-one speaking modern English ever says it that way. I'd also never thought of Geordie pronunciation being akin to Middle English, but on reflection, you're quite right 😊 Cheers from Australia (where we definitely don't sound Geordie 😅)
I read Chaucer once with my boyfriend who was doing an exam in Middle English. I did find myself using a kind of Scottish accent while reading the Chaucer out loud.
However, unlike the word 'tobacco' itself, the island of Tobago-named for tobacco-does seem to have undergone the GVS: It's pronounced /təˈbeɪɡoʊ/ in English. How did _that_ happen! 😵
In "tobacco" the 'a' is a short vowel, while in "Tobago" it is a long 'a:' in many languages (modern Spanish does not retain a long--short vowel distinction). The GVS only affected the long vowels in English, not the short ones. This could also explain why "tomato" is affected while "tobacco" is not. It then remains to be explained why some of the words got borrowed with a long vowel while others got a short vowel.
@@ValkyRiver Yes, but the a in Tobago is like the A in To MAY to (American) and the "a" in "tobacco" is like the "a" in "tomato (British). And I knew a girl from Trinidad and Tobago and that's how she pronounced it like the A in to MAY to.
Thanks for your excellent discussion about the Great Vowel Shift. As the Canadian-born son of Dutch immigrants, I find it remarkable that many Dutch and Frisian cognates of English word sound remarkably similar to the English cognate before the GVS. In addition, in the case of house/hus and mouse/mus, the Frisian cognates are still written the same as the older English form (with the exception that the u has a circumflex accent on it). Also, the English "wain" (as in wagon) and "rain" are pronounced is Frisian more like Cockney accent, yet in Frisian are written with the more-Germanic diphthong "ei", hence, wein and rein. Cousins often reveal their roots!! Love your content!!!
You are my favorite linguist! My degree in Applied Linguistics is seldom used anymore, alas, but I've retained my interest in the topic, and especially insights into changes in the language in the last 1200 years! (I'm a Californian, so my native language sounds clear to me, perhaps because California has had a great deal of Spanish inserted into it, but also because so many people from everywhere in the world came here during the Gold Rush and have tried for the spoken language most broadly understood. When in London, it was remarked on how my speech was easily understood, amusing to me, since Geordies and Scots were nearly incomprehensible!!)
having grown up in the center of North America and now living in southern California, I completely agree with you. To my ears, we have the least pronounced regional accent compared to the twangs of Texas, drawls of Southerners or the irritating sounds of New England or New York and New Jersey. We speak the way the typical national news broadcasters emulate, at least for the most part. Similar enough to SSBE to be mutually understandable to Londoners.
I wrote an essay about the great "'It is I' v. 'It is me'" controversy. To paraphrase "Bones" McCoy, I'm not a linguist, I'm just a humble country engineer. Would you take a look at it?
Here in Mindanao Philippines the word for the fruit is "kamatis" which is derived from the Nahauatl "tomatl". Here in Mindanao the fruits are often small and vary from yellow to red.
Another request (this one from an American) for a GVS video. I've read about it a few times, but I can't "feel" it. I have a feeling your approach would finally get it to sink in for me and make it seem less impenetrable. Thanks!
I got so caught up in the GVS explanation, I forgot the potatoes until you came back to it later on the video. And yes, please make a whole video about the great vowel movement 😁🤣
Happy to jump in as a subscriber. I love your videos! I’m enraptured by the majestic, sonorous quality of British English. It’s no wonder that the ancient Romans, Greeks and even Jesus himself spoke British English….in movies, at least. Everything said in a British accent sounds more authoritative and intelligent. In contrast, everything I say in my native New York accent sounds less sophisticated and more gangster. I had three British uncles by marriage to my father’s sisters. One was an urban Londoner, the other was from Cotswold. Both had subtly different accents.The third spoke in heavy Cockney. He was the most fun. No one could understand him. I found him very entertaining as a kid and I sat for hours hearing stories from Uncle Ernie. Eventually, I came to understand almost everything he said! I always wished I could speak like all theee of my uncles, especially Uncle Ernie. Anyway, on the present video you make the very same observation I made to my British neighbor who opined how illogically idiomatic American English pronunciation is. I responded that the same could be said about British English. “For example,” I said, “Why is it tomaaato instead of tomayto, but potato instead of potaaato?” She couldn’t answer that, but chuckled. I knew this from watching Peppa Pig with my 5-year-old son. That cartoon is so wildly popular due primarily to those wonderful British accents. Keep up the good work!
I find it so interesting that you took the time to do this video! Hard work! Very good indeed! Thank you! I used to wonder about this old song (of course I am a huge Fred Astaire Fan!) and also I have always been curious about the English pronunciation variations.
You almost fooled me with the werewolves. 😀 And you're right to add a caveat to the bit about the Canadian pronunciation of "about" -- "aboot" is indeed a cliché. Actually it sounds pretty close to the SSBE pronunciation of "a boat." Since both "boot" and "boat" have distinct vowels, there's no way to confuse them.
