SC - Re: OT Middle English letters, pronounciation, accents.
Elysant at aol.com
Elysant at aol.com
Thu Apr 27 16:55:13 PDT 2000
- -Poster: <Elysant at aol.com>
<< > Also- infrequently- you might find a 'D',
> capital or lower case, with a line through it. It is another symbol for
> the 'th' sound and can be treated just like a thorn.
Except the D is voiced and the thorn is not. The difference between
Them and think.
>>
For those of you interested in Welsh, this difference (voiced/unvoiced "th"
sounds) is still kept in our language - the unvoiced "th" being written as
"th", and the voiced "th" being written as "dd". "Mynydd" (mountain) is
pronounced "Muh-nith".
To tell the difference between voiced and unvoiced, we were taught in school
in Britain that when one says the "voiced" "th", if one puts two fingers over
one's Adam's Apple as one says the "th" sound, that there is a vibration
felt. (e.g. "them"), whereas with the "unvoiced" "the" (e.g. "think") -
there is no vibration felt.
I also was someone who had the privilege of being able to listen to
recordings of Middle English when I was doing my English "A" level curriculum
years ago. IIRC, the intonation sounded almost like a west country (of
England) e.g. Somerset "burr", although I believe (again IIRC) I seem to
remember being taught that the closest remnant to the pronunciation of Middle
English that still exists in modern day English local accents and dialects is
in Northhamptonshire and surrounding counties in a NW to WNW direction from
London.
Back to Period Cookery :-)
Elysant
Who currently lives in Connecticut and hears that N.E. accent "ooaall" the
time around here ;-)
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