Phonological history of English close front vowels

The close and mid-height front vowels of English (vowels of i and e type) have undergone a variety of changes over time and often vary by dialect. == Developments involving long vowels == === Merger of /y/ with /i/ and /yː/ with /iː/ === Old English had the two vowel pairs /y/–/yː/ (spelled with ⟨y⟩) and /i/–/iː/ (spelled with ⟨i⟩).