[B-Greek] Vowel rules for Erasmian pronunciation

Kevin Riley klriley at alphalink.com.au
Thu Jan 8 20:41:52 EST 2004


They are technically different sounds, and both can be long or short.  From
a linguistic point of view, virtually none of the pairs of 'long' and
'short' vowels in English differ only or primarily in length - most have not
done so since early Modern English, or before.  If your tongue moves when
you change from the 'short' to the 'long' vowel, then the difference is that
they are different sounds.  It varies depending on which dialect of English
you use, but in some dialects the 'i in bit' is longer than the 'i in
machine' in some words.  In Greek, the difference was solely one of length
for most vowels.

Kevin Riley

>-----Original Message-----
>From: b-greek-bounces at lists.ibiblio.org
>[mailto:b-greek-bounces at lists.ibiblio.org]On Behalf Of Katb4now at aol.com
>Sent: Friday, 9 January 2004 11:43 AM
>To: b-greek at lists.ibiblio.org
>Subject: Re: [B-Greek] Vowel rules for Erasmian pronunciation
>
>
>Yes, I came across this too!
>
>People mean VERY different things when referring to long vowels.
>
>I was referring to the  iota in pit vs machine though. What would be the
>proper term to decribe this difference, if not long and short?
>
>Kathleen Borsari
>Homeschool mom
>
>
>




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