@@LetThemTalkTV Americans tend to hear the Canadian 'about' as 'aboot' which to our ears is very exaggerated. A theory about this Canadian pronunciation may be rooted in the influence of Scottish English -- Canadians of Scottish heritage are the third largest European group after English and French. The English of Newfoundland has preserved a great deal of 17th century English which was when the early migrations started.
Exactly. This is how American comedians poke fun at us Canadians - I have NEVER heard this pronunciation spoken seriously by a Canadian, and it always provokes eye-rolls here at Yankee ignorance.
@@girthbloodstool339 I can always tell a Canadian by the way they say "about". I have had this conversation before: "Oh, you're Canadian." "What, did I say, 'eh'?" "No, you said, 'about'." When I hear "a boot", though, I don't think Canadian, I think Scottish. To me, the Canadian "about" sounds like a cross between "a boat" and "a boot". Quite distinct from the OW of standard American English. Another dead giveaway is a word like "organization". Canadians emphasize the "I", as in or-guhn-EYE-ZAY-shun. Whereas, Americans go with or-guh-nuh-ZAY-shun. I follow ice hockey, so I have a lot of opportunities to hear someone speak and say to myself, "Oh, they're Canadian."
Just a quick comment regarding Italian. In Italian, tomato is called "pomodoro", but in some dialects of northern Italy (Italian dialects are not really dialects, but languages that evolved independently from Latin, with their own grammar, lexicon, and sounds) the popular word is "tomato". My mom, from Lombardy, says "tumates"
16:06 that's call "analogy", even though the term is more used for grammatical features. Great video! We do the same job, but you provide knowledge for everyone! Thanks
Really amazing! Please explain the historic reasons why "would" vanished from the if-sentences. "Would"used to be allowed in if-sentences but it's no longer to be used within them. Also, where does "went" come from? The verb "go" in the past tense should be something like "goed" or "gewd" or "goad".... strangely enough a totally different word like "went" popped up some long time ago. But why? And why is the verb "to be" not to be treated like other full verbs? It's not a modal verb, nevertheless you have to treat it like one: "I am not" (like in "I may not", "I must not" etc) instead of "I don't be". Why is this so and since when? Why is "cannot" written in one word?
The "go - went - gone" thing happened because "went" comes from a completely different verb with the same or similar meaning. In the past tense, the other verb was used more than "go", so it stayed, and "go" was used more in the other tenses. So the "went" verb kinda died and that one form merged with the verb "go". Coincidentally, the various French forms and tenses of the verb "aller", to go, come from 3 different Latin verbs, which makes the current Frankenverb super irregular: aller (to go), je vais (I go), j'irai (I will go).
By what you said, some viewers, who believe they know it all, write "angry" comments to you, trying to teach you, instead of profting from your very informative videos . . . How sad! Very instructive and amusing video.
This was very exciting and interesting! Happily subscribed! Although, tobacco is good depending on the herbs or brand used. Nowadays most cigars and tobaccos have toxic contents that aren't that great for digestion, lungs, or other health usages. My great-grandfather, from mum's side used to smoke on his pipe whenever he was almost ill. Grandfather smoked his pipe near wintertime to prevent from getting sick too. His pipe consisted of licorice root, eucalyptus and mint. He let me smoke it almost every year because it cleared my breathing, little did he know that I had asthma. But it did help and he never drank alcohol. Grandpa lived up to 99 years! Which is insane in contrast to his cousins and brothers who died much younger. 😄
Hi this is really fascinating, spelling frozen before vowel pronunciation change makes this nonsense much more logical. I love your videos and particularly those about language history, easy linguistics and language / history interactions. Please do send even more of this excellent material.
It's interesting because here in Iran in some regions they are still called patates and tomata (or variations of it). If I'm not mistaken it was the Portuguese who first brought them over here during the war with -then called Persia in 16th century. While the standard names would be a direct translation from French which literally means "apple of the earth" for potatoes and an entirely made up name for tomatoes
@@SiriusMined Really? That must've been a funny scene where Portuguese shipmen show these wired vegetables to the people: We know we are in fight and all but you really should try these! They just came from the finest farms in America!
Fun video! I do have one quibble, however. I am a Canadian in my 60s, and have known Canadians from Newfoundland to Vancouver Island, and no Canadian ever says "Oot and aboot". This mythic pronounciation is something that has been invented by American comedians, as far as I can tell, and is part of Americans' relatively shallow bucket of adorable Canuck traits that distinguish us from them, along with fueling our cars with maple syrup and living in igloos. Our "out and about" pronounciation is indeed different from the American, but those words always rhyme with "lout", and not "loot". Our 'ou' vowel takes on a more curt delivery which is basically the same as standard southern English, as opposed to the American 'ou' vowel sound which is more heavily drawled, and moreso the further south you go in America. I would be very interested to see any example of a Canadian actually saying this in earnest. It simply does not happen.
I doubt you’re still checking comments on videos posted a while ago but just in case you do I had a chat with a co-worker and found out he studied Linguistics at uni. Although I haven’t studied it I find it fascinating and I told him to check your videos on the History of the English Language. I mentioned this video about the Great Vowel Shift and he was like "wow I haven’t heard of this for years, I will check it out!". He watched and liked it a lot, he said he’d swear one of his teacher made them watch one of your videos (I think he said it was about idioms!)
