Re: Omega vs. Omicron

From: clayton stirling bartholomew (c.s.bartholomew@worldnet.att.net)
Date: Mon Jun 05 2000 - 15:52:01 EDT


on 06/05/00 12:35 PM, Carl W. Conrad wrote:

> it may well be pedagogically easier to
> teach Greek with a pronunciation in which all the vowels and diphthongs are
> clearly differentiated. But on the other hand, if we understand clearly
> that spelling and pronunciation are related to each other in only the most
> vague and general manner, maybe that isn't so important as it superficially
> appears.

Carl and Wayne,

It would seem that if we train people to think in terms of the sound of the
language rather than the written form of the language, then the loss of the
morphological distinction between O/W would be significant. The whole issue
of fluency which is being kicked around by Randall and others seems to have
a lot to do with how the language sounds. Sure, we will continue to see the
distinction in the text but when we vocalize the text we will remove the
distinction.

I just wonder about the "benefits" of intentionally removing a sound
distinction which is still a distinction which has meaning in the written
system. We have no choice with "Too, Two and To" in English but we do not
have to "go with" this blending of O/W in Koine, it is something which we
have some control over. We have an established system of vocalization with
maintains this distinction.

Enough said.

Clay





--
Clayton Stirling Bartholomew
Three Tree Point
P.O. Box 255 Seahurst WA 98062



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