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Re: Gothic Vowels

From:Benct Philip Jonsson <bpj@...>
Date:Sunday, January 11, 2004, 12:33
At 03:39 11.1.2004, Thomas Leigh wrote:

>As presented in Wright's grammar -- I'm looking at it now -- the >Gothic vowels (using a circumflex in place of Wright's macron) >and diphthongs are as follows, following §12:
What basis is there *really* for supposing the ai ái aí and au áu aú distinction apart from etymology? AFAIK there is no internal evidence for any actually diphthongal ái or áu in 4th-6th century Gothic, like occasional misspellings with <aj> or <aw>. As for length it is of course not at all expressed in Gothic orthography, but must be inferred from etymology. /BP 8^) -- B.Philip Jonsson mailto:melrochX@melroch.se (delete X) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~__ A h-ammen ledin i phith! \ \ __ ____ ____ _____________ ____ __ __ __ / / \ \/___ \\__ \ /___ _____/\ \\__ \\ \ \ \\ \ / / / / / / / \ / /Melroch\ \_/ // / / // / / / / /___/ /_ / /\ \ / /'Aestan ~\_ // /__/ // /__/ / /_________//_/ \_\/ /Eowine __ / / \___/\_\\___/\_\ Gwaedhvenn Angeliniel\ \______/ /a/ /_h-adar Merthol naun ~~~~~~~~~Kuinondil~~~\________/~~\__/~~~Noolendur~~~~~~ || Lenda lenda pellalenda pellatellenda kuivie aiya! || "A coincidence, as we say in Middle-Earth" (JRR Tolkien)

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John Cowan <cowan@...>