I am delighted with this video! I am from Venezuela, and lived in London for many periodos during the 80's. This is the first time I see your videos and at last understand some reasons for vowels pronunciation. Bye the way, your pronunciation un Spanish is perfectly correct. 👏👏👏
Greetings from Spain. I call it Canary tomato. This one comes from the Canary Islands. I learned some English in Canada and don't care about accents and think the same with regards Spanish. That's I follow and find interesting this channel
There is an area of eastern Virginia, where the region has deep inlets of water from the Atlantic, called Tidewater Virginia (the inlets remaining subject to the tides). In this area people speak with a Southern US accent, but they pronounce the ou diphthong the same way Canadians do. So the phrase, ‘round about the house,’ sounds very similar to the way a Canadian would say it.
I have seen it written that the orginal English-speaking Canadians were from Pennsylvania so their vocabulary is similar to Ontario vocabulary and probably, their pronunciation is similiar to Canadian pronunciation. The Brit didn't really say "about" the way Canadians say "about" though.
Very interesting! I've never heard of TGVS before. I grew up in Metro Detroit 10 minutes away from the tunnel to Windsor. I've always wondered why Canadians pronounced some words so differently.
@@LetThemTalkTV just some words. Most notably House is Huse, We say Mom, they say Mum. I've been gone for 40 years so I don't remember the few other words that stand out. Otherwise we sound very similar.
@@LetThemTalkTV The Canadian/American border makes a great deal of difference in pronunciation. Cross the border from New Brunswick, Canada to Maine, USA and hear the distinct difference. Same for Detroit, USA and Windsor, Ontario, Canada
@@cathygillies7271 Right! I used to shop in Watertown, New York state a fair bit when the Canadian dollar was worth more and their accent is much different from the Eastern Ontario accent as well. I read it's because our English is based on Pennsylvania pronunciations not New York state pronunciations because the Loyalists who came to Ontario were originally from Pennsylvania. Some of our vocabulary is clearly Pennsylvanian. We say "spigot" for a water tap outside, for example. I think what we call 'a tap" "a hot water tap" is a "hot water faucet" in Great Britain. "A spigot is Pennsylvanian apparently. There are other words as well, but I can't remember them.
In Flanders they call the potatoe 'patatten' while in The Netherlands (with maybe exceptions in the south) it's called 'aardappel' (earth apple). Often the Dutch use the word patat for fries (chips in the UK) but in Flanders it's frieten (fries, frites)
![Lp. Сердце Вселенной #60 РОЖДЕНИЕ ЛОЛОЛОШКИ [Финал] • Майнкрафт](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/YoR0pAV9FVQ/mqdefault.jpg)
They were smart to name it "The Great Vowel Shift" rather than "The Great Vowel Movement."
Haha 💩 fuuny
👏 Bravo!
😂😂
Ten points.
@@YamnayaSintash 9999
Yes, please. All this is so interesting and instructive and gives a logical sense to so many peculiarities of pronunciation typical of the English language. Thanks so much, cheers!
My pleasure. Glad you liked the video
hi Alice, your English sounds perfect.
@@linda99091 hi marina, where are you from?
@@foodengineer1763 Stop simping bro, they don't want anything to do with you
@@2299arthur mind your business my friend, we are all aware of what we do.
The way you pronounced the "before GVS" words, sounds so much like how we Norwegians pronounce the exact same words (the meaning are also the same). We pronounce house like "Hoos", bite like "Beet" and knife like "Kneev" with the K pronounced. Everything sounded incredibly Norwegian to my ears which baffled me! I would gladly hear more English in GVS pronunciation because it probably would sound very close to Norwegian or Scandinavian.
don't forget about the Danelaw period in Britain's history and the Norse influence on English!
At the end of the day, both Norwegian and the other Scandinavian languages (except Finnish) and English are Germanic at their roots.
@@SiriusMined And both Scandinavian (especially Swedish) and English were affected by French, although in different ways. English was almost replaced by the Norman French language, while the Swedish people took in a great number of French words during the 1400s to 1700s more voluntarily. It was still totally top down though, but more by fashion than oppression.
However, unlike in English, the French loans did not affect the vowels of germanic words. Also unlike English, they usually kept some (modern/Paris-) French sounding qualities. Their spellings were also largely adopted to the Swedish system, with some exceptions. Their "French melody" affected some other words though, and were also used for new words. It basically became a third stress pattern and melody in Swedish. Grave accent, acute accent and French end-syllable stress (which technically counts as accute accent, although very different sounding).
Likewise in danish: hus, bid and kniv. Especially in the peninsula of Jutland, many words are pronounced like english before gvs.
It also sounded like Flemish. Aspecialy West-Flemish.
I've heard it phrased. "A tomato is technically a fruit, but nutritionally a vegetable." (Same with Avocado)
"Intelligence is knowing tomatoes are a fruit, but common sense is knowing they don't belong in a fruit salad."
My mum’s parents were British. She grew up in the States. My dad was American. He grew up in England. Guess what? I pronounce tomato both ways! 😉 Seriously, I love the history of language! More please! I am reading The Loom of Language because you recommended it. Thank you!
