Gettysburg Address

From:    Benct Philip Jonsson <bpj@...>
> þe getisbyrg adres
> getisbyrg, pensilvánia
> nóvembr 19, 1863
>
> fôr skór and seven jérs agó úr faþrs bråt forþ on þis kontinent, a ný
> nášyn, konsévd in libyrti, and dedikátid to þe propósišyn þat ål men ar
> kré-átid ekwål.  [...]
Interesting, but some questions/comments:
(1) Why are "war" and "shall" (using old orthography) spelled
with the same vowel?  There is no historical or morphophonemic
feature that unites them AFAIK.
(2) Is there any consistency to the treatment of /&/?  On the
one hand, you have "kan", but on the other you have "šål" --
or is [Sal] or something like it the RP pronunciation?
(3) "þés ded" should probably be "þis déd"
(4) "pyriš" should probably be "periš"
(5) "góvyrnment" should probably be "gyvyrnment", except in those
British dialects where it would be "guvyrnment".
(6) does <ý> represent MidEng /u:/ --> ModEng /ju/?

Generally, a very good morphophonemic representation.

 =========================================================================
Thomas Wier	       "I find it useful to meet my subjects personally,
Dept. of Linguistics    because our secret police don't get it right
University of Chicago   half the time." -- octogenarian Sheikh Zayed of
1010 E. 59th Street     Abu Dhabi, to a French reporter.
Chicago, IL 60637

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