LL-L: "Orthography" LOWLANDS-L, 13.JUN.2000 (02) [E/LS]

[Lowlands-L]

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 L O W L A N D S - L * 13.JUN.2000 (02) * ISSN 189-5582 * LCSN 96-4226
 Posting Address: <lowlands-l at listserv.linguistlist.org>
 Web Site: <http://www.geocities.com/sassisch/rhahn/lowlands/>
 User's Manual: <http://www.lsoft.com/manuals/1.8c/userindex.html>
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 A=Afrikaans, Ap=Appalachean, D=Dutch, E=English, F=Frisian, L=Limburgish
 LS=Low Saxon (Low German), S=Scots, Sh=Shetlandic
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From: john feather [johnfeather at sceptic1.freeserve.co.uk]
Subject: Morphophonology

A friend recently said to me: "We don't really know how Classical Greek was
pronounced.  The Greeks had a scientific curiosity about the world, why
didn't they record how their language was pronounced so that people in the
future would know?"

I suspect the answer may lie in the fact that the Greeks were not very aware
of linguistic change in this sense and that they didn't have the same ideas
about "the future" that we do. Still, it suggests an interesting question:
When did people start to record the pronunciation of Lowland languages with a
view to preserving it?  I don't mean accidental recording, as in phrase books
for travellers or in words loaned in and out which fossilise certain
pronunciations.

Does anyone have any ideas about this?

John Feather
johnfeather at sceptic1.freeserve.co.uk

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