Thanks, I hope you're enjoying the Loom of Language
@@LetThemTalkTV I am!
Have you noticed a pattern to when you use either pronunciation?
Similar happened to me, so instead i have my own pronounciation of tomato. The 'a' is pronounced like the 'a' in bath (american pronounciation) or the way 'a' was pronouced before the vowel shift
The Great Vowel Shift is an absolutely fascinating subject. An episode on this would be greatly appreciated.
Many thanks for sharing this outstanding piece of English pronunciation history. I would like to know more of them. I feel that it is a wonderful way to understand and set apart the different sounds of English for the same vowels. Which is quite tricky by the way!!! Not only are you an excellent teacher, but also a good communicator!! 🤓
It's very kind of you to say that. I'll do more for sure.
House and mouse are still written and pronounced "hus" and "mus" in Scandinavian languages. And English actually does it too, in a commonly used compound word: "husband". Which is a word imported from Scandinavian, which roughly translated means something like the "man of the house" or "master of the house" (as opposed to other men or boys who might live on the same farm for example as hired farmhands). In Scandinavian languages the word is more archaic these days, but the Swedish translation of the famous record label "His Master's Voice" for example is "Husbondens Röst"
house and mouse in Dutch are huis and muis
I think it's the great strength of English that we have all these variations in speaking. It makes us more receptive to hearing and attuning ourselves to understand all the ways that other people are learning and speaking our language, for all its difficulties and wackiness! We are so fortunate that others want to learn English, difficult as it may be.
Very interesting! I'm from a small and isolated valley in Northern Majorca. We got a road to the other parts of the island in the midle of XIXth century. So we have more relations with Southern France. We spoke a local dialect mixed of catalan and french ( now it's almost extinct). Nor catalans or french could understand us. This dialect has survived for about 200 years, growing and changing very fast, until the arriving of mass media and massive standard education. Now it's finishing its time of life. It has been an amazing and interesting experiment with language. Now I'm trying to make english my second language, with some people here, to avoid the growing of spanish in our land. We prefer to learn english, a far language, than spanish, too nearer to us. I follow all your videos. I'm learning more english than at school. Thank you very much, sir!
Yes more history please, I found this very interesting.
Oh my god: B‘nana vs. Bänänah.
@@thomassunkel9229 strange enough in Spanish it's platano
As is often said, the Yanks and Brits are separated by a common language. But a very interesting way of separation. More videos like these would be would be greatly appreciated indeed.
In Mexico we have green and red tomatoes. The red ones are called (mainly in central Mexico) "jitomates" (from the nahuatl "xictitomatl", which means "navel tomato"). The green ones are a completely different species and are called "tomates verdes" or just "tomates" or "tomatillos" or "miltomates" (from the nahuatl "miltomatl" which means "tomatoes from the corn fields").
lovely nahuatl, once I tried that corn schnaps, forgot the name (I don't mean mezcal or tequila of course)
@@walterweiss7124 Maybe tejuino? (náhuatl tecuin - beating heart)
@@AlbertoCastel845 similar indeed, but it was pulque (both look milky)
@@walterweiss7124 OK but pulque is made from the sap of the maguey or agave.
@@AlbertoCastel845 I see, you're right, didn't know that, I was convinced it's made of corn, bec my friend told me so
Please, please give us more about the history of the English language! The GVS is fascinating, and nothing like that was ever taught in my achools. What a helpful clarifier that would have been while learning and accepting all the irregularities of English! Thank you for what you do!
Absolutely loved this. It’s incredible how learning a language (or learning more about your own language) is also a lesson in history! Thanks, Gideon.
Except Gideon's comments about Canada are off. Gee! He got a Norwegian to speak Norwegian. He should have gotten a Canadian to say "about" and "boot". The American kids up at the lake used to ask my daughter to talk because they thought she talked funny. They were from Pennsylvania. An teacher from Florida used to correct my pronunciation: VAY-hickel not VE hicle! Honey, there's an E in vehicle not an AY.
This channel is fascinating! I could hear you talk aaall day... Plus I've noticed significant difference to my pronanciation... As a music teacher I guarantee you have an exquisite music ear... It's a wonder you're not a soloist, with that ability... But then again, in fact you are...your instrument is the language...
I can only feel gratitude for your lessons...
Hello, Gideon! Your videos about history of English language, accents and pronunciation are absolutely stunning, it's such a pleasure to know more about beautiful English language and culture! Thank you for your work 🤩 That would be just awesome to watch more ☺
Following your channel is one of the best decisions I've made. It is not anymore about learning English but understanding it together with a pinch of history. In school we learned english english. (From sussex )
The most amazing English history video I've seen. As a native Spanish speaker, British pronounciation make more sense seeing the GVS and the historical development. Delightful!
I really like the videos about history. You make a great job for the english learners around the world. Thank you.
Love learning the origins of words. Do prepare more lessons like this one, please!
Never heard about the GVS before, to know a bit more about it would be absolutely brilliant. Also always wondered about the differences between the pronunciations of tomato and this video explains it very well. Thanks
Thanks, I'll do more about the GVS
My Canadian husband says his Canadian grandmother used to say, "tomato" not toMAYto. Modern Canadian say "To MAY to" and would think that "tomato" was British. Perhaps, that song from the Gershwins indicates that some Americans did say, "Tomato" at one time.
