Why do we have silenced letters?
- Thread starter Rumtaya
- Start date
Carlo
Active member
It's for the same reason that English has silent letters: adding and dropping sounds happens naturally in all languages. It usually happens in rapid speech and helps with pronunciation (read more at Wikipedia here).
Since the language has such a long written history, the letters are usually preserved in writing long after they've fallen out of the spoken language. Part of it is to preserve comprehension, I think (eemajin if evreewun sudinlee seest yoozing inglish properlee and started too rayt funetiklee!).
Sometimes, the spelling of the word does change to fit the spoken language (e.g., bar [']naashaa can be spelled ?? ???? or ?? ???). This process is usually slow and happens over time. Some English words show this too: e.g., "night" and "through" are spelled "nite" and "thru" in some practices.
Also, compare the pronunciation of different dialects: for "three," some say tlaathaa (as it's written: ????) while others just say tlaa. Virtually every Eastern dialect says "one" like xaa, though it's written as xadh (??) and you can still hear the daalath in words like xad`sar ("eleven," literally "oneteen"), xodhaa ("alone"), xuyyaadhaa ("unity," where un- means "one" in Latin), and others.
Since the language has such a long written history, the letters are usually preserved in writing long after they've fallen out of the spoken language. Part of it is to preserve comprehension, I think (eemajin if evreewun sudinlee seest yoozing inglish properlee and started too rayt funetiklee!).
Sometimes, the spelling of the word does change to fit the spoken language (e.g., bar [']naashaa can be spelled ?? ???? or ?? ???). This process is usually slow and happens over time. Some English words show this too: e.g., "night" and "through" are spelled "nite" and "thru" in some practices.
Also, compare the pronunciation of different dialects: for "three," some say tlaathaa (as it's written: ????) while others just say tlaa. Virtually every Eastern dialect says "one" like xaa, though it's written as xadh (??) and you can still hear the daalath in words like xad`sar ("eleven," literally "oneteen"), xodhaa ("alone"), xuyyaadhaa ("unity," where un- means "one" in Latin), and others.
Excellent explanation Carlo.
Do you guys think there will come a day when we will completely drop these silent letters from certain words, and if so, who gets to decide that? I am speaking of the Assyrian language. It is not like we have an authoritative body that decides on these things.
Or even in English, will we ever see the word 'Through' evolving to become 'Thru' or 'Light' becoming 'Lite' etc.?
ASHOOR
Do you guys think there will come a day when we will completely drop these silent letters from certain words, and if so, who gets to decide that? I am speaking of the Assyrian language. It is not like we have an authoritative body that decides on these things.
Or even in English, will we ever see the word 'Through' evolving to become 'Thru' or 'Light' becoming 'Lite' etc.?
ASHOOR
Carlo
Active member
Rumtaya said:
Using some comparative linguistics, yes, we can piece together a timeline for when certain letters fell silent in certain dialects. It's not always easy or clear, though.
ASHOOR said:
You don't need an official authoritative body for a language to decide on spelling, a lot of it is just based off of common pracitce. If I want to spell "one" like "??" and it catches on, then that becomes the accepted spelling.
I don't care about English spelling, but in Assyrian's case, I hope not! I like the language as is--weird spellings and all. It's mind-blowing when you think that certain spellings of words go back centuries or even millennia. To throw that all away in the 21st century just to make spelling a tiny bit easier is a disgrace.
Carlo, I completely agree. And I should have been a bit more clear: I am against it. It is for lazy people or those who write online, trying to shorten everything.
But at the same time, such silent letters (in Assyrian) present a challenge to those who are just starting to pick up the language. It becomes more of a memory thing than to know when and where to not read certain letter.
ASHOOR
But at the same time, such silent letters (in Assyrian) present a challenge to those who are just starting to pick up the language. It becomes more of a memory thing than to know when and where to not read certain letter.
ASHOOR
Carlo
Active member
ASHOOR said:
Every written language has its own set of unique difficulties. It's only a question of putting time and effort to learn those difficult aspects so that they eventually become second nature. Also, the difficulties can often be used as an advantage: the silent noon in mdhee[n]taa can be justified by its plural mdheenaathaa, and the silent daalath in the word for "one" comes up in the related words I mentioned earlier.
Anyway, I think we can all agree that Assyrian spelling is infinitely easier to learn than English spelling, so any complainers will just have to suck it up and learn the old spellings.