Sturgeon Posted July 1, 2015 Report Share Posted July 1, 2015 I'm no linguist, but I've been dipping my toes into that pool of late, and one thing I think is really interesting is the continental pronunciation that Middle English (the language of Henry V, the man, not the play, that's Early Modern English). "Continental" in this case refers to what Americans would probably think of as "romantic", i.e., having a timbre or cadence like French of Italian.Most spoken Middle English (especially Chaucer) online doesn't sound right, in the same way that spoken Shakespeare or Beowulf doesn't sound right. Well, like Benjamin Bagby for Beowulf, and David and Ben Crystal for Shakespeare, we do have some online resources to set us on the right track: Note that you can still hear a lot of Beowulf-esque words and structures in it, but it's been overwhelmed by the influx of French since 1066, sort of like pouring red wine onto mashed potatoes. After the Hundred Years' War, the French influence would slow to a trickle and English would affirm itself as an independent language, with increasingly insular pronunciations and rhythms, which you can see in the Crystal's OP Shakespeare above. For the record, though, I don't think every instance of pronunciation in that video is correct (for example, I think they still pronounced "Jerusalem" as "yeroosahlem" in Middle English), but I think the overall sound is more correct than most online readings. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
T___A Posted July 1, 2015 Report Share Posted July 1, 2015 Here's a dumb question, how do we know stuff was pronounced the way it was before sound recording? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sturgeon Posted July 1, 2015 Author Report Share Posted July 1, 2015 The Shapespeare OP video explains one way, by learning through rhyme.I think it is more art than science, though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sturgeon Posted July 1, 2015 Author Report Share Posted July 1, 2015 Here's a video on PIE: Also, here are some songs in what I think is a quasi-PIE recreation, but they're still really cool: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vanagandr Posted July 1, 2015 Report Share Posted July 1, 2015 The first sounds like a bastard mix of Dutch and Swedish, and I feel like I could understand the last two if I were a bit better at Icelandic This is hella cool Sturgeon 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sturgeon Posted July 1, 2015 Author Report Share Posted July 1, 2015 Here you go, T___A. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sturgeon Posted July 8, 2015 Author Report Share Posted July 8, 2015 I wonder if one could write a song intelligible in both Old and Modern English... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oedipus Wreckx-n-Effect Posted August 3, 2015 Report Share Posted August 3, 2015 Are we sure that Beowulf was English? Pretty sure that wasn't English. I needed subtitles for the subtitles. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShamefurDispray Posted August 3, 2015 Report Share Posted August 3, 2015 Are we sure that Beowulf was English? Pretty sure that wasn't English. I needed subtitles for the subtitles. Anglo-Saxon English or Old English changed quite a bit after the Norman conquest. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CrashbotUS Posted August 4, 2015 Report Share Posted August 4, 2015 Beowulf is West Saxon Old English. As mentioned, it declined considerably after 1066. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Collimatrix Posted August 4, 2015 Report Share Posted August 4, 2015 Are we sure that Beowulf was English? Pretty sure that wasn't English. I needed subtitles for the subtitles. That's just because your first language is Texan. Sturgeon, Oedipus Wreckx-n-Effect and Belesarius 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oedipus Wreckx-n-Effect Posted August 4, 2015 Report Share Posted August 4, 2015 My bowie'll have ya countin' in fractions, turd. That's just because your first language is Texan. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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