Very interesting video! As a South African, our "aspirational" accent when speaking English is RP. School kids are influenced by American TV and UA-cam videos, and teachers often correct them when they pronounce words like "grass" like an American. What I find interesting though, is that the dialects in the North of England pronounce the "a" in "grass" similar to the Americans. I've read that this pronunciation was common throughout England until the Southerners starting changing the vowel to sound more posh, but the Northerners and Americans either didn't get the memo, or they just didn't care! 😂
I'd like for you to talk about "archaic" English pronunciations that survives in the USA.
That would be a great idea...the word yonder is still used in some places, though by an older generation generally...
More complicated than that. West country English pronounciations of words like 'grass' are different again, with a different vowel quality.
Yes your videos about history of language and pronunciation are great. Keep doing it
You inspire me to do so.
Language history is so interesting! More videos about this topic, please!
Dear Gideon, you made me very curious about the GWS in this amazing video. It would be just fantastic if you could expand on this topic. Many thanks!
It's fascinating to listen to you. Please give us a video on the GVS with examples. I'm sure it will be interesting.
Yes, I agree! I'd love to learn more about the GVS! I'm from the USA. My son -in-law is from Australia. He says we have lazy vowels in the USA. I reply that they have lazy consonants in Australia, especially the R. Then we all have a big laugh.
I'm America, so I say tamayto. I just found your channel and I have really been enjoying it.
The wonderful Gershwin song is really a comment on how some upper class or upper class want to be Americans would affect some aspects of posh British speech in the early to mid twentieth century. You covered this in your brilliant video on the "mid- Atlantic" or "transatlantic" accent. These people would sometimes over compensate and say things like "po-taahto" believing this was how the British aristocracy would say it to rhyme with "tomaahto" I certainly remember people in my grandmother's generation going this.
Would love to hear more about the GVS. Thanks for the wonderful videos.
I think some people decades ago just said, "tomato", not "to MAY to". My husband's Grandmother apparently did. She would have died in the 1960s or so, I think. My husband just remembers that she did because it wasn't the usual pronunciation in Eastern Ontario. She wasn't English either.
Couldn't thank you enough for this intriguing lesson ; would appreciate more of the same ilk,dear Sir.
More to come! Thanks
Yes, make more videos, they are excellently made and very informative - thank you for your work making them.
Yes please. I would love to watch more history about English language. Thanks
Yes, please carry on with your great stories. You are a good teacher.
lovely. A calm way to think about language. The history of words is endlessly fascinating.
I'm feeling a bit puzzled now! as both German (Haus, Maus) and Dutch (Huis, Muis) diptongue those words, sounding much more similar to current English than to the older pronunciation 🤯
German and Dutch vowels have changed too though not necessarily in the same direction. It could be a coincidence. I'm not an expert on Dutch/German vowel changes.
A lot of that can be explained in the German vowel / consonant shift, as mapped and comment on by the Brothers Grimm. The farther north and west you go (in Germany) the deeper you get into Plattdeutsch territory.
Hus and Mus, without the diphthong, is how these words are pronounced in scandinavia.
Hus and Mus are also pronounced without diphtongue in Alemanic, i.e. Swiss German (and Vorarlberg, Luxemburg, southern parts of Swabia, Baden and Allsace). There are surprisingly many similar words between Scandinavian and Alemanic that are different in standard German.
The old Flemish dialects might give an answer. Hus, mus also sound West-Flemish.
That was fascinating! I didn't know "po-tah-to" was an actual thing before the Great Vowel Shift, because no-one speaking modern English ever says it that way. I'd also never thought of Geordie pronunciation being akin to Middle English, but on reflection, you're quite right 😊 Cheers from Australia (where we definitely don't sound Geordie 😅)
I read Chaucer once with my boyfriend who was doing an exam in Middle English. I did find myself using a kind of Scottish accent while reading the Chaucer out loud.
Gideon, this is fabulous, thank you so much for such an interesting, captivating history lesson! Please make more!
First time I hear about the great vowel shift. Thank you very much
Keep these types of videos coming, pls. I love them.
If you haven't already, make a video about the great vowel shift. I think advanced learners will love it
However, unlike the word 'tobacco' itself, the island of Tobago-named for tobacco-does seem to have undergone the GVS: It's pronounced /təˈbeɪɡoʊ/ in English. How did _that_ happen! 😵
Not sure why that happened. I'll investigate
@@LetThemTalkTV Maybe spanish voiced the /k/ to a /g/?
In "tobacco" the 'a' is a short vowel, while in "Tobago" it is a long 'a:' in many languages (modern Spanish does not retain a long--short vowel distinction). The GVS only affected the long vowels in English, not the short ones. This could also explain why "tomato" is affected while "tobacco" is not. It then remains to be explained why some of the words got borrowed with a long vowel while others got a short vowel.
@@ValkyRiver Yes, but the a in Tobago is like the A in To MAY to (American) and the "a" in "tobacco" is like the "a" in "tomato (British). And I knew a girl from Trinidad and Tobago and that's how she pronounced it like the A in to MAY to.
