> Orthography is horrible because so much of the vocabulary is from > Anglo-Saxon or old French, but we barely pronounce anything like > Icelandic. For a great example, see > http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=enough > - a lot of initial "g"s became "y"s or disappeared, and I can only > assume the final g was originally pronounced that way since it still > is in German.
You mean just that the 'g' is pronounced in German, not how it is pronounced? I ask because that 'g' in German actually has a hard sound, much like a 'k.' In fact, at the end of a word they make no distinction between the two, and Germans typically have a hard time distinguishing the two sounds, such as 'back' and 'bag.' Also, Isn't French another language whose pronunciation > is only related to orthography by very complicated or non-algorithmic > rules? Because it's still written like it was centures ago? I feel > like I've heard that somewhere. So English isn't unique like that, > though it's probably the only language you can really have a spelling > bee in :) Well, the French tell me that there are very simple pronunciation rules for their language. And if you know them then yes, they at least almost always hold, if not always. I can't think of any exceptions at this time of night off of the top of my head, at least. I'm not a native, though. Yes, there are a lot of silent letters, but it's generally easy to go from spelling to sound. I can see how the reverse could be a challenge. French, like German, and I believe many other languages, has a governing body that is charged with keeping the language up to date. They have the authority to change the way things are spelled and done by fiat. Maybe even complex rules of grammar, etc. I'm not quite sure of that. Makes it easy to figure out how to say things when you see them written, once you know the rules. Erik --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ To post to this group, send email to sage-support@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to sage-support-unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/sage-support URLs: http://www.sagemath.org -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
