Bradshaw Shift: Not to be confused with the Great Vowel Shift, the Bradshaw Shift is a suggested alteration to the order of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, one which differs radically from the manuscript tradition. Chaucer never completed The Canterbury Tales, and he left us today ten fragments that can be organized in various ways to make a larger narrative. These fragments are bits of narrative linked together by internal signs--such as pieces of conversation or passages referring to an earlier story or the story about to come next. The fragments are usually designated with Roman numerals (i.e., I-X) in modern editions of the text, but the Chaucer Society uses alphabetical designations to refer to these fragments (i.e., Fragments A-I). Only between Fragments IX-X and (in the case of the Ellesmere family between Fragments IV-V) do we find explicit indication of an order. Consequently, modern editions differ in the order the tales are presented.

 

Related Words

Bradshaw Shift: Not to be confused with the Great Vowel Shift, the Bradshaw Shift is a suggested alteration to the order of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, one which differs radically from the manuscript tradit . . . View Full Definition

Second Sound Shift: Another term for the High German Shift.

Quadrature Phase-Shift Keying (QPSK): A method of modulating digital signals using four phase states to code two digital bits per phase shift.

Phase Shift: The fraction of a complete cycle elapsed as measured from a specified reference point and expressed as an angle. 2. Out of phase in an un-synchronized or un-correlated way.