Thanks for your excellent discussion about the Great Vowel Shift. As the Canadian-born son of Dutch immigrants, I find it remarkable that many Dutch and Frisian cognates of English word sound remarkably similar to the English cognate before the GVS. In addition, in the case of house/hus and mouse/mus, the Frisian cognates are still written the same as the older English form (with the exception that the u has a circumflex accent on it). Also, the English "wain" (as in wagon) and "rain" are pronounced is Frisian more like Cockney accent, yet in Frisian are written with the more-Germanic diphthong "ei", hence, wein and rein. Cousins often reveal their roots!! Love your content!!!
Thanks for that insight. Very interesting
You are my favorite linguist! My degree in Applied Linguistics is seldom used anymore, alas, but I've retained my interest in the topic, and especially insights into changes in the language in the last 1200 years! (I'm a Californian, so my native language sounds clear to me, perhaps because California has had a great deal of Spanish inserted into it, but also because so many people from everywhere in the world came here during the Gold Rush and have tried for the spoken language most broadly understood. When in London, it was remarked on how my speech was easily understood, amusing to me, since Geordies and Scots were nearly incomprehensible!!)
very interesting comment thanks. I'm glad you understood us Londoners.
having grown up in the center of North America and now living in southern California, I completely agree with you. To my ears, we have the least pronounced regional accent compared to the twangs of Texas, drawls of Southerners or the irritating sounds of New England or New York and New Jersey. We speak the way the typical national news broadcasters emulate, at least for the most part. Similar enough to SSBE to be mutually understandable to Londoners.
Susan Sisson - don't worry, the Scots and Geordies are also practically incomprehensible to us English!
I wrote an essay about the great "'It is I' v. 'It is me'" controversy. To paraphrase "Bones" McCoy, I'm not a linguist, I'm just a humble country engineer.
Would you take a look at it?
post a link to it here
Please make a video on the great vowel shift. It would be much appreciated.
Thank you very much for your videos, they are captivating. I am from Uruguay.
Here in Mindanao Philippines the word for the fruit is "kamatis" which is derived from the Nahauatl "tomatl". Here in Mindanao the fruits are often small and vary from yellow to red.
Yes, the Great Vowel Shift is so interesting I’d absolutely love to see a video from you! Thank you for the education!❤️
Ok, will do. thanks.
More videos please. Your presentation and content are terrific.
Another request (this one from an American) for a GVS video. I've read about it a few times, but I can't "feel" it. I have a feeling your approach would finally get it to sink in for me and make it seem less impenetrable. Thanks!
I got so caught up in the GVS explanation, I forgot the potatoes until you came back to it later on the video.
And yes, please make a whole video about the great vowel movement 😁🤣
Happy to jump in as a subscriber. I love your videos! I’m enraptured by the majestic, sonorous quality of British English. It’s no wonder that the ancient Romans, Greeks and even Jesus himself spoke British English….in movies, at least. Everything said in a British accent sounds more authoritative and intelligent. In contrast, everything I say in my native New York accent sounds less sophisticated and more gangster. I had three British uncles by marriage to my father’s sisters. One was an urban Londoner, the other was from Cotswold. Both had subtly different accents.The third spoke in heavy Cockney. He was the most fun. No one could understand him. I found him very entertaining as a kid and I sat for hours hearing stories from Uncle Ernie. Eventually, I came to understand almost everything he said! I always wished I could speak like all theee of my uncles, especially Uncle Ernie. Anyway, on the present video you make the very same observation I made to my British neighbor who opined how illogically idiomatic American English pronunciation is. I responded that the same could be said about British English. “For example,” I said, “Why is it tomaaato instead of tomayto, but potato instead of potaaato?” She couldn’t answer that, but chuckled. I knew this from watching Peppa Pig with my 5-year-old son. That cartoon is so wildly popular due primarily to those wonderful British accents. Keep up the good work!
Fascinating! Would be happy to watch more, I stumbled on this video by chance and I am in love with this content ! You are great !
I'm fascinated by etymology - more please.
Yes. Definitely. I'd like more on the Great Vowel Shift. Very interesting.
Yes, please. Give us more about like this. 🕊
Yes love to hear more of the history of accents, and GVS. Also how the accents in the British colonies esp. South Africa and Australia developed.
Absolutely fascinating videos. So, yes! Would love to see more of them.
I find it so interesting that you took the time to do this video! Hard work! Very good indeed! Thank you! I used to wonder about this old song (of course I am a huge Fred Astaire Fan!) and also I have always been curious about the English pronunciation variations.
You almost fooled me with the werewolves. 😀 And you're right to add a caveat to the bit about the Canadian pronunciation of "about" -- "aboot" is indeed a cliché. Actually it sounds pretty close to the SSBE pronunciation of "a boat." Since both "boot" and "boat" have distinct vowels, there's no way to confuse them.
I was very careful not to offend Canadians....or werewolves
Only idiots in Canada pronounce "about" like that. Maybe some from the small Maritimes provinces do but they make up a small minority.
