I'm going to do something a little different and not about the
story but about Middle English. I much prefer the sound of Middle English to
modern English. Don't take this to mean I can speak it (I am awful at speaking
modern English and that's my native tongue)
nor should I lie and say it is easy to read. I like my standardized spelling,
dammit! But it's so much more rhapsodic. As I read it aloud as practice to
myself and for my shame haven't improved my diction but I have noticed some
things…
I am speaking in some weird Scottish/Irish
mix since Mitchell-Buck read it aloud in that way. And something else weird is
appearing in my pronunciation. About a year ago I helped my girlfriend with her
German flashcards and let a friend practice his Norwegian by speaking it to me
and because of that experience I'm noticing a pattern of spelling reminiscent to
those languages even if there are no formal rules to spelling in Middle English.
Heck, you might’ve even read the same word spelled different times each time! This
definitely makes the reading hard but maybe I find it appealing in the same way
I find a puzzle appealing…
Anyway, Germanic roots! So it feels like I’m speaking German or
Norwegian but I actually know what I’m saying. I’m even tempted to pronounce “w”
as “v.” I’ve also read Old English which really does seem like Norwegian to me
but with more letters (especially since Thorn is such a fun letter).
O Futhark, my old Norse friend…
Now that’s old Nordic runes. Looks a lot
like English, huh? That’s what I thought, too. Good thing the language I took
in high school and college is Latin! Six years! Still have no idea how to
translate… But it does provide insight to English! Namely, we use the Latin
alphabet which was modified from Greek which was modified from Phoenician
(which oddly isn’t spelled phonetically?). The words are still misspelled but
they are pronounced more similarly to their Latin roots. For example, “auctoritee”
from the first line of the prologue is supposed to be authority but looks more
like “auctoritas,” the same exact meaning but pronounced differently. It’s things
like that I find more interesting; that in about 2500 years not a lot about
language has changed but those little differences make the past difficult to
understand and life hell for college English students.
-Brian Edwards
Talking in Middle English is funny to me. It truly feels like I'm speaking in a different language. I am part Irish and reading Middle English gives me a Scottish accent and I feel like I'm apart of that distant culture that I never really get into. See even though it may sound a bit complicated it would be a great skill to have. Ever since we began trying to talk in Middle English I have been feeling and starting to talk in a slight Scottish accent and it's pretty weird but cool at the same time. It may sound like complete craziness but it's still really cool.
ReplyDelete-Ariana Moore
I have the same problem as you: I love the sound of Middle English (especially when Dr. MB reads it), but it is hard for me to read it out loud. I remember describing my pronunciation to my brother as a “Scottish accent with a French tilt to the vowels”. Going by how strangely he looked at me afterwards, I’m going to say that he didn’t really understand what I meant. But I find it interesting that those kinds of connections to the other languages are so pronounced. I know Dr. MB said that German, Latin, and French influenced Middle English, but I didn’t think it would be that obvious. Neat!
ReplyDeleteI also have a very difficult time reading Middle English out loud! I've gotten pretty good at reading in my head but whenever it comes time for the words to actually leave my mouth things always seem to fall apart. There have been a few times when I've been able to get into the rhythm of the text that I'm reading and when that happens I too would describe my sound as a "Scottish accent with a French tilt to the vowels" (so I certainly get what you're talking about, Aynslie) but in general I still have a lot of practicing to do in order to get the pronunciation down. And practice I will, since this is a great skill to have.
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