MIDDLE ENGLISH "LONG I"

SOURCE
CHANGE

/i/

Spelling: i, y, j, ii, ij, ie

idel "idle"
fine "fine"

High, front, tense, unrounded long vowel. The vowel of PDE feet.

SOUND
CHANGE
REFLEX
OE /i:/
>>>>
 Great Vowel Shift EME /'i/
OE /i/

Lengthening before consonants

OE /y:/ Unrounding
OE /i:g/, /ig/, /y:g/, /yg/

ME diphthongization