Thanks, Christopher, that is a very helpful exposition, and exactly the sort
of thing I find utterly fascinating. You do not however say what caused the
split, but perhaps this is lost beyond the possibility of reconstruction.
You say -- English 'double-u' isn't -- which I take to mean, isn't a double
u. Could you go a bit further and explain what it is, then?
And should we, whilst we're on the subject, expand this discussion to take
in the i/j aspect? Or is enough enough?
best joanna
----- Original Message -----
From: "Christopher Walker" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Sunday, February 20, 2005 6:13 PM
Subject: Re: Elizabethan orthography (Re: Some toenotes )
> <snip>
> To toss a few more dictionaries into the ring, in Mexican Spanish, and for
> all I know Peninsular Spanish as well, v is usally pronouned b--to live is
> bibir.
> <snip>
>
> Whereas the u/v faultline is orthographic, the b/v split is phonetic. Thus
> in modern Greek b (beta) is pronounced as a /v/. And the /b/ of, say,
> English 'Deborah' comes from a Hebrew bilabial fricative ('bh'), which is
> somewhere between the two.
>
> English 'double-u' isn't, of course. Unlike the Italian: 'vu doppio'
> ('double-v').
>
> CW
> __________________________________________
>
> 'I might have known you'd choose the easy way'
> (Franz Kline's mother)
>
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