The grafem is the same as used with u-umlauted a's, which would
produce something similar to English aw in "law". As for changes in
pronunciation in general, Norwegian has remained conservative in this
respect, and so the reconstruction is based on combining Norwegian
and Icelandic. As far as I know, Norwegian institutions are more
consequent in using the "correct" pronunciation, while on Iceland
there is a tendency to use a pronunciation close to modern Icelandic.


Havard

--- In norse_course@..., "Jamie Fessenden" <jfessenden@...> wrote:
> So, the pronounciation changed a couple times? How do we know what
the
> pronounciation was in the 12th century?
>
> Jamie
>
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Haukur Thorgeirsson [mailto:haukurth@...]
> > Sent: Wednesday, May 29, 2002 12:38 PM
> > To: norse_course@...
> > Subject: Re: [norse_course] Pronounciation
> >
> > > I've heard it pronounced on a couple tapes I got of lectures
given
> > by
> > > British Ring of Troth members as "Ah-sah-true" (i.e., two long
a's,
> > > pronounced sort of like in "father" and the u pronouned as in
the
> > word
> > > "true").
> >
> > That would be, more or less, correct 13th century pronunciation
> > (of a word that was not used back then).
> >
> > In the 12th century and earlier the first vowel would have
> > been much different, however. It would have been something
> > like a nasal version of the vowel in English 'awe'. Maybe
> > close to the vowel in French 'dans'.
> >
> > In modern times the first vowel is a dipthong similar, indeed,
> > to the one in English 'house'.
> >
> > The pronunciation of the rest of the word is the same for
> > any century.
> >
> >
> >
> > > The surprise, to me, after mispronouncing it for years, was
> > > that they placed the accent on the first syllable.
> >
> > The accent is always on the first syllable in Norse / Icelandic.
> >
> > Kveðja,
> > Haukur
> >
> > Sumir hafa kvæði...
> > ...aðrir spakmæli.
> >
> > - Keth
> >
> > Homepage: http://www.hi.is/~haukurth/norse/
> > <http://www.hi.is/~haukurth/norse/>
> >
> > To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
> > norse_course-unsubscribe@...
> >
> >
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> >