A Conversation for Anglo-Saxon (Old English)

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Post 1

AgProv4

So the "w" is as in modern English and not the "v" pronunciation of other Germanic languages? (Dutch, German, et c). Just checking.


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Post 2

Gnomon - time to move on

That's right


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Post 3

AgProv4

Thanks! At first glance - when you see the similarities to things like Dutch - you expect the "w" to be a "v". but this is the english "w". got it.


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Post 4

Gnomon - time to move on

And the ch is an English ch like in church, not a German one. So the word for "I" is pronounced itch, not like a German ich.

Some of the features which make English different from German were already present.


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Post 5

AgProv4

So - just guessing that where Dutch, Afrikaans, et c, are rhotic and heavy no voiced consonants, Old English is already going in a different direction, towards "soft" pronunciation and non-rhoticity?


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Post 6

Gnomon - time to move on

I don't know what you mean by "hard consonants". I think the English "ch" is just as hard as the German one.

On Rhoticity, I don't know, but I suspect Old English was a strongly rhotic language. Considering that r's are still pronounced in many parts of England, I would say the dropping of the letter r is a recent change in English, probably in the last 300 years, whereas Old English stopped being spoken in about 1200.


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