Re: CHAT: Multi-Lingos

"H. S. Teoh" wrote:

> Not that anybody today really knows what classical Greek actually sounded
> like, of course, because all we know today is that each of the vowels
> *must* have sounded different, and that the different accent marks *must*
> have stood for something that modern Greek no longer has.
No, it doesn't have to be that way.  Theories, remember, are just conventions
we agree to believe in.  In this case, Occam's Razor tells us this theory is just
the preferable one.

> So I wonder how valid is the claim that one's pronunciation is "obviously
> superior". Of course, some Greeks today claim that the pitch accent and
> vowel sounds we think existed in classical Greek are merely a figment of
> the imagination of some eccentric linguistic scholars, and that their
> current pronunciation has "always been" since ancient times.
...which is the crux of the issue.  Greek nationalists can get a lot of mileage
by claiming that the Greek language hasn't changed much at all in the last
two and a half millennia because it gains them lots of legitimacy.   Why do
they need legitimacy? It helps them get power!

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Tom Wier   |     "Cogito ergo sum, sed credo ergo ero."
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