On 2/9/06, Peter Kirk wrote:
> You misunderstand me. I was not referring to cases like qtl, qwtl and
> qtwl, which in modern Hebrew are clearly different words (different
> forms of the same verb) with different pronunciations. I was referring
> to cases, which I know do occur in modern Hebrew as well as in biblical
> and probably inscriptional, where the same word with the same meaning is
> spelled in different ways e.g. by different authors - but without
> implying a different pronunciation. Similarly "liue" and "live" in a
> Shakespeare text (from the two versions of Romeo and Juliet you linked
> to), and "colour" and "color" in modern English, are pronounced the same
> despite the variant spelling conventions.
Read again the section from the Cambridge History of American and English
Literature that I linked to earlier in the discussion. It directly
contradicts what
you just said: "But, if a chapter from The Authorised Version or a scene from
one of Shakespeare's plays were read to us with the contemporary
pronunciation, the ear would be considerably puzzled to recognise certain of
the words." Perhaps the words you cite remained the same, but at least
"colour"'s spelling/pronunciation may be related to the GVS -- so that the
variant spelling convention does indicate an attempt to modernize after a
sound change.
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