Re: Latin vowel inventory
| From: | Mark J. Reed <markjreed@...> |
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| Date: | Wednesday, July 30, 2003, 16:33 |
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On Wed, Jul 30, 2003 at 06:03:11PM +0200, Andreas Johansson wrote:
> > Indeed. When an American legislature adjourns without setting
> > a dating for reconvening, it adjourns "sine die" [saIni daI] -
> > a direct reflex of the Great Vowel Shift.
>
> Is there any particular reason for dropping the second final -e, but not the
> first one?
Some speakers do pronounce the second -e. When it's dropped, it's not
because of the English slient-e phenomenon, but simply because the
trailing [i] blends into the preceding [aI]; in fact, the diphthong
tends to be closer to [ai], even in speakers whose usual long I only
glides to [I] or [j].
-Mark