Why did certain English words like “great”, “break”, and “steak” fail to complete the expected progression of the Great Vowel Shift?

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Answer

These words were borrowed from French after the Great Vowel Shift had concluded, preserving their original continental pronunciation.

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The vowel ‘ea’ in these words underwent shortening before plosive consonants prior to the Great Vowel Shift, preventing the expected change to [i:].

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The presence of liquid consonants following these vowels blocked the natural progression of the vowel shift.

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Regional dialect variation caused these words to resist standardization during the Early Modern English period.

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