chain shift

English

Noun

chain shift (plural chain shifts)

  1. (linguistics, phonology) A phonological modification of a vowel system or sometimes consonant system in which a change in a particular vowel or consonant causes other adjacent vowels or consonants to also change in order to avoid phonemic mergers.
    • 2019, Li Huang, James Lambert, “Another Arrow for the Quiver: A New Methodology for Multilingual Researchers”, in Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, →DOI, page 10:
      Many non-Antipodeans cannot readily distinguish Australian and New Zealand English, because the phonologies basically overlap with the exception of an upwards chain shift in the front vowels.

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