Re: Silent E

At 12.17 p.m. 5.10.2001, you wrote:
>Do any other languages (I am sure there are at least a few) have a silent
>letter or especially a silent modifying letter (as in English "ate", the e
>is silent and makes the a long)???  Where does this come from??  Do any of
>ur conlangs have this??
The silent E in english was pronounced in Middle English (as a /@/).
Eventually, it died, and caused compensatory lengthening of the vowel. This
was later generalised as a 'feature' of the orthography.

Et'abnanni ('a=a acute) /'r`amn`&n/ (`a=low tone on /a/ etc.) does. final i
is silent, but i-mutates the previous vowel. other final and initial vowels
are silent. all silent vowels (and non-silent) cause <t> and <d> to be /r/,
rather than /T/. Et'abnanni has a really aweful orthography.

Tristan