Re: Middle English question
| From: | Patrick Dunn <tb0pwd1@...> |
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| Date: | Thursday, July 29, 1999, 15:36 |
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On Thu, 29 Jul 1999, Nik Taylor wrote:
> Could anyone tell me how my sig was pronounced? The final -e's are
> pronounced as /@/, yes?
> --
> "[H]e axed after eggys: And the goode wyf answerde, that she coude not
> speke no Frenshe ... And then at last a nother sayd that he woulde haue
> hadde eyren: then the goode wyf sayd that she vnderstood hym wel." --
> William Caxton
OE is more my field, but the general rules are:
final e's pronounced as /@/
a vowel before a final e is long, unless followed by double consonants (so
"hadde" is a short a, but the e in speke is long
doubled vowels are long
y pronounced like /i/.
Most vowels have their eupropean equivelents.
And much of that might be wrong, but it'll get you close.