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Re: Eärendil, Isengard etc...

From:Thomas R. Wier <trwier@...>
Date:Saturday, December 22, 2001, 3:34
Quoting Christian Thalmann <cinga@...>:

> --- In conlang@y..., Jörg Rhiemeier <joerg.rhiemeier@N...> wrote: > > Matthew Kehrt <matrix14@H...> wrote: > > > > > On a related note, how is 'á' supposed to be pronounced in > > > Sindarin? I thought it was /e/, but it seems that that is > > > how 'e' is pronounced. Are they the same? > > > > No. 'á' is simply /a:/ (long /a/), not /e/ or anything else. > > Why should it be /e/? Escapes me. > > It seems that Americans call the diphtong /eI/ a "long a" > because it's the "regular" pronunciation of written {a} in a > stressed open syllable. Also, it evolved (devolved?) from an > Old English /a:/.
All true, but it's hardly an _American_ problem. This is the way that all Anglophone cultures have taught English orthography for hundreds of years, and one is just as likely to see a Canadian, or a Briton, making the same mistake as an American. ===================================================================== Thomas Wier <trwier@...> <http://home.uchicago.edu/~trwier> "...koruphàs hetéras hetére:isi prosápto:n / Dept. of Linguistics mú:tho:n mè: teléein atrapòn mían..." University of Chicago "To join together diverse peaks of thought / 1010 E. 59th Street and not complete one road that has no turn" Chicago, IL 60637 Empedocles, _On Nature_, on speculative thinkers