Thanks! The X-SAMPA link is great- I use IPA in teaching Voice and
Articulation, but this goes beyond that.

Before I commit anymore poems to recording, I'll review the vowel sounds, as you
have noted.

After being married to a Swede for over 30 years, I suspect that my Old Norse
may have a Swedish accent...

Tack!

Larry

llama_nom wrote:

>
> Thanks Larry, that's quite a catchy tune, and atmospheric. I'm pretty
> ignorant about the technicalities of music, ancient or modern, but I
> enjoyed listening.
>
> About the pronunciation, if I heard aright I think there might be one
> or two anachronisms or inconsistencies. I'll use some X-SAMPA [
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X_sampa ] symbols here for phonetic
> transcription, and 'ö' to represent short hooked-'o'.
>
> I think the usual view is that /a:/ (=á) and /O:/ (=hooked ó) merged
> around 1200 as /O:/, the resulting sound appearing as 'á' according to
> the usual normalised spelling. Before this, there would have been a
> distinction between, for example 'áttak' /a:ttak/ "I owned" and 'sár'
> = 'sór' (with a hook under the 'ó') /sO:r/ "wounds", but in the
> singular 'sár' = 'sár' /sa:r/ "wound". Before these sounds fell
> together, /O:/ alternated with /a:/ in the same way that short /O/ 'ö'
> alternates with short /a/ 'a'. That's to say, /O:/ was the u-mutated
> variant of /a:/.
>
> The lengthening of vowels before a liquid followed by another
> consonant also happened around 1200, thus 'Hjalmarr' > 'Hjálmarr'.
>
> Two changes that happened over the course of the 13th century: the
> merger of 'ø' /2/, /9/ and 'ö' /O/, which fell together as '9' (=the
> 'ö' in German 'Götter'); and the lowering of 'œ' /2:/ (=/ø:/) so that
> it merged with 'æ' /E:/, e.g. 'mœða' > 'mæða'. I'm not sure about
> when exactly these changed happened or their relative order, except
> that they are supposed to have been complete by 1300.
>
> If your unsure about these details, I'd suggest aiming for a later
> 13th century date with 'ö' as /9/ always, and 'á' as /O:/. Then you
> can't go too far wrong.
>
> Anyway, please excuse these petty niggles. It was a great listen;
> thanks for posting the recording.
>
>
>
> --- In norse_course@yahoogroups.com, LM <lavrans@...> wrote:
>
>>Hi all:
>>
>>The instruments used are the kantele, lyre, citole, drum, and laouta.
>>
>>The kantele has six gut strings; the citole is actually a modified
>
> flat-back
>
>>mandolin I made from a kit; the lyre (built by me) is a typical 6
>
> stringed
>
>>Anglo-Saxon type similar to Ben Bagby's Beowulf lyre; the drum is an
>
> Irish
>
>>bodhran and the laouta is a long-necked 4 course oud, similar to
>
> early medieval
>
>>lutes.
>>
>>The mode corresponds to the modern key of a minor. The
>
> pronunciation is based
>
>>on my best attempts at research and a high level of risk-taking.
>
> Feel free to
>
>>point out any major blunders.
>>
>>Larry "Lavrans" Miller
>
>
>
>
> A Norse funny farm, overrun by smart people.
>
> Homepage: http://www.hi.is/~haukurth/norse/
>
> To escape from this funny farm try rattling off an e-mail to:
>
> norse_course-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
> Yahoo! Groups Links
>
>
>
>