Pronunciation Help

Clwinbery at aol.com Clwinbery at aol.com
Wed Mar 6 21:07:17 EST 2002



In a message dated 3/6/02 12:50:18 AM, Andrew.Wergeland at mf.no writes:

>>Does location make a difference in pronunciation? My profs studied primarily
>>in Canada and England (except for Bruce Fisk, who did his PhD at Duke,
>>I believe). 

>I am an American living in Norway and learned Koine here.  I remember my
>teacher talking about being an "exchange teacher" at Luther College in
>Iowa and having to change his pronounciation for a summer in order to make it
>more in line with the Anglo-american tradition.  I assume we in Norway
>are most influenced by a German pronounciation tradition, but probably with
>a Scandinavian twist.  As an example, we do not say "p-NEW-ma", but rather
>"p-NEV-ma".  EU is "ev", AU is "av" (a as in father), OU is "oo" (as in
>room), C is palatal not velar (but I think the Swedes might do this
>differently) and U alone is pronounced as a Norwegian "y" (like saying
>"ee" (as in meet) with rounded lips).
>
This is the same in modern Greek pronunciation. I have known several Greek
teachers in the US who advocated this pronunciation also. One was Frank Stagg
at Southern Seminary in Louisville KY. Frank and I fished some together in 
Chanderlier Sound out of Mississippi. He was an excellent teacher.

Carlton Winbery
Louisiana College



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