From: Michael Haggett (michaelhaggett@onetel.net.uk)
Date: Wed Jan 30 2002 - 19:52:14 EST
Hi Randall,
I've no problem with much of what you wrote, and the small taste
of pronunciation I got from your website is quite understandable
to me. However, I still find this comment slightly too
dogmatic:
RB: For starters, it is beyond any doubt that Paul and Luke
would have
pronounced "EI" exactly the same as "I" when they were speaking
their Greek. We don't know exactly how their "I" would sound,
just
that it would sound like their "EI".
The other self-evident equations are
"AI" with "E", "W" with "O", and "OI" with "U",
while "OI/U" was not pronounced like "OU".
----
To me, this assumes a uniformity that seems unprovable. May I
draw this parallel as a means of expressing my concern:
I often misspell chief as cheif. If you go by spelling mistakes,
you might draw the conclusion that the English "ei" is pronouned
the same way as "ie". But that isn't quite true ... it is in
some words, but not in others. Similarly the "ey" in Hey Jude is
not the same as the "ey" in valley, even though they look as if
they should be pronounced identically.
The spelling error argument seems to hinge on uniformity (within
any one of many dialects, true) but real language isn't that
uniform WITHIN dialects.
Besides that, the methodology can only EVER lead in one
direction ... to reduce the number of distinct sounds. To me,
it is far safer to maintain diversity rather than loose it. You
say an Erasman ends up with a bear of an accent, but I think
quite the opposite ... and it is always easier for someone else
to understand me than the opposite would be.
For example, it's sometimes impossible to tell if a Cockney is
saying "fin" or "thin", or an Irishman is saying "three" or
"tree". That's not saying that there's anything wrong with
these accents/dialects, far from it ... but there is a danger of
the speaker being misunderstood. If I speak Erasman English (if
that makes sense ;-) to them, they may think I have an ursine
accent, but there is very little danger of me being
misunderstood.
Michael Haggett
London
www.ntgreek.com
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