Re: Hellenish oddities

Fakatinál kúsal Úskal Gudlaugukán:
> As to the books I dissed, I understand (though I didn't mention it) that
> they can't be all technical using only IPA. Sometimes I just wish they'd
> more reliably present IPA *with* the approximations. Or perhaps if IPA would
> be taught at school...
That would require teaching a least a little bit of phonology, which is
hard to imagine being done.  But I do prefer books that give *both* IPA
and approximations, like in my Spanish-English dictionary which gives
the IPA for the sound of ñ, and also an approximation "Like the ny in
canyon".

> However, I should have stuck to the only thing that I really do feel
> "weird"; that's the development from Ancient Greek to Modern Greek, at least
> what I've seen of it. Compared to changes in West European languages, there
> seems to be so little in Modern Greek.
And some Greek nationalists claim that Ancient Greek was essentially the
same pronunciation as Modern Greek ... :-)  But it is interesting how
little change has occurred.  Especially since Greece hasn't exactly been
isolated.

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