That’s a pretty American argument…
Comment on Daily Discussion Thread: 🌃🏙️ Friday, August 9, 2024
StudChud@aussie.zone 1 year agoBetween 1400 and 1700, English went through a major vowel shift that changed the way words were pronounced. The pronunciation of Middle English long vowels changed into how we pronounce them today/has affected English worldwide, and well as consotant changes (silent letters come from this, knife used have the k pronounced, and this can actually still be heard in German as well. Kneipe, for eg, is pronounced with the k).
Example, in Middle English the word “house” was pronounced hu:s “hoos”. With the Great Vowel Shift it changed to haʊs “howse”.
Catfish@aussie.zone 1 year ago
I love Middle English. It can look like gibberish at first, but pretend to be drunk & Scottish 98% of it works. The other words are probably Danish.
StudChud@aussie.zone 1 year ago
My favourite pic displaying the evolution. Middle English is still almost parsable, but old english is basically old German haha
Image
Catfish@aussie.zone 1 year ago
I love side by side versions like those! (I did send you that book link?) it makes the changes and similarities so obvious 😺 language is fun.
StudChud@aussie.zone 1 year ago
You did send it to me iirc, I haven’t had time to source it but will so after this thread has me on several linguistic rabbit holes haha! It’s saved on my wishlist lol
Definitely check out Language Jones on YT, he’s a linguist and it’s so refreshing to watch someone with such a vast amount of knowledge!