@@LetThemTalkTV Americans tend to hear the Canadian 'about' as 'aboot' which to our ears is very exaggerated. A theory about this Canadian pronunciation may be rooted in the influence of Scottish English -- Canadians of Scottish heritage are the third largest European group after English and French. The English of Newfoundland has preserved a great deal of 17th century English which was when the early migrations started.
Exactly. This is how American comedians poke fun at us Canadians - I have NEVER heard this pronunciation spoken seriously by a Canadian, and it always provokes eye-rolls here at Yankee ignorance.
@@girthbloodstool339 I can always tell a Canadian by the way they say "about". I have had this conversation before: "Oh, you're Canadian." "What, did I say, 'eh'?" "No, you said, 'about'."
When I hear "a boot", though, I don't think Canadian, I think Scottish. To me, the Canadian "about" sounds like a cross between "a boat" and "a boot". Quite distinct from the OW of standard American English.
Another dead giveaway is a word like "organization". Canadians emphasize the "I", as in or-guhn-EYE-ZAY-shun. Whereas, Americans go with or-guh-nuh-ZAY-shun.
I follow ice hockey, so I have a lot of opportunities to hear someone speak and say to myself, "Oh, they're Canadian."
Awesome video. Thanks
Definitely waiting for more of them.
Really interesting, would love to see more videos on the Great Vowel Shift (plus other stuff on the history of the English language & others)
That's what I needed and for many years i couldn't manage to search the philosophy of the words. Thx for sharing your knowledge with us.🌹🙏
Yes please! I enjoyed this video immensely and I am curious about the Great Vowel Shift.
Yes, please, go ahead and make more of this kind of videos. You are an expert on languages! It is good to learn from you. Thank you a lot.
You're too kind. More coming soon
Yes please I'd love a video with more about the GVS. It's absolutely fascinating!
Yes, please. A video about the great vowel shift will find a ready welcome. I am looking forward to the ride.
Hold on tightly...coming soon.
Wow! Excellent video! I'ver learnt history and English at the same time. Congrats and keep up the excellent work!
Just a quick comment regarding Italian. In Italian, tomato is called "pomodoro", but in some dialects of northern Italy (Italian dialects are not really dialects, but languages that evolved independently from Latin, with their own grammar, lexicon, and sounds) the popular word is "tomato". My mom, from Lombardy, says "tumates"
16:06 that's call "analogy", even though the term is more used for grammatical features. Great video! We do the same job, but you provide knowledge for everyone! Thanks
Thank you, so interesting,as always.. More history would be great..
Really amazing! Please explain the historic reasons why "would" vanished from the if-sentences. "Would"used to be allowed in if-sentences but it's no longer to be used within them.
Also, where does "went" come from? The verb "go" in the past tense should be something like "goed" or "gewd" or "goad".... strangely enough a totally different word like "went" popped up some long time ago. But why? And why is the verb "to be" not to be treated like other full verbs? It's not a modal verb, nevertheless you have to treat it like one: "I am not" (like in "I may not", "I must not" etc) instead of "I don't be". Why is this so and since when? Why is "cannot" written in one word?
many interesting questions. I'll have to cover them in future videos. Thanks
The "go - went - gone" thing happened because "went" comes from a completely different verb with the same or similar meaning. In the past tense, the other verb was used more than "go", so it stayed, and "go" was used more in the other tenses. So the "went" verb kinda died and that one form merged with the verb "go". Coincidentally, the various French forms and tenses of the verb "aller", to go, come from 3 different Latin verbs, which makes the current Frankenverb super irregular: aller (to go), je vais (I go), j'irai (I will go).
The verb "to be" is just a weirdo, isn't it? 😄
@@TerezatheTeacher Actually in most languages the verbs "to be", "to have" and "to go" are among the most irregular ones (if they exist, that is).
@@TerezatheTeacher in several languages. English, French, German: all crazy! am, are, suis, sommes, bin, sind, etc.
By what you said, some viewers, who believe they know it all, write "angry" comments to you, trying to teach you, instead of profting from your very informative videos . . . How sad! Very instructive and amusing video.
This was very exciting and interesting! Happily subscribed!
Although, tobacco is good depending on the herbs or brand used. Nowadays most cigars and tobaccos have toxic contents that aren't that great for digestion, lungs, or other health usages. My great-grandfather, from mum's side used to smoke on his pipe whenever he was almost ill. Grandfather smoked his pipe near wintertime to prevent from getting sick too. His pipe consisted of licorice root, eucalyptus and mint. He let me smoke it almost every year because it cleared my breathing, little did he know that I had asthma. But it did help and he never drank alcohol. Grandpa lived up to 99 years! Which is insane in contrast to his cousins and brothers who died much younger. 😄
Hi this is really fascinating, spelling frozen before vowel pronunciation change makes this nonsense much more logical.
I love your videos and particularly those about language history, easy linguistics and language / history interactions. Please do send even more of this excellent material.
It's interesting because here in Iran in some regions they are still called patates and tomata (or variations of it).
If I'm not mistaken it was the Portuguese who first brought them over here during the war with -then called Persia in 16th century.
While the standard names would be a direct translation from French which literally means "apple of the earth" for potatoes and an entirely made up name for tomatoes
very interesting
Yes. They also brought them to India
@@SiriusMined Really? That must've been a funny scene where Portuguese shipmen show these wired vegetables to the people: We know we are in fight and all but you really should try these! They just came from the finest farms in America!
I would love seeing more videos about the history of words' pronunciation
Fun video! I do have one quibble, however. I am a Canadian in my 60s, and have known Canadians from Newfoundland to Vancouver Island, and no Canadian ever says "Oot and aboot". This mythic pronounciation is something that has been invented by American comedians, as far as I can tell, and is part of Americans' relatively shallow bucket of adorable Canuck traits that distinguish us from them, along with fueling our cars with maple syrup and living in igloos. Our "out and about" pronounciation is indeed different from the American, but those words always rhyme with "lout", and not "loot". Our 'ou' vowel takes on a more curt delivery which is basically the same as standard southern English, as opposed to the American 'ou' vowel sound which is more heavily drawled, and moreso the further south you go in America. I would be very interested to see any example of a Canadian actually saying this in earnest. It simply does not happen.
Love your brilliant, instructive and entertaining videos. Keep ‘em coming!
5:52 Italy did not exist in 1753, it's difficult to find an enclyclopedia using the word "italian".
I doubt you’re still checking comments on videos posted a while ago but just in case you do I had a chat with a co-worker and found out he studied Linguistics at uni. Although I haven’t studied it I find it fascinating and I told him to check your videos on the History of the English Language. I mentioned this video about the Great Vowel Shift and he was like "wow I haven’t heard of this for years, I will check it out!". He watched and liked it a lot, he said he’d swear one of his teacher made them watch one of your videos (I think he said it was about idioms!)
By the way, your Spanish pronunciation is 100% perfect. Amazing.
That's kind of you to say. I'm flattered. Muchas gracias.
I am delighted with this video! I am from Venezuela, and lived in London for many periodos during the 80's. This is the first time I see your videos and at last understand some reasons for vowels pronunciation. Bye the way, your pronunciation un Spanish is perfectly correct. 👏👏👏
By...
Like this video, it makes easier to understand why english pronountiation is so irregular.
Brillant ! Thanks Gedeon !
Greetings from Spain. I call it Canary tomato. This one comes from the Canary Islands.
I learned some English in Canada and don't care about accents and think the same with regards Spanish. That's I follow and find interesting this channel
very interesting indeed ! I would appreciate more videos about History of English language, thanks
I’m all for your video on the great shift. You’re the best
There is an area of eastern Virginia, where the region has deep inlets of water from the Atlantic, called Tidewater Virginia (the inlets remaining subject to the tides). In this area people speak with a Southern US accent, but they pronounce the ou diphthong the same way Canadians do. So the phrase, ‘round about the house,’ sounds very similar to the way a Canadian would say it.
I have seen it written that the orginal English-speaking Canadians were from Pennsylvania so their vocabulary is similar to Ontario vocabulary and probably, their pronunciation is similiar to Canadian pronunciation. The Brit didn't really say "about" the way Canadians say "about" though.
Yes, it IS really interesting anda amusing,too
Yes please! Upload a video about the Great Vowel Shift! Don't know if you have already. Please include other western Germanic languages! Thank you!
Very interesting! I've never heard of TGVS before. I grew up in Metro Detroit 10 minutes away from the tunnel to Windsor. I've always wondered why Canadians pronounced some words so differently.
so the accent is different on the other side of the tunnel?
@@LetThemTalkTV just some words. Most notably House is Huse, We say Mom, they say Mum. I've been gone for 40 years so I don't remember the few other words that stand out. Otherwise we sound very similar.
@@LetThemTalkTV The Canadian/American border makes a great deal of difference in pronunciation. Cross the border from New Brunswick, Canada to Maine, USA and hear the distinct difference. Same for Detroit, USA and Windsor, Ontario, Canada
@@cathygillies7271 Right! I used to shop in Watertown, New York state a fair bit when the Canadian dollar was worth more and their accent is much different from the Eastern Ontario accent as well. I read it's because our English is based on Pennsylvania pronunciations not New York state pronunciations because the Loyalists who came to Ontario were originally from Pennsylvania. Some of our vocabulary is clearly Pennsylvanian. We say "spigot" for a water tap outside, for example. I think what we call 'a tap" "a hot water tap" is a "hot water faucet" in Great Britain. "A spigot is Pennsylvanian apparently. There are other words as well, but I can't remember them.
Until this day, I thought that ‘tomahto’ was American English! Thank you so much, I’ll subscribe your right now!
In Flanders they call the potatoe 'patatten' while in The Netherlands (with maybe exceptions in the south) it's called 'aardappel' (earth apple). Often the Dutch use the word patat for fries (chips in the UK) but in Flanders it's frieten (fries, frites)
Yes, please! A whole video about gvs would be awesome!
Yes, I’d like to know more about the history of the English language. Thank you.
I would definitely love to see more of these historical videos; this one was pretty awesome! Many thanks for making and sharing it :)
Dutch had the same shift, but stopped shifting at the English 1600 levil.. low Saxon is still at the 1100 level
3:50 There was this bar in Ensenada, Mexico called "Papas and beers" Now I know where that word comes from :)
Yes please! More history 🤩